Raquel Cohen

I attribute my success to staying curious. I think my struggle with the limitations of case management could have really knocked me down, disappointed me, led me to question myself, who I was and my skills. But instead, I embraced the fact that maybe there was something else that could pull me and a new area wherein I could excel. My success was also only possible due to the support systems I have - my fiancé, my family, and my friends who only encourage me to follow my passions. I'm really grateful to them and myself for seeing in me huge potential that I didn't always know was there.

One of the best pieces of advice I've received is to be open, to not only discovering what's out there but discovering what's within myself. When I was transitioning out of case management, I felt lost for a while. I had really trusted close family and peers who told me to open up, use this moment as a learning opportunity. Once I opened up within myself to what I already knew and what I maybe hadn't totally processed, I found new ways to grow from opportunities I did not realize existed. I think that was honestly key for me because it can be easy to pigeonhole by seeing myself only as a case manager, but change happens all the time! I think sometimes it's scary, but when we embrace new ideas, it can lead to really, really wonderful things.

I would say, first of all, thank you, and second of all, we need you. I see this dearth of roles in the field, and it honestly drives me. On the one hand, it can be surprising and maybe a bit of a letdown; on the other hand, it drives me to the truth that we need more comprehensive sex education. We need more skills-based dialogue, training, and presentations. We need more formats for people to talk to others, transform, and confront biases. I would tell people trying to enter this field, women especially, full steam ahead. If this is your calling, you're meant to do this - the world is meant to hear what you have to say.

One of the challenges is funding and that can relate to politics. I think there is a fear of what sex education covers. Right now, there's been renewed interest in abstinence-only sex education because of a disputed claim that if we tell kids different things that they may not know about their bodies, that puts them in danger. The reality is, with technology and the internet, kids have access to phones at wildly younger ages which exposes them to potentially that same information without an appropriate context in which to ingest or question it. How the internet presents sex and what children might learn will be categorically different than if it's from a skilled teacher. Kids will inevitable see videos or pictures and hear myths or truths from friends about intimacy, that will never change. But, how children can interact and process that knowledge is critical to a well-rounded understanding of relationships to themselves as well as others. Research also negates the fear that exposing people to certain material leads them to do it more. Actually, when it's done comprehensively, holistic education can provide the exact types of care that allow people to make the right choices and potentially avoid harm, rather than perpetuate it.

Community is a big one, especially with people who have different day-to-day lives and histories to me. Curiosity as well, to hear other perspectives and to benefit from knowing more about the world. People are so different, brilliant, and complex! That leads me to diversity, which is huge for me. I would also say compassion. I think it can sometimes be, unfortunately, a not so compassionate world. The more grace we give ourselves and others can only build better bonds between groups of people who can then come together, which brings me back full-circle to the value of community.