Empowering Families: Home Security, Mentorship, and Building a Legacy with Katie Hall

In this episode, Valerie sits down with Katie Hall—wife, mom, Gigi, mentor to teens and young adults with disabilities, and founder of Secure Your Hive. Katie shares her journey into mentoring, how this work has shaped her life and business, and how she now helps families save on essential services and create flexible, sustainable income streams—something especially meaningful for caregivers who cannot work traditional jobs.

Katie and Valerie also dive into the crucial topic of home security for forever homes, including smart-home options, safety features, and real-life considerations for families whose children may wander or require additional layers of monitoring.

Key Moments:

Katie’s unexpected journey into mentoring teens and young adults with differing abilities

• How caretaking for her sister opened her heart.
• The Facebook post that changed her life.
• Why dignity and language matter (“You are not a babysitter”).
• The beautiful moment when one of the teens later wrote a school paper naming Katie as her hero.

How mentoring shaped Katie personally and professionally

• Why she intentionally uses the word mentor rather than aid.
• The deep relationships she’s built with the families she serves.
• How walking alongside one family opened doors to support many others.

Flexible, home-based income for caregivers

Katie breaks down:

• How she helps families save 30–50% on health care.
• Ways to reduce costs on essentials like mobile services, identity protection, and home utilities.
• Why service-based income can create residual earnings that grow over time.
• How this income can be left to your child in a trust—a financial game changer for many families.
• Opportunities for parents to learn, train, and build their own flexible business at home.

Home security for forever homes

Katie shares real, practical insights into:

• Smart locks, keypads, and phone app access
• Indoor and outdoor cameras (and why you may choose one or the other)
• Door and window sensors
• Why these systems offer peace of mind for families with kids or adults who may wander
• How automation (lights, thermostats, door locks) can support safety and independence
• The security company she uses and recommends (Vivint)

Key Quote from the Episode

“People say I’m changing their lives, but they’re changing mine.” – Katie

Connect with Katie Hall

website: www.secureyourhive.biz 

email: katie@secureyourhive.biz

Text: 1-949-228-7443. (Quote Forever Home)

Thank You for Listening!

Thank you for being part of the Forever Home for Our Kids with Disabilities community.
Your support throughout 2025 has meant the world.

If this episode encouraged you or opened your eyes to new possibilities, please share it with another parent or caregiver navigating this journey.

Connect with Valerie

info@foreverhomeconsulting.ca

Music Acknowledgement: Audio Coffee - Denys Kyshchuk

Editor: Scott Arbeau

Link for book: The S.H.I.N.E. Principle: The special needs mom's path to strength, hope and happiness by Valerie Arbeau

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CW18ZXGX (Canada)

Learn more about your host at:
https://coachingwithvalerieanne.com/

Transcript

[00:59:59:24 - 01:00:09:17]

Katie

 You would be able to get back in with just the keypad and or if you had your phone with you, there's an app on the phone to be able to get in. But I have a couple of cameras. I have one camera that's in my living room that just basically covers the front door, the kitchen area, mainly where we are hanging out because they come to my home. And then also in the front yard, which is just watching my front driveway, things like that. You can have more cameras. You don't have to have any cameras inside your house. It could just be securing your border. But what I also like is that the doors have little sensors like when the front door opens. It tells me front door open, kitchen door open, slider right here is open, things like that. So it helps to kind of give you an extra set of ears.

[01:00:42:21 - 01:00:52:13]

 (Music)

[01:01:03:15 - 01:01:07:05]

Valerie

 Hello and welcome to Forever Home for our kids with disabilities. I'm Valerie, mum to two with disabilities, one visible, one invisible. I'm a life coach and an author. This space has been created to help you navigate the journey of creating a secure, sustainable forever home for your child. We'll chat with parents on this path, realtors, financial planners, and other experts who can make the process easier.

Why am I so passionate about this? Because seeing my eldest thrive living independent of us was a gift I didn't always know I could give. I want you to have the opportunity to explore giving that gift to your child.

[01:01:47:06 - 01:02:04:05]

Valerie

 Welcome to our episode today. I am so thrilled to introduce you to Katie Hall. Katie is a wife, a mum, a Gigi, and the founder of Secure Your Hive, which is a mission centered business dedicated to helping families build stability and peace. She mentors special needs teens and young adults, a role that has shaped her compassion and deep understanding of challenges many families face. 

Professionally, Katie helps families save 30 to 50 percent on health care. You need to listen in, people. She also supports households in lowering everyday costs on essentials like mobile service, identity protection and home security.

Katie is passionate about empowering parents, especially caregivers with flexible home-based income options that fit around their family’s needs. At her core, Katie believes every family deserves a safe, supported and secure hive. And she is devoted to helping people create exactly that.

So, Katie, please share with us how you began in the role of mentoring young adults and teens with differing abilities.

[01:03:02:19 - 01:03:14:08]

Katie

 Oh, thank you so much for asking. And thank you for having me on the show. I really hope to be a blessing to everybody here today. And so it wasn't something that I was really looking for to do. I had been caretaking for my sister a little bit when she had become very sick. And then she ended up graduating. I say graduating to heaven. And I was working for my home and I knew that I wanted to get out to be able to give to others and get out of my home. So I would go in and help. So my friend posted on Facebook that she needed help with her kids to be able to come in the afternoon when they got dropped off from the bus. Both of them have challenges and that I would be there to be able to receive them when they come home. So this was when most people worked out of the home. Now we've kind of changed that role a little bit. So I did that. And at first, she didn't answer me. And so I persisted and I thought I could do this. I have my two kids, they're raised. And I only knew a very little about special needs children. But I thought I'd help my kids and I'm willing to learn. And, I love people. So that's kind of like how I got started. The young boy at the time. So there were two. The young boy was 17, almost 6 years ago. So six years next month, December. So he was 17 around there and she was 12, getting ready to turn 13 on my first day. And I would stay at the home. And now I have access to be able to take them out and about in the community and love on them wherever I'd like to with parents permission. So I'm there and the young girl asked me, she goes, are you the new babysitter? And I said, no, I am not the new babysitter because there are no babies here. And I don't know how I came up with that instinctively, that I wanted to immediately give these young people dignity and to know that they are young adults. And I realized over this time going fast forward, in how they're treated in the community as if they're less than or they group them all together because they can't be on their own or things like that.

[01:05:14:05 - 01:05:17:08]

Katie

 And then fast forward a couple of years after that, the young lady who was, a few years older now, she wrote a paper about her hero and she picked me and she recalled that story and that just ministered to me so much that you don't think that you're really helping someone along the way because believe me, they're changing my life. People say, hey, you're changing those kids lives. I'm saying, no, they're changing mine. But I just love the fact that she remembered that and I've just been able to minister to them. We minister to each other. It's really a beautiful relationship.

[01:05:48:03 - 01:05:51:00]

Valerie

 Oh, I love that. What a gorgeous story. And the fact that this young lady remembered that, and it meant so much to her that she was able to share it with others and share it with you too. So that's amazing. Love it.

[01:06:02:11 - 01:06:08:16]

Valerie

 All right. So, you've shared a little bit about how mentoring has shaped you as a person, but how has it shaped your business?

[01:06:10:17 - 01:06:13:01]

Katie

 Well, that's a great question. So the young kids that I get to be able to participate with, you know, they're young adults now, one is 18, almost 19 and the young man just turned 23. But I think it's because of the mom, I've been able to work with her in different ways to be able to, you know, spread the word and to be able to support her and, you know, be on mission and to be able to let people in my business know that not only am I life and health license, which I don't think I put that in an intro, but I am life and health license in the state of California.

[01:06:48:14 - 01:06:48:23]

Katie

 That I'm also a mentor for special need teens and I deliberately pick that word 'mentor' just to elevate the fact that yes, technically in the law, I'm an aid, you know, but I don't want them to think that I'm an aid. But I think I've incorporated it that way to be able to be of support to the mom and be invited to other organizations to be able to come alongside the mom.

So that's how I've kind of incorporated in my business. And she let other people know, that I provide services that can help all families, including those that have special needs, children or people in their life that I can help.

[01:07:25:12 - 01:08:25:13]

Valerie

 Yeah, love that. I love how you've been able to take your mission, your ministry and be able to create a work out of it that is blessing so many people. It takes me back to my oldest is 23. And when she was very young, we were looking for an aid, quote unquote, to come and be with her and just help her with the physiotherapy program, the speech language pathology program, the OT program. And this was a lady that had worked with typical children in a preschool environment. And so she was kind of looking to get out of that. She is a Christian also, and she was not really wanting to deal with some of the the things that go along with pagan holidays and that kind of stuff that are being celebrated. So she wanted to sort of, you know, move out of that realm. And so, I invited her to come and work with my daughter, my oldest one, and who is total care and uses a G-tube and is nonverbal using a communication device and is wheelchair bound. She was frightened to death because she had not dealt with children like this. I don't know if you experienced the same thing, but she was frightened to death. Melody-Anne my oldest is all encompassing. And I can appreciate that when you look at her, it's like, where do I start? But it was lovely to watch them build a beautiful relationship. And then our caregiver actually went on to then go and work with other children with special needs when Melody-Anne got too heavy for her. And so it's just been lovely. So her latter years of working were all with children with different abilities, children with special needs. So it was just lovely. And that was one of those Holy Ghost moments where I felt impressed to go and ask her. We were at church, actually, and she had to think about it. She had to talk to her husband about it. But it was one of those, I'm just being obedient, Lord, I'm just being obedient.

[01:09:25:12 - 01:09:27:22]

Katie

 I love that. I love that so much. And I mean, your question that you just asked me, like, how am I encorporating this with others?

[01:09:33:07 - 01:09:57:10]

Katie

 Well, again, of course, there's the savings that I can offer them just off the bat. If somebody wanted to learn what I do, I could teach and train them. And we have a whole platform and training program that can show them what I do if they need to be able to work from home, if they want options. I mean, the first thing that popped into my mind when we first started having this conversation was, you know, long term when somebody is wheelchair bound, I mean, they need to be provided for their whole life. And then there's others in that arena that need that.

[01:10:05:07 - 01:10:09:21]

Katie

 What are the parents doing to be able to set that up? I know they work with lawyers and estates and things like that. But wouldn't it be nice if you could create something, part time, because I know that your life is extremely busy, but part time to be able to earn something over the years that could potentially be a nice residual income that you could leave as a legacy in your trust to be able to pay for your child's or the person that you're caring for.

[01:10:33:01 - 01:10:39:03]

Katie

 So that's another reason I wasn't even thinking about business like that. I was thinking about the other thing of how I support that mom. You know, I just love her to death. We've become really good friends. So I hope that's helpful.

[01:10:43:15 - 01:10:55:04]

Valerie

 Yeah. Yeah. So tell me a little bit more about this, creating a legacy. What kind of work are you encouraging moms or dads to do just to help create that legacy?

[01:10:56:15 - 01:11:08:14]

Katie

 Right. So what I do is I help people with different essential services. And you kind of said that a little bit in the beginning with health care, mobile phone services, identity theft protection.

[01:11:10:02 - 01:11:19:21]

Katie

 You can have home security, business automation, things like that, which, by the way, is one of the things that I did get was the security system I did not have. I actually signed up for that because I bring them to my home now just so I have an extra set of eyes, camera. And then, of course, it monitors my door. If it ever gets opened, it does speak to me and things like that. But there is just a plethora of different things. And that's more on the residential side. I also offer business services like ADP. If somebody was a parent that had connections with businesses to be able to help them if they're using ADP, which is a payroll system. We could save them up to like 40 percent. Things like that, business phone services. So I provide services, but we also provide the teaching and the training on how to do what we do and just handhold them along the way. They're in business for themselves, but never by themselves.

[01:12:04:03 - 01:12:11:18]

Valerie

 Neat. Love that. So it's almost like you're teaching them to become entrepreneurs and be able to sort of manage a business and income so that they can leave something for their child. That's great. That's great.

[01:12:19:11 - 01:12:22:17]

Katie

 And since they’re services, they're ongoing. So I know all of us basically have a mobile phone. And so we just keep paying the service. You might have paid off your device you use, you could have paid off your device. But the service you pay for it on an ongoing basis. So we'll get a little bit of the service percentage of the service. And then that becomes a residual income because I offered to somebody just having a conversation. Maybe somebody makes a remark. “Hey, my phone bill is really high.” Or if I'm at a woman's networking group and I bring it up or in a conversation, “Hey, I happen to be expanding my business. “How much do you pay for your cell phone? Is it killing you right now? Are you dying? I have something that might be able to help.” So I just kind of bring it up that way. So, if you can imagine getting a little bit off of each bill, so now the thought is to have a lot of people doing a little and then that grows from there.

[01:13:14:24 - 01:13:17:14]

Valerie

 Neat. Love it. So how long have you been doing this?

[01:13:18:22 - 01:13:20:09]

Katie

 Just two and a half years. But I love it. And I'm super grateful for it because I think I was drawn in because it was a service. I know there's lots of other businesses that people have out there that are, you know, more home-based business types that have to do with more of the products. But I love that this was a service you know, like let's say my gas bill for to heat my home. I've paid that. I've lived in my home for a long time and I've paid it every single month for a lot of years and no questions asked. I'm going to heat my home. I'm going to use it for my cooktop stove, my water heater, my dryer, etc. And that's just one of them. And I know that's a smaller one, but we can also offer electricity. And every single month you pay your health care bill.

[01:14:03:16 - 01:14:23:00]

Katie

 So that bill could get paid. Every single month. I do my cell phone. I mean, think about the possibilities of how that works. We're getting ready to open up into the banking, which is going to be very huge for us. And that's going to be, we don't have a date yet. They told us at the beginning of the year. So I'm assuming somewhere around the first quarter, maybe March, only because a group of us that get together, we're going to have a big meeting, a big conference. So I'm assuming they're going to roll it out then. But imagine everything that you do with banking deposits, credit card, payments, loans, car loans, etc. You'll be able to get a little bit of that. And if you have hundreds, if not thousands of customers, a little bit adds up to be a lot. And so you can have that residual check. And it's obviously as long as somebody keeps the service, right? You're going to get paid on that.

So it can add up to a lot. And it's willable. Oh, okay. So you could put in your trust and it's willable.

[01:15:03:05 - 01:15:27:02]

Valerie

 Neat, neat. Wow. So you're opening up many possibilities and opportunities for those parents that are not able to get out and do a regular job, i.e. nine to five, working for someone else. But this is an opportunity for them to be able to create another income stream into their home. And I love the fact that it's willable. So that's amazing. Thank you so much for sharing about that. All right.

So Katie, thanks so much for sharing that. I really appreciate it. And I think you're going to make a lot of people very curious. I'm sure a lot of people are going to have a lot of questions for you. So can you tell us, I'm just thinking about forever homes here. And you mentioned about home security and that you've got some in your home now because you're bringing the young adults into your home. So tell us about how we should be securing our homes and the forever homes for our children.

[01:15:53:13 - 01:15:55:24]

Katie

 Oh, thank you for asking. Yes.

So the security that I'm talking about happens to be with the company, Vivint Home Security. They also do businesses. So it's everything from cameras and you can automate your home as well. So I know there's been times where let's say I went ahead and I got the door lock, and also you can use a key, and I and you have a keypad. Could you imagine, though, that have you ever had the situation where you've walked out the home, you knew everything was fine, but your person that has challenges chose to lock you out just because they maybe thought it was funny or something like that.

[01:16:34:13 - 01:16:43:19]

Katie

 You would be able to get back in with just the keypad and, or if you had your phone with you, there's an app on the phone to be able to get in. But I have a couple of cameras. I have one camera that's in my living room that just basically covers the front door, the kitchen area, mainly where we are hanging out because they come to my home. And then also in the front yard, which is just watching my front driveway, things like that. You can have more cameras. You don't have to have any cameras inside your house. It could just be securing your border. But what I also like is that the doors have little sensors like when the front door opens. It tells me front door open, kitchen door open, slider right here is open, things like that. So it helps to kind of give you an extra set of ears and security that way. So I love that as the security part. You can also turn it into a smart home like I did with my locks. You can also do lamps and things like that. You can do your heater.

Mine, I have access on my phone or on the wall. It's like a panel. It looks like a little teeny tiny computer panel like a tablet size.

[01:17:38:08 - 01:17:58:24]

Katie

 And so I can turn up and down my heat. I can secure my house. I can lock it. I can arm it. Arm it means set the alarm. So when I leave, I can set the alarm. I can also set it to while I'm at home. And if somebody was to leave and I needed that extra protection, it would go off again if somebody was trying to leave the home. And I know the girl that I work with, she used to be that way. I don't have to worry about it anymore. I never had an incident with her, but her mom and dad did where she actually left the home. And it would be helpful. To be able to know if they breached the home and they left because they're not wandering in the street, something like that.

[01:18:14:20 - 01:18:15:05]

Valerie

 And, sometimes too when they're leaving the home, they're not necessarily dressed appropriately, depending on the time of year. Right now we have snow where I am. And so if someone was to take flight from my home, if they weren't suitably dressed, it would not look pretty. That's for sure.

[01:18:33:21 - 01:18:45:09]

Valerie

 Right. All right. So you've mentioned some of the options that are available for our audience when it comes to an extra income stream. Was there anything that we missed?

[01:18:45:09 - 01:18:48:03]

Katie

 I don't think so.

[01:18:48:03 - 01:18:56:09]

Katie

 I mean, without going into a really long explanation, I mean, I've been happy to have conversations with people if they want to know a little bit more about it. I'm happy to do that.

Or, if they want to know about the services, I can help them with that. Or if they just are curious, you know, I'm just happy to speak with folks. I think, especially in this community, since my heart has, always been open, but it's exceptionally open now because I can see it from a different perspective and I really, truly believe that, I believe it's a gift that I can communicate, especially with like teenagers and to be able to truly, I truly mentor them and I'm so grateful to be able to have that opportunity to mentor them and to be able to talk with them. And I am a trusted confidant to them. Obviously, you know, big things, of course I would tell their parents, but when they want to come and they just want to ask me something because they're very high functioning, but they still have their challenges and there's times where it's like, that's a red flag. I let them know if they talk about a certain subject, that absolutely 100% if you tell me, I'm telling your parents because that's a security risk and their parents need to know. But otherwise, whatever happens at Miss Katie's house stays at Miss Katie's house.

[01:20:01:00 - 01:20:02:21]

Katie

 But I don't think I missed anything really like with the business, if they want to know more about it. I mean, I'm here to serve, however they would like me to help serve you and your community.

Even if somebody just says, "Hey, how do you do a certain thing?" I'm happy to talk with them.

I seem to be better with teenagers and young adults than I do with littles, but I love littles. But I think I've just been, the way God wired me, is that I just remember my own experience as a young person and as a teenager. I mean, think about they still have challenges when they go to school to have or work, though the young boy is working now. I'm super grateful for that.

 They still have interpersonal relationship challenges and to be able to go and I've learned to listen to them. I used to just answer their questions like right away, like, Oh, I would just coach them right away. Like “Do this, do that." And now I've learned to take a step back a little bit and say, "You know, what do you think about that?. You know, this is going on. How would you like to handle that?” And, or I'll ask them the question, "Can I speak to that because I've had a similar experience in my life? Would you like to have some thoughts about that?" So I think I've been gifted to be able to do that. Now, do I do it perfectly? Of course not. I'm human. None of us do it perfectly, but I do it authentically and honestly.

[01:21:18:19 - 01:21:44:22]

Valerie

 Yes. And I think the fact that they've built trust with you over the years, that it just makes it, it's just, you've just opened up that avenue for communication and the fact that they have been able to share with you and know that they can trust you gives them the opportunity to continue sharing. So that's amazing. And I love the fact that you have stopped the coaching, i.e. answering questions right away and just giving them an opportunity to problem solve themselves, because I feel high functioning and even some of our not so high functioning kids can still problem solve if we give them the opportunity to do so.

[01:21:57:16 - 01:22:11:16]

Katie

 Absolutely. I can tell you the kids know this one rule in my household. There's a couple, but this is the main rule. If you were to ask them, what is the one rule that Miss Katie has? At my home, because they come to my home when I serve them, everybody has a voice. You can say anything you'd like to, obviously within boundaries, right? I mean, it can go wacky, but everybody, you get to speak your mind. You have one rule. You have to speak respectfully, whether it's to each other, because I have a brother and sister that I care for, or they're speaking to me. Or when my husband is home part of the time, because he works and then he comes home in the evening if we have dinner together, but everybody has to answer each other respectfully.

[01:22:40:02 - 01:22:46:21]

Valerie

 Yes. Love it. Love it. So, Miss Katie, where can our audience go to find out more about you?

[01:22:46:21 - 01:22:48:06]

Katie

 Oh, okay. "Secureyourhive.biz" dot biz, B-I-Z. And have them feel free to go ahead and text me at this number.

I'm in the United States, so it's 1-949-228-7443. If they text me, if they let me know where they've gotten my number from, from this show, you know, with Valerie and Forever Home, I'll be happy to reply, just give me your name and then we'll reply. And then we can decide if it's a phone conversation or a Zoom or something that they'd like to know.

[01:23:29:20 - 01:23:45:06]

Valerie

 Great. Awesome. Well, thank you so much. So, Katie, before we conclude our conversation today, I'd love for you to share some words of encouragement for our parents who are raising children with disabilities, what message would you like to share with them to offer inspiration and hope?

[01:23:45:06 - 01:23:48:20]

Katie

 Slow down a little bit.

Do some self-care for the parents. I think I see that for myself and I see it with the one mom that I have.

I just care for the one family that has two children and I love that. But to make sure that you're doing self-care for yourself and to take that break.

And I would say grace. Give yourself grace. Give your kids grace. And if you have a partner in life, give your partner grace. I would say grace.

[01:24:23:14 - 01:24:40:07]

Valerie

 Yeah. Thank you so much, Katie. Katie, it's been fabulous having you on the show. Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it. So just continue doing the great work that you're doing and you're obviously making a huge difference in many lives. So thank you so much.

Katie

 Thank you for having me, Valerie. 

Valerie

 You're so welcome. So audience, I want you to remember to Live with Intention and Embrace the Journey.

[01:24:48:12 - 01:25:06:12]

Valerie

 Thanks for joining me today on Forever Home for our kids with disabilities. I hope today's episode gave you something new to think about and it increased your confidence on your journey. If you found this episode helpful, do tell others about it. Use the text feature to let me know your questions. Tell me what you want to know. Until next time, take care and keep building your child's future.