About six years ago, my kids started telling their friends, I think you should talk to my mom.
We knew the world of however support and care gets doled out was wildly unfair and certainly none of their friends' fault and we were all on the same page that a therapist mom with a life-long open door policy to the kids was definitely a community resource.
It started with my youngest child, Sinead, and I and a little weekly “clinic” where we hung out and chatted with kids sitting in piles on our couches having sweet, insightful, funny, connective times.
It continued in various forms to the present.
For awhile, we carried on approaching this engagement inside our communal frame of adult elders being of service to the kids. Then it tipped and became so much more than we were expecting and now here we are inside a nonprofit getting to be part of something we love with our whole hearts.
In this present moment, there are community potlucks every month, small group meetings of various kinds, one-on-one mentorships, and a lot of hours clocked being together.
Sinead and a small team of kids keep their finger on the pulse of the Seattle Gen Z scene and tell me, Jen, what’s needed, where to be and what time to show up.
It's not hard to see WHY the kids would want to spend time with people who have real, true interest in what they’re dealing with personally and who also have an eye on what they’re obviously up against in their adult years to come. We certainly don't presume to have all the answers about anything about the future, but we know that whatever happens will require strength, sturdiness and community skills of care and connection.
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You can read more about me, Jen Payne, here. I was trained twenty years ago in psychotherapy and have picked up all manner of things to add to that work along the way. The one-on-one model of personal development is generally most familiar and sometimes the move, and, whenever possible, I lean (way) into the group and what happens for us there.
We so appreciate everyone who's joining in to support this work.