- Speaker #0
Hello, hello, Queens Unburdened. We are so excited about our special guest that we have today. I am Dr. Mika McGuire, psych nurse practitioner.
- Speaker #1
And I'm Crystal Turner, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner.
- Speaker #0
So in honor of April being Autism Awareness Month, we wanted to not only touch on this subject, but we also wanted to bring an expert into the room. So we are so excited. I have a friend and business neighbor of mine. Her name is Julie Grisela Webb. She is a native of the Philippines, a board certified behavior analyst and licensed mental health counselor at Advanced Behavioral Health Analysis and the founder of Advanced. Sacred Hope Academy. This is a busy lady, so thank you, Julie. She holds a master's degree in counseling and psychology from Troy University, completed her BCBA coursework through Florida Institute of Technology, and has a bachelor's degree in international studies from the University of West Florida. Go Argos. She earned her license in mental health counseling in 2015, and her certification is a board-certified behavioral analyst in 2017. Julie enjoys wearing many hats, including educator, counselor, consultant, researcher, current chair of the Multicultural Committee of Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce, and most preciously, a mother to four kids and a dog. Welcome, Julie. Thank you so much for joining us on our podcast with a perspective on mental health for women of color. Welcome, welcome. Our first question, we want to start with just all the things. So that was a lot, right? You are a busy woman, but I would love to know more about your journey in founding your school for children on the spectrum and your ABA clinic. What inspired you to take this path?
- Speaker #2
sure it's like where do we start but like we said a native of the philippines so that background really has influenced where i am today so growing up in the jungles of the philippines and when i say jungles it really is the jungle you know that's the force in the back the waterfalls right and when you travel to school it took us about an hour and a half you know to get there so it was a process but i remember being seven and and gathering all the kids in the village and and you know, figuring out where's the chalk and writing ABCs and one, two, threes on the wall, and then being excited to be in front of kids and teach them something new. You know, so it starts there. And then as I grew up, eventually moved to the Philippines, to Texas, and then started high school, middle school and high school there. And through leadership, you know, really realizing that I want to work with people, I want to help people, you know, fast forward to having my firstborn, he was diagnosed with something called tyrosinemia and part of the enzyme in the liver wasn't working. So it turned into cancer. So with that experience in Yale University, we had to go through a liver transplant. So with the liver transplant, there was an amazing team of mental health crew, social workers, mental health therapists, pastors, and how they helped in that crisis was amazing. And I thought I could do that. if I've been in a situation like this, I want to do that for others. Right. And so trying to figure out how I know when kids, right. I know I'm Filipina. So my mom has always said, you're either going to be a nurse or a doctor, right? There's, there's two choices here. And so, but there's, there's other ways. Right. And through that, having Genghis, he's, by the way, 16 now, and he's, he's amazing about to be 16. He still gets checked in at Yale, but he's, he's great. And then. Moving forward, dealing with my youngest sister and her teen years and how difficult it was. And I was like, OK, I'd love to work with teens, too. You know, I'm just one. I see all these situations like I can help. I can I can be a part of their progress. And so I started my bachelor's in international studies. Why? Because I want to help the world somehow. Master's degree in counseling and psychology and through internship program. You know, I happen to be in a clinic with both. ABA therapy and mental health therapy. From there, I knew I need to learn how to use ABA in our practice because then I'm serving most kids that are in the autism realm. So I would need to know that. So added that on and just fell in love with it. It was hearing a kid that's three or four that have never used words the entire time and all of a sudden saying, you know, looking at me with eye contact and saying, Jesus, right? It was like, oh my goodness. It was like, that is a miracle. And I want more of that. And I want them to succeed. So from there, the school, well, the clinic was created first. And then the struggles with transitioning kids from the clinic to the school. So if we have a four or five-year-old and we transition them to the next level, most of our schools in the area don't have that training, the resource to be able to serve our kids in the spectrum or even with ADHD, just the tools. So, you know, I had a mom that begged and say, is there any way that you can just have a small school? you can take my child and, you know, help them. And that's really hard to say no when, you know, they're in tears, right? And they just, they just want help. So in that process, we created Advanced Air Conditioning Academy, started off with seven kids. Now we're at 31. and every year it seems to be growing. And again, the same principle here is to transition kids from one to the next level, right? So, and here we are now with 20 kids on the wait list. So there's a great need to figure out a space for them, you know, so that's why we have all these events for fundraising. But yeah, I'm sure I've missed a couple of things in there in the journey, but that's pretty much it.
- Speaker #0
That's awesome. Thank you so much for sharing that. So thank you. what I heard was out of need, these things were born. So, and, and the helper in you, like I can fix that. I can do that. So love it. Thank you.
- Speaker #1
Yeah, that is so beautiful. I love the vision. I love the vision, the inspiration, the vision and the mission, all of it. That's a beautiful, beautiful motivation. I think that's what we should try our best to work from to be truly inspired. But I want to ask you for our listeners who may not be familiar. Could you explain what autism spectrum disorder is and the importance of early diagnosis and intervention?
- Speaker #2
We all know that it's early in our developmental process with our children, right? But the first six years is so important. And 10 years ago, diagnosis doesn't come until later on with autism. So autism, we have our kids that will show those signs in deficits in communications, deficits in social skills. deficits in adaptive and behavior challenges comes with that. Sometimes we have gastro issue that comes along with that too. But it's a range, right? It's a spectrum. So we can have mild, moderate, or severe autism. And sometimes it's harder to detect that when they're younger. And we start to see those behavior increase and become even more escalated because they don't have the means to communicate. So it just, then we... And we get those behaviors like throwing things and SIVs, self-injurious behaviors. So that's autism. And I'm sure you guys could add to that, but that's what we see on a daily basis, especially those behavior challenges that comes about from the deficits.
- Speaker #0
I like that. I like that, Julie, because I feel like a lot of times people feel like they're just being bad. Right. And even children with ADHD get that. And it's like, no, no, no. Like they're they can't communicate the way that they want to or, you know, they can't tell you what's going on. It could be good, bad or in between. So I'm glad that you mentioned like the behavior piece to it, because so often that's what we see. But it's like. there's so much more to that. But the behavior, I think, is what tends to get parents'attention or even the teacher's attention. Because some parents might not realize, especially if it's their first child, that this is not developmentally appropriate. So yeah, thank you for sharing that. Crystal, did you want to?
- Speaker #1
Yeah, no, yeah. I think that's, especially that spectrum portion, you hear this word that someone's on the spectrum. I don't even know if that's the way that things should be termed, but. Like, just to understand that there is a broad way that this can present. Some people are less functional, some people are more functional. My son had a friend who was diagnosed with autism. He was maybe 14. But I think maybe it was missed because they were very high functioning, like very advanced in math and in a lot of areas. And I think there could be this. The notion for many people that to have autism means that you cannot function and there is no advancement that a person could display. So I think that that spectrum is important for people to know.
- Speaker #0
Absolutely. And, you know, when you speak of the different levels on the spectrum, my oldest son was diagnosed with what was known as Asperger's. And now that's what mild. Right. And so he was 10. And I was like, how did I miss this? But he was a little quirky. That's what I would always say. My kid's a little quirky, but he was super smart. And so a lot of times they have a very focused and special interest. And the way that the psychologist described it to me was that. his child had had some rare cancer and we were in Texas at the time. And so they, he said, yeah, I took him to this doc. He knew everything about this cancer. He had zero bedside manner, wouldn't look me in my eye. He said, I'm pretty sure he was on the spectrum, but I would not take my child to anybody else because he knew that disease inside and out. And I'm like, yeah. So a lot of times some of my young adults that have the mild, you know, they're on the milder end of the spectrum. I'm like, what's your superpower? And their faces just light up. And I'm like, what do you know everything about? And they're just like. you know, they're like, you understand this. I'm like, yeah, what's your thing? You know? So my oldest, his thing is always animals. So he's a marine biology major in college. So he's functioning fine as far as I'm concerned, you know? So I feel like that's like my greatest testimony is just like, that doesn't mean, you know, they're stamped with this seal of lack of approval. It's like, okay, what are their strengths and how do I nurture that and make sure that they feel seen and heard? So that's awesome. All right. So the next thing I specifically want to ask about is ABA therapy. We often hear that related to autism. Can you explain what ABA therapy is and how does it benefit children with autism, Julie?
- Speaker #2
Sure. Applied behavior analysis is, I mean, it's behavior therapy. However, it's a whole lot of reinforcing skill sets that they don't have quite yet. Right. So that's really what it is. And then Along that, we have different techniques that we use to help out in the process of getting those skill sets. And these are things that people know. We say pre-teaching, pre-MAC principle, which means you eat your broccoli first before you have your cookie. Right. Behavior momentum is something that we use, which is we get kids to do things that they've already mastered and then present something that they haven't so that in the process, they've already said yes to you. Hey. pick up the trash for me, right? Can you walk over and take it to the trash can? Now give me a high five. Now sit down and let's work on this simple ABC, right? Or those are techniques that we utilize every day, but the biggest thing is reinforcing every step of the way. And ABA is the gold standard for autism.
- Speaker #0
Absolutely. And you know, like when I hear that, Julie, I'm like, that just sounds like good parenting to me, right? Because it's like, this is how we get them to do what we want them to do without yelling and screaming. And, you know, they get something out of it. We reinforce it. We get what we want out of it, the behavior. So thank you for explaining that to us.
- Speaker #1
Yeah, it sounds like positive reinforcement. Like that's what I'm hearing like that, that in that. anyone can receive and appreciate that positive reinforcement. That always encourages us to want to do more when we are acknowledged for it. That's important. Okay. So my next question for you would be, what are some common challenges that children with autism face as you've seen it? And how does your school and your clinic address these? And it's a two-part question, so I'll just give you that first.
- Speaker #2
So if we get them between the ages of two, which is amazing, two and five, the initial way is that we bring them to the clinic first, right? So, and we make sure that we assess where are we skills, skill-wise. And the challenges that we often find is the kids are withdrawn, right? We have kids that would start to line up things and... which is actually to me is beautiful. There is organization in the chaos of the world. I think that's great. So we've had kids come in and they're two and they would line up everything, everything they see is lined up. So the piece of communicating and connecting with others is difficult because they're so focused on one thing. So if I call their name, Hey, John, come here. They won't because they're too busy, right? It's their time anyways. So, and then we have one that could be, um, a little bit more so that mild, right? We've got, we've got moderate, which could be that they cannot socialization. It's hard. You know, they, we have groups, we have lots of kids in there, but typically they'll just go and do their own thing. They're okay with maybe another person in the room, but they don't see them as if they're as if the people in the room are just objects, you know, almost. So those are challenges. And then of course you have moms that want to hear their kids say mom, that they don't, right. Or I love you that. you know, no, right. Or they don't want to be touched, right? They just, sensory is such a big deal. Lights is a big deal. Sounds is a big deal. And then we have kids that are on strict diets, right? So that means that if you give them that one M&M, it's going to be not just for a day, but for a week, they're going to go through. So their system doesn't function with all that sugar and all that food dye for whatever reason. If we get... Kids that are older, what happens is they already have some behaviors that works for them. It's just a way for them to communicate. So that means they're already banging their heads on the wall, right? And they're really just saying something, but that unfortunately, that's what they have learned is if I do that, then I get to get out of math. If I do that, somebody hands me McDonald's. If I do that, you know, if I punch somebody in the face, they go away, which works. That's the form of communication. So those challenges range with age and skill sets, right? But what we do here is that that challenges is already in the clinic, which means it's at home. It's in the community. It's at school. So how are we going to learn if we have all those challenges, right? So we start with a clinic and give them the skills they need, but then we scoot them in our school. a little bit at a time. So that means that if they're around the kindergarten age, there's a kindergarten class and a kindergarten teacher that's amazing. And she will have a little bit of time, a little bit of access to them to introduce circle time, to introduce just the basic learning foundations, which is come here, stand up, put your backpack up, right? So then we do that just a little at a time and level up so that they can move to the next level. I hope I... answer that question. That was a two-part question.
- Speaker #1
Yeah. And I'm going to jump to that next part, but I do like what you say, because what it helps me to think about when I'm hearing what you're saying is that, you know, children with autism have a level of awareness. So their way of functioning and getting what they want is coming because they have an awareness of something that works. And I just, I think it's so important because I think sometimes when there's a stereotypical view of someone with autism is that they don't have awareness. They don't have any, any skills. They can't, they don't feel a thing. So the goal is to then control, just control their behavior instead of like seeing that they just have this different way of, of engaging. Um,
- Speaker #2
all right.
- Speaker #1
So yes, that second part to my question would be, are there any misconceptions about autism that you would like to dispel or address right now?
- Speaker #2
I think, picking up Dr. Crystal, what you said, it's like they're not what you may think. And the problem is we have kept our kids separate from the community. Oftentimes when there's a special education program, they're not in the general public. They're in a setting where they may be in a back room. And I know part of it is we're protecting them. but part of the issue there too, is that we're not giving them the tools to communicate, you know, and, and get better at that. Right. So, so that's an issue that definitely want to be a part of being a resource to fix that. How do we do that? And that means that we have to come together. you know, as a community so that people could understand that just because you have autism doesn't mean you can't talk to them just because they're flapping their hands in public, right? Like, what do you do with that? I know that seems weird, but I'm like, I wish I could do that. I wish I could go in front of like, I have those social blocks. I feel like that when you're excited about something, it's okay to express it. Right. And when we're doing this, that's expression, right? We do it in dance. We do it in singing. So we have kids that hum, you know, like, come away, sing, sing to me, please. Right. We have kids that will sing first before they talk. I'll sing along with whatever you all sing the communication piece. Right. But there, there is that need of acceptance and seeing this is what autism is, but autism isn't something that we need to shy away from. We actually, every, all of our kids want attention. Either that's a high five or if not watch out, right. They might not like high five, but just a wave, a smile. a smile is a big deal everybody wants to see a smile
- Speaker #1
Oh, that's beautiful. I love that. Thank you for that insight.
- Speaker #0
That's so good. My youngest son, I just wanted to share a quick story. He was in the sixth grade, but in his first grade class, I believe it was, in his third grade class, it was like an inclusive class. So it was children with special needs in there. And so his teachers would always say like, he is so sweet to them. He's so understanding, you know, and I'm like, well, he has a brother at home that, you know, he's accustomed to dealing with this, you know, and, but it was, I loved it because it didn't have them, like you said, put away in this room by themselves. But not only are they, I felt like it was a two-part benefit. The children that were general education, they learned how to deal with children that were different from them and vice versa. So it allowed the children that were in the special education to see the general ed kids and like, oh, I can kind of do that. And as a parent with a child that he's now 20 now, but before I knew he was diagnosed with ADHD at five, but I remember when we were in New Mexico, his school counselor went to the same church and he would always be like, I just want to commend you for like always having him out. Like you don't keep him, you know, stowed away somewhere. I'm like, yeah, he's going to go to kids'church. He's going to do all the things. I didn't know what I was doing. You know, I was a young mom, but I'm like, why can't he go? You know, kind of thing. And he wouldn't act out there. He had a ball. So I felt like it was very similar to where. even if some of his behavior was a little bit off, he saw other kids and was like, oh, they're not doing that. Maybe I shouldn't. or, you know, that kind of thing. But it's just interesting. And I hope that they do more of that where they integrate the classrooms because, you know, it's teaching everybody how to be accepting of everyone, no matter where we are at a very young age. So.
- Speaker #1
I love that. That's like true diversity, right? Like. Oh,
- Speaker #0
absolutely.
- Speaker #1
Diversity in all the ways.
- Speaker #0
And, you know, sometimes the class would have come to a halt and my little one would be like, yeah, today such and such did blah, blah, blah, you know, and he's just like. it didn't bug him. It didn't bother him. So even when we see it out in public or whatever, you know, I'll be like, you know, my oldest, he's sitting there like, I'm like, don't look at them. Like the last thing that parent needs is you staring at them. And he's not even panicked because he's zoning out into his own world doing stuff. So it's just kind of funny how, you know, I have both of the perspectives at home, but yeah, he's very, the little one is very mindful of, you know, people that need extra help and things like that. Even the oldest one too, but especially my younger son, because he was exposed to that so very young. So kudos to his school district for that. Julie, I wanted to ask you about a success story. So last year, I had the honor of attending a gala for Julie's school. So I heard several success stories and I was like sitting there trying not to cry. But I would love to hear one success story or rewarding, excuse me, rewarding experience you've had with working with the children that you have in your clinic and at the school.
- Speaker #2
Oh, that's a hard question. Like you said, there's so many hard, you know, there's so many. difficult journeys that kids have been through. But I would say, let's talk about this year at ASHA. When we talk about inclusivity, this is our sixth year. We're going into our sixth year. And initially what we did was separate, separate kids that needed a little bit more assistance. And because everywhere we go, it's hired to hire any professionals that it seems like. but we were kind of forced, but I'm so glad to, to integrate our kids with a severe or moderate into kids that don't have, you know, our 31 kids, not all of them have diagnosis. Right. So to put them in the classroom and to see the beauty of the kids accepting. you know, and looking for them. And then now our kids with the severe autism could say, hey, we're so-and-so today, right? Because again, they might be rigid in their view of things that, you know, John has to be here, right? And then Sarah has to be right here. And if Sarah's not there, you just messed up their world. So that's a success in that there is a relationship happening, right? Especially in our upper level class. When I say that, that's between our 13-year-olds and older kids. And they're together in this one class, there's 10 of them. and relationships are forming. And these are kids that have been bullied, right? These are kids that have just decided they're just not going to communicate and make friends because people are mean, right? Especially in middle school. I'd rather not go to school because I know how it's going to go, right? Somebody's going to tease me because of how I wear things or whatever. So that is success this year to see them have friendship. That's so important, right? To have somebody that you can talk to in your day. You're in school for hours. So to have somebody that you can call a friend. So that's definitely successful. And in that classroom is our friend and his parents are proud of who he is and what he's been through. His name is Talon. We talked about him at the gala and he's 13 now. And he used to come in and bang his head 150 times a day. And that's just our data. That's our clicker that we would click all day and go, oh goodness. again, it worked for him. It got him out of situation. He was trying to communicate that people is hard, you know, get me out of here. fast forward to now, we may see that once or twice a month, but something will be thrown on him that's just completely new, right? And that's, he's still expressing, but that de-escalation time, not two hours, it is less than 15 minutes. And then he goes right back into class. You know, the last time I called dad and said, listen, you know, we, it might be better that he goes home today. Well, dad comes rushing in and he's already in class and he told his dad, go home. Love it. so that and then for kids to want to be in school right they want to learn I think that's the piece that's missing right because if they don't want to be there I can't teach them algebra right and so we have kids that on the weekend they would put their backpack on and say I'm ready to go to school and that's what we want
- Speaker #0
that's changing lives. Like really, not only the lives of the children, but the families, because, you know, had they continued on that same path and, you know, the public school setting, what would they have really learned really besides let's just put them in this room and let's just go on with what we're doing. So I'm so grateful that you, you followed your heart and the need of the community to like. you know, these children obviously can function. They just need a different approach. What I heard earlier when you talked about how you slowly let them come in as kindergartners is that there is no cookie cutter approach to it. It sounds very individualized. Some kids might jump right in and love it. Others, they need a little bit more time, but it just sounds like it's not, okay, you're this old, you go in this class and this is how it goes. So I just love that. it seems to be very individualized to the needs of the children and families.
- Speaker #1
Definitely. I'm in complete agreement with that. The humanness is being brought out in people when there has been so much stigma. That's so important. So I want to ask you, what advice, Julie, would you give to parents who have just received their autism diagnosis for their child? And how can they best support their child's development?
- Speaker #2
number one, breathe. And I'm one, I'm all about praying. But know that once you have that diagnosis, it's the start of having resources and a community of help around you. Now, I know you have to look for that. And I know that could be difficult depending on where you are. But I would start with that pediatrician, that teacher to say, hey, I'm sure that in the past they have have parents that have been through it. right? A support with parents would be great, but definitely finding the professionals that could lead you in the next step, the next level for other child's developmental needs, wherever they are, right? I mean, you could be seven and still be at a two-year-old level developmentally, and that's okay. We start where we are, and then we find the resources, the community that will welcome us and allow us to go through, because that's grieving, right? I understand that. parents get that diagnosis, they are in tears. You know, they're already fast forwarding time, actually, 25 years later to say, are they getting married? Are they going to have kids? Are they, do I need to help them forever? You know, how is that going to be when I'm not here? That's the biggest thing. I hear that a lot. What happens when I'm not here? We're going to work together so that your kid have independent skills as they grow, right? So as scary as that diagnosis is, I understand, right? There are people. out there that could help. And there are programs depending on states that could help scholarships and grants. And you have to find somebody in your community that can lead you to the next person that can help.
- Speaker #0
That's good.
- Speaker #1
Yes, it is.
- Speaker #0
That's so good. And, you know, it's funny because there's actually universities that are kind of marked for like autism friendly universities. And so I was at the University of West Florida. I'm an alumni, just like Julie. They were marked as like one of the best schools for, you know, children on the spectrum. And I was just like, all right. And it's right in our backyard here in northwest Florida, which I was very happy to hear and see. it's just a great school, right? And no, you know, no plug there. But I didn't even think about that. But that just tells you the progress that we've made in society that we understand that they are fully capable of doing all the things that other young adults can do. They may or may not need some additional assistance, which, you know, at this point, I'd love to know more about it. We're not utilizing the service, but I was just happy to know that it was available if needed. And I kept kind of, are you sure you don't want it? Are you sure? no, mom, I'm fine. Okay. You know, because, you know, I'm big on early intervention. Anytime someone says like, my child's been diagnosed, I'm like. get all the help. You are their number one advocate. Nobody else is going to care as much as you about your child, period. And so finding, like Julie said, finding that support. And if you don't know, keep asking the right questions, knocking on the right doors until you finally get the answers because no one's going to come find you and say, hey, I heard your child needs X, Y, and Z. Nine times out of 10, you have to be kind of like a little bulldog and get them into what it is that you feel they need. Because like you said, once we're gone, we need to know that they're at the highest level of functioning that they can achieve.
- Speaker #1
So I have a cousin thinking about this now, her, she had a fraternal twins, a girl and a boy and her son developed, she found that he, I think he was maybe around five when she recognized that he was, he, he had autism and here in Chicago, he, he wasn't thriving at the schools, the schools, maybe they tried to have some accommodation or so, but he was not thriving. And she went back to, to Tennessee. I guess there's a school there that they, so she moved there, you know, because
- Speaker #0
she saw how much more he was able to thrive there, how much more attention they gave and assessments they did upon him, you know, being introduced to the school. And yeah, he's thriving very differently than he was here. And I can definitely see when he was engaged with family who didn't understand, you know, they were frustrated, right? And the frustration, you could see how it impacts him, you know, but to then be somewhere where there are around people who have more awareness, who... had more patience and just who had more skill and understanding how to engage. Now it's like he can be in his flow and he's not, he doesn't feel constricted. You know what I mean? It's, it's one of the best way I could see it. But I, I just think it's so, so important. This, this conversation is so important because, you know, mental health as a whole has a stigma, but there are certain, certain diagnosis of mental, mental health. issues that really still have a strong stigma. There's still stigma all the way around, but there are some where I think that stigma really impacts the care and the services that a person may receive. Julie, I wanted to ask you to share what platforms that you could be reached on and anything you have coming up that you would want to share with our community.
- Speaker #1
Thank you. Yeah. So probably the quickest would be the websites that's on the clinic side. That's AbbaTherapy.com, AbhaTherapy.com, and SchoolAdvancedSacredHopeAcademy.org. And then Facebook, if you want to see all the events, that's going to be Facebook.com and it's AshaAcademyFWB. And then for the clinic side, it's AbbaTherapy. and email, you can email me. I am one in the community that's like, just text me or email me that works a lot better. Don't call the clinic phone number, just email. And that's Julie G. Webb. that's two B's,.avhafwb at gmail.com. And as far as events goes, we have one coming up this weekend. So it's April Awareness Month. So it's a celebration of all things autism, Autism Awareness Month. So that's Emerald Coast Poker for Autism Tournament is coming up tomorrow. And that's at 12 at the Santa Rosa Mall here in Fort Walton Beach. And then we have Autos for Autism. and that's April 20th at 10 a.m. at Fort Walton Beach Santa Rosa Mall again and um and then we have the sixth annual international festival April 21st and that's going to be with David Triana's crew and at the Fort Walton Beach landing at 11 a.m. but they are fundraising for Advanced Jacob Hope Academy.
- Speaker #2
Wow. Awesome. A lot. This woman is busy. I need to get like you, Julie. I can learn a thing or two from you.
- Speaker #0
We have learned a thing or two just being in this. Yes, you come with a wealth. I love it. I absolutely love it. Yeah, I look forward to even like sharing some of your resources. I do have a few patients who they're, you know, adults, but they, you know, have been living with autism and still figuring things out for themselves. I would love to just still share resources with, you know, it's a great to have a resource where I can see that people are thriving. I mean, that the mission is clear. So thank you for sharing.
- Speaker #1
Yes, ma'am.
- Speaker #2
Absolutely. And I just want to finish with this. I feel like Julie. the work you're doing, you are building such a legacy, not only for yourself, but also the families that you work with, right? Because they're going to have these skills. It's like, they can go on and get married. They can go on and have fulfilling lives and do all the things. So it's just, the legacy is so huge. So I just wanted to tip my hat to you and just thank you for the work that you do. And we're so, like our parking lot is close enough. Like I hear the kids playing and they're just. out there having a good time. And I'm like, man, they're having a good time over there. And sometimes our patients will be like, what is that? I'm like, oh, that's the kids over there. They're like, they're having a good time over there. So I just, it always makes me smile to hear them out there playing and having a good time because I know that they are happy and healthy in your facility. So thank you for what you do. This has been beautiful.
- Speaker #0
Thank you, Julie.
- Speaker #1
Thank you.
- Speaker #0
And we'll see you all on our next episode. Bye, guys.
