The Children's Advocacy Center of Jackson County

Tag: Michelle Wilson

  • Farewell to our Development Director, Michelle Wilson

    Farewell to our Development Director, Michelle Wilson

    By Tammi Pitzen, Executive Director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Jackson County

    As I sit behind my computer staring at a blank screen I am very humbled and possibly somewhat overwhelmed.

    Today I am writing about changes at the Children’s Advocacy Center.  Changes that bring on both feelings of happiness and deep sadness.  We are saying farewell to our Development Director, Michelle Wilson.  She is moving on to new adventures that, unfortunately for us, include a new job.

    Michelle has been part of the CAC team for seven years.  Staying put for seven years in the same nonprofit is not something that happens very frequently.  I like to say the players are always the same, just where they sit at the table is different.

    Many people recognize Michelle as one of the faces of the CAC.  Many people recognize Michelle as the person who raises revenue and rallies supporters for our agency.  Today I want to invite you to look deeper at Michelle’s contribution to this community.

    Without Michelle’s tireless efforts the CAC would not have been able to grow our capacity to serve the children and families we serve.  Let that sink in a moment.  Being the Development Director is so much more than just raising funds and awareness.

    Michelle has helped behind the scenes insure our staff have what they need in order to help abused children journey to healing.

    Literally thousands of children in Jackson County have been impacted by the work Michelle has done behind the scenes.  Thousands of abused children have been able to get forensic interviews, therapy, mentoring opportunities, advocacy, and medical exams and begin to a journey of healing.  Thousands of children understand that they have value.  Thousands of children have the gift of knowing that their abuse does not have to define who they are.

    Let’s change our lens and look at Michelle’s contribution from a different angle.  There are many professionals in Jackson County who work tirelessly to protect the children of Jackson County who have received specialized training as a result of Michelle’s work.  There are many professionals who were able to receive professional mentoring as a result of the funding secured through Michelle’s work.  This training and mentorship multiplies those thousands of children impacted by her work, probably at least tenfold.

    There are countless Board members that Michelle mentored.  There are countless Board members that Michelle has helped recognize in themselves new skills and new strengths that they never knew they had.  Michelle has done the same for many staff members.

    From a more personal place, I would like to thank Michelle for making my transition into the Director’s position two years ago so much easier than it could have been.

    It is always difficult to move to a new community.  It is always difficult to take on a new leadership role.  It is always difficult to come in and have new ideas and try to execute them in a place where there is an established culture.  Michelle certainly helped to keep me on a pace that would help in my success in all those areas.

    Tomorrow is Michelle’s last day with our Center as our Development Director.  In a blog or newsletter in the near future I will be introducing the person who will be taking on the role of Development Director.

    But for today in this moment, I am appreciating and recognizing Michelle’s contribution to our community.  Today in this moment, I am recognizing that I am going to miss the daily check ins, the million emails, and the daily reminders to take care of myself.  Today in this moment I will watch Michelle spread her wings just as a newly transformed butterfly does after emerging from their cocoon ready to tackle new challenges.

    Transition is part of the life cycle of any nonprofit.  We are definitely in another transition phase as committed staff members leave our agency to claim new adventures and new passions.  I take heart that with every goodbye, we are saying hello to someone with new energy and new ideas that will take us to the next phase of our life cycle.

  • Art and the Mother’s Touch

    By Michelle Wilson, Development Director for The Children’s Advocacy Center of Jackson County

    In honor of what would be my mom’s birthday this month, I am sharing a post I wrote three years ago on healing and the mother’s touch.   This could have been written now, with the references to the stories shared at this center and the healing that occurs here.  We now offer art workshops through our Building Bridges project and our therapists continue to offer a variety of types of creative therapies for hundreds of kids and teens each year.

    I am looking at a picture of my mom a few years ago on a trip to visit my sister in Colorado.  Beautiful flowers surround her and she has a relaxed smile on her face.

    I am smiling back at her this morning.

    My mother and the whole state of motherhood have been on my mind a lot this week.  I read a story the other day about a premature newborn who was pronounced dead, then was put on his mother’s chest and started breathing.  He is now 2 years old and thriving.

    A mother’s touch is pretty powerful stuff.

    My mom passed away a few months ago.  I was blessed to be able to spend the last several weeks of her life with her, along with other siblings.  During that time we talked a lot, when she wasn’t too tired, about the years we had all spent together and the years when life had us in different places around the country.  I have lived far away since I graduated from college and always hoped I wouldn’t regret living so far from my mom once she passed away.

    I have found, though, that I feel as if she and I were just as close as she was to my siblings living near her.  We talked on the phone a few times a week and saw each other at least once a year.  Our relationship was quiet, subtle, almost invisible because it was largely through phone contact.  But it was powerful, like the touch of that mama whose love helped her newborn breathe for the first time.

    It’s kind of like art, I realize, and the process of creating it.  The product may be powerful, with its own energy surrounding it, even if the process of creating it was invisible to the viewer.

    I think of Mom all the time now, dream about her.  Her touch is still with me, subtle and powerful, reminding me to breathe every day and take in all that is around me.  She invites me every day to choose life above everything and to enjoy every minute, every gift.  At night when I put my son to sleep, we say goodnight to her and to the angels.  I hug him very closely, wanting my touch to stay with him even when I’m not with him.

    This week was a difficult one at the Children’s Advocacy Center.  We heard too many stories of kids who have been hurt, most by family or extended family members.  We talk to each other about how it affects us, all of these stories.  And we talk about what we do to handle the stress and sadness of our work.

    The thing that works, it seems, is staying connected – to life, to what we love, to the gentle touches of the people around us.  I think of Mom to help me through.  I decide every morning to choose life and gratitude, no matter what is happening.  Her touch sustains me still.

    So many of the kids and teens who come to us don’t have this kind of memory of gentle, loving touch.  Most have memories of touch that harmed them.  In the mentoring program and in therapy and in all of our interactions with them we try to give them something of what they missed.  Something of the mother’s touch.

    Through the art program we offer them a way to choose life in the face of sadness and despair.  They create works that reflect their lives and their hopes.  Through the touch of the brush to the canvas, they can experience something they may never have had.  Through the kind words and support of their mentors and those who see their works, we hope they can begin to have memories that will sustain them, much like the memory of my mother’s voice sustains me.

    I choose to believe that we can do this, help them create an internal voice and memory that will help them remember to breathe when life gets difficult.

    I believe the mother’s touch is always there, something we can pass on to each other when needed, an invisible life force with a tangible energy all its own.

    We can do it through kind words, art, anything that helps to create the energy that can sustain us, no matter what we face.