Haylie Kelley

I contribute my success to my discipline. Even on my hardest days, when I didn't want to do anything or I wanted to give up, the discipline that I had instilled in myself to get things done is what got me through. I give this advice to my students every single day, so I feel like I have to put the money where my mouth is. If I'm going to tell them this, it's because I believe it and because I'm doing this myself. I don't want to ask anybody to do anything that I wouldn't feel comfortable with or do myself.

I would say don't take everything personally. Working in counseling and the mental health field, you're gonna have a lot of emotions and kerfuffles, if you will, but you have to remember that it's not always a result of what YOU did. The hardest and most valuable thing you can do is understand you are there to help facilitate a process and that you cannot always predict a happy ending, or a straight path to success for every client. You showing up the best you can on a consistent basis is what truly makes the difference.

Right now, I think the biggest challenge is family involvement and overall respect for the field. Education is a tough field to be working in right now because of the political turmoil, systemic issues, and overall every-day struggles of our educators. As a counselor, I am seemingly tasked with full responsibility for my learners. If they fail, I fail. However, I do not agree with that. School is the place for learners to try and fail over and over again. The goal is to fail without judgement or punishment, let them learn through experience. Unfortunately, it seems like anytime there is any level of hardship for a child, many families' put the ownership of the school to "fix it". When you depend on a school to raise your child, they lose the opportunity to learn. We are focused on providing basic needs, not education at that point. I would love to evolve back into a society where more families valued the education experience and realized many of us are operating on negative money and energy, just to ensure the little good we can make these day.

I have recently connected more with my "whimsical" self. Working in the trenches of mental health comes with a level of heaviness that sometimes is hard to roll off at the end of the day. I am focused on being more creative, moving my body, practicing my own vulnerability, and learning more about things I really do enjoy! Sometimes this field can trigger a loss of identity because you are so focused on helping other's find theirs.

I find that grit, passion, genuine interest, respect, and a strong sense of humor will stretch your life experience further than anything else.