We Break the Rules
We break the rules. On purpose. Pretty regularly.
The first year of Everybody Matters, Franco needed to move to a different school for special services.
Franco’s mother was the opposite of happy about that and stated rather forcefully, “No! Absolutely not. Franco has Everybody Matters here and he can not move unless he gets Everybody Matters at the new school!”
Everybody Matters was not at the new school.
The Principal turned to me imploringly, “Can you follow him to the new school?”
"Absolutely." I replied.
One hundred percent of the shocked faces in the meeting whirled my way with someone squeaking out in confusion, “You can do that?”
I nodded, “I can do whatever I want. It’s my program.”
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There was a stunned silence and then we all kind of laughed. A realization hit - there is no committee. There is no council. There is no red tape. There is no hurdle. There is no ridiculous rule keeping me from being able to do the right thing. The right thing is for the intern to follow Franco to the new school. The intern did. Franco flourished.
And so, we’ve been making this same kind of decision for the past decade. Over and over. Problem pops up - our team gets excited - we rush to the table where we sit in a circle and rumble with options - then choose the best option - then do the right thing.
It’s kind of our jam.
And this year, that helped us provide 13,558 (yes, read that number again, that’s a whole gob) of productive contacts to 1,486 students while training 44 mental health professionals.
In the past decade we’ve provided 74,914 meetings - to nearly 9,700 people! What we do works. And people feel better.
I think I’m supposed to say more words here because there’s some type of rule that blogs need to be long and blah blah and blather. But nope - we’re all busy with more important things to do - so go break your own rules to make the world better and I’ll stop typing these silly …
Apply today to be an Everybody Matters intern.
Donate today to help us help kids cope and thrive.
Look at these learners. They’re soaking it in.
Gobbling up all these great new ideas.
And when the training ends, we shrug our shoulders and say, "okay - we just gave you the very itty bitty basics - you know nothing yet - your real teachers will be the kiddos."
"Huh? What?" they say…
At Everybody Matters we’re not horsing around
At Everybody Matters we’re not horsing around … except when we are. We consistently think outside of the box and sometimes even into the arena - so we partnered with The Heart of the Matter so our interns could learn about Equine Therapy utilizing the Eagala model. Here’s what it was like, right from the horse’s … whoops, I mean, interns’ mouths:
Being at The Heart of The Matter was a magical experience. I immediately felt at ease and comforted being around the animals and my peers
So, even though I’m the CEO
So, even though I’m the CEO, I still do direct practice whenever I can - you know, if I don’t have a little dried play-doh caked under my fingernails at the end of the day, I’m not sure I’ve been working hard enough. And last week, when a young boy and I were reviewing the progress he’s been making on learning to be a good friend we came across a picture he’d drawn of me the second week we met.
He looked at it and was a little confused and said, “wait, I forgot your gray hair!”
Interns are the STAR OF THE SHOW
Ever had one of those internships where your supervisor is super talented but also harried and although you are shadowing and kind of learning along the way, it feels a little like you’re just “along for the ride”? That’s usually how it works and it SHOULD work that way because social workers are rushing around solving crises on the daily, and interns simply can’t be their first priority.
Unless of course the interns are at Everybody Matters where they are the PRIORITY ONE.
The Origin of Everybody Matters.
So, the experts in blogging said, “tell ‘em how this all got started.” Here goes:
Everyone loves to hear an origin story! Apple started in a garage. Potato chips were born when some gold miner accidentally dropped his potato slice in boiling bacon grease (um, I made that up, don’t fact check it!) But you get what I mean! Who thought up Spanx? That sliced bread sure is all the rage!
And so, the origin of Everybody Matters, 101: On an idyllic spring day while riding my unicorn through a meadow dotted with fairies and gnomes (those little scamps) and singing with a trill while
Everybody Matters. Period.
Wait, wait, wait! Don’t read on so quickly. Go back and look at that. That’s the moral of the story: Everybody Matters. Period.
For us, this isn't a talking point. It’s not an opinion. It’s our truth. We imagine a world in which Everybody Matters. Period. I wanted to stop writing after that first line, but…