When it comes to life at Ascend, we love sharing what happens behind the scenes. As you get to know our staff and how they interact with our clients, you get a better sense of how we help teens and their families heal from mental health concerns that are affecting the entire family system.
Every month, we choose to spotlight a different individual that has done outstanding work during their time with us. This month, we’ve got Destiny on deck. Her work as a Lead Mentor is vital to everyday functionality at Ascend. Learn more about what she does and how she helps teens under our care thrive!
Take the Lead
As Lead Mentor, Destiny has a lot of responsibilities on her shoulders. In addition to managing the other mentors at the residential facility, she also has to be there for our clients and clinical staff. She handles mood dysregulation and de-escalation during intense moments with clients, as well as working closely with clinicians and programming coordinators to ensure everything is running smoothly. Destiny likes to say that she’s a Lead Mentor for everyone – not just the kids in the program!
Before Becoming a Mentor
Destiny actually found her dream career right out of college. She was constantly told how good she was at talking to people and making them feel better, so she looked for a job that fit her skill set. Destiny often says that she’s not great at sugarcoating things, but she can help anyone through tough times with honesty and authenticity. How lucky is Ascend that we snatched her up before anybody else could?
Before joining our team, Destiny was in school. This is her first experience working with a team like ours. While going to school for art and fashion, she started a clothing brand to help her pay for tuition and keep her afloat during dorm life. With this self-starter mentality, she learned a lot about management, responsibility, and accountability. Her experience was often overwhelming, but she loves the rewarding feeling of success.
Why Ascend?
Destiny’s favorite thing about working at Ascend is watching the kids get better. They may come in hopeless, feeling down, or deep in depression, but there’s always something meaningful that helps them work through their concerns. As our clients process their issues through family therapy and individual sessions, they re-engage with the world around them – becoming more active and insightful with each passing day.
Another thing Destiny loves about Ascend is the support she gets from the entire team. Whether it’s an urgent situation with a client or long-term goals for personal improvement, Destiny knows she can count on everyone around her to get the job done and maintain a healthy, transparent working environment.
We Love Destiny
Even though she may not have a ton of experience, Destiny has an innate sense of connection to all of our clients. She opens herself to them, ensuring they know that they can come to her whenever they need something. Destiny is transparent about her mistakes and her growth, which encourages our clients to trust her with their pain and personal experiences. She’s so relatable and caring, but she doesn’t let our clients wallow in fear or uncertainty. Coddling is not part of her personality, and our teens know they’ll always get a straight answer when they talk to Destiny.
Her Routine At Ascend
A lot of Destiny’s day revolves around scheduling. She keeps the kids updated about what they can expect so they can prepare themselves for whatever adventures lie ahead. She also ensures that our facility manager, Brenda, and clinical director, Dr. Kyle, are on the same page about daily management tasks, checking in on what needs to get done. Destiny frequently works Brenda and Dr. Kyle, collaborating with them on various ideas to improve Ascend’s functionality.
She ends her day with notes and communication to ensure the entire care team for every child knows what happened throughout the day so we can update their treatment plan accordingly.
Why She Does What She Does
Destiny is fully dedicated to her work at Ascend, motivated every day by her own life experiences. She wishes that she had a mentor by her side at 12 or 13 who could have guided her in the same way that she guides the teens at Ascend. She knows how difficult it is to go it alone when life is hard, and she never wants to leave these kids feeling as hopeless and lost as she once felt. She’s a living example that life moves forward and things improve if you trust the process and work through your problems.
Even though she feels like she’s made it through all the toughest stuff, Destiny still thinks she has a lot to learn. Ascend has taught her so much about patience and resilience, tools that she continues to use throughout her interactions with clients and staff. She applies the lessons she learned to her own life and continues to see progress in her own mental health.
Destiny Has More to Offer
Because of her schooling, Destiny is an amazing artist, and she’s currently working on a painted series for Ascend. She finds painting to be relaxing after a long shift, and she loves seeing people and places come to life first as pencil sketches and then through layers of paint and color. We can’t wait to unveil her work once it’s done!
Learn More About Ascend
That’s it for this month’s spotlight, but we promise we have more in store in the months to come. Keep checking our blog and social media accounts to learn more about our team and their work with our clients!
