Lisa
Burt-Parkhurst, Program Manager for Laraway’s Backpack Program, recalls her
grandmother, Evelyn, with great fondness.
Lisa believes success is relational---if one person believes in you, it
can really change your life.
“For me, it
was my Gram. She showed me unconditional
love,” Lisa says. “She believed in
me. My father passed away when I was
young and my grandparents gave me a piece of land.” This land hosts a plentiful stand of maple
trees where Lisa, her husband, and young adult son live and operate a family
sugaring business.
Lisa
actively supervises Backpack’s case managers, each of whom juggles multiple
families’ complex dynamics on their caseload.
Backpack supports children experiencing barriers to academic
achievement---capitalizing on child, youth and family strengths---while
promoting positive social, emotional and behavioral growth. By extension, Backpack supports families to
foster overall stability. Lisa also
makes herself available for a check-in or targeted advice to frontline staff
working with individual students.
“I’m a
problem-solver,” Lisa says. “I’m good at
finding solutions to problems that come up.
I really try to be a good support for my staff. I want them to know I’m there for them.”
Lisa’s path
to human services was not a straight line. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education,
intending to be a teacher. Upon
graduation from college, teaching jobs were few and far between.
“I branched
out and applied to Laraway for a case manager position,” Lisa says.
She
acknowledges today that she wasn’t entirely sure of all the job would
entail. Hired by Substitute Care,
Laraway’s therapeutic foster care program, in 2007, Lisa acknowledges it took
her a full year to really learn her
role, in all its complexities. A cookie
cutter approach does not work with youth in foster care. It was incumbent upon her to piece together
support services for traumatized youth on her caseload, services that, hopefully,
eased their transitions to adulthood.
She also developed a sense of how the legal system operated in relation
to youth in state custody.
Eleven
years later, Lisa has advanced her career at Laraway, assuming roles in
Backpack which included PBIS Analyst, Case Manager, Assistant Consultant, and
now, Program Manager for Tier III Services.
She’s presently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Psychology with Applied
Behavior Analysis.
It is often
said that one does not choose to work in human services but, instead, human
services chooses one to work in the field.
Empathy, patience, perseverance and hope are required to best serve kids
and families experiencing myriad challenges.
“I realize
I’m just really good at it,” Lisa says.
“I grew up in poverty, with a dysfunctional family---so I get it. I understand.
I lived it. I have developed
therapeutic ways to manage my past. I
have goals. I’m forty-seven and I’m still
working toward my goals!”
Lisa shows
compassion and understanding towards her family of origin. Adopting this healthy stance is core to
healing and making peace with one’s past.
“Has my
family grown?” Lisa asks aloud. “Yes. I think I was able to help them grow.”
Thank you,
Lisa, for helping the children and families we serve heal and grow while serving
as an inspiration to up-and-coming staff.
