By unanimous vote, Amy Childress is our newest member of the Collective, having accepted the challenge to assume the position of Lead in the B4 Unit. For some time now, I have been watching Ms.. Childress and how she mentors the women here with such humility and grace.
Part of what we do in the Peer Success is to host events which are geared towards bringing the community together, ever mindful that we have parameters to be cautious of, such as being respectful to the community who are not participating ( keeping the noise down ) it’s a delicate dance. Amy Childress is one of those perfect hostesses who keeps smiling no matter what. She is encouraging and she is a woman who knows no stranger, all folks matter to her, she treats everyone equally and this is such a great trait in leading a mentor group.
She is a natural leader.
Ms.. Childress is highly organized, self-motivated and able to understand deep concepts and yet has that lovely life- skill of being able to laugh things off and keep going. She has created a safe space here where all participants feel welcome to come and dive into uncharted territories which are, in truth, potentially life- changing. It’s quite obvious that her team feel supported, inspired and encouraged to attend meetings and follow her direction. They mentors respect her, as she gives them respect.
On Mondays, she hosts a Parenting Workshop. Last week, I had challenged her with a list of questions to raise in her group pertaining to ‘ parenting for back to school – holding the children accountable. Tough stuff, right?
Amy blew my mind with the most brilliant idea, challenging the women to create schedule to follow together, obviously best done with the children, but training them to appreciate a life of schedule. ( being an advocate of emotional intelligence with self regulation at the top of the guide, I see the benefits )
In this schedule, the parents may also find a creative way to build back trust with the child. Such a Win / Win.
While running the Peer Success Program here, I have heard women give a barrage of reasons for which they mean to say they have no time to give back to their community: they have stuff going on at home, they are too busy, they don’t care for “these women”, or whatever.
Aside from being in Vocational all day, Ms.. Childress has a more complex and stressful situation than I can even begin to describe, suffice to say, she has a daughter who has severe mental health issues as a result of a situation she endured and Amy never allows her personal issues to interfere with her commitments, quite the contrary, she is planting seeds and putting positivity out into the universe with the intent of getting home to her daughter as soon as possible. That is the secret of her drive and I have a
great deal of respect and admiration for this.
Amy Childress has my full support for early release in whatever form that takes.
I know, first hand, she will be a positive attribute to her community.
Celeste Monette Blair
Creator of Peer Success &
The Collective
