Fostering Futures℠
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Our mission is to engage and expand our audience by delivering thought-provoking material that focuses on key areas crucial to the development and well-being of all youth. Through our discussions, we aim to provide insights that are not only relevant but also transformative.
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Fostering Futures℠
Foster Youth EP 10 - Understanding Trauma and Child Advocacy with Dr. Amy Young
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In this closing episode of the Fostering Futures Foster Youth series, Athena Cordero sits down with Dr. Amy Young, Chief of Forensic Pediatrics at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital, to bring deeper understanding to the realities of childhood trauma, abuse, and healing.
Dr. Young explains the role of forensic pediatrics and how medical professionals evaluate, diagnose, and support children who may have experienced abuse or significant adversity. She offers insight into how cases are handled with a focus on protecting children, supporting families, and working collaboratively with community systems to ensure safety and long-term well-being.
The conversation highlights the importance of trauma-informed care and early intervention, while also shedding light on the emotional toll this work can have on professionals. Dr. Young shares how that experience led her to create the Resiliency Institute for Childhood Adversity, expanding support for youth beyond crisis response and into long-term healing, education, and opportunity.
This episode brings our Foster Youth series full circle. Reinforcing that while trauma can have lasting impacts, consistent support, advocacy, and access to resources can change the trajectory of a child’s life. It is a powerful reminder of the role each individual plays in protecting and supporting children in their communities.
Highlights
- Dr. Young explains the role of forensic pediatrics in identifying and addressing child abuse.
- Insight into how medical conditions can sometimes mimic signs of abuse.
- Overview of multidisciplinary collaboration through Child Advocacy Centers.
- Discussion of the emotional impact and burnout associated with this work.
- Introduction to the Resiliency Institute and its long-term support model.
- Emphasis on advocacy, early intervention, and community responsibility.
Key Takeaways
- Child abuse evaluation requires specialized training and careful investigation.
- Not all concerning signs are abuse, accurate diagnosis is critical.
- Collaboration across agencies improves outcomes for children.
- Trauma impacts children long beyond the initial incident.
- Long-term support systems are essential for healing and success.
- Community awareness and reporting are critical to protecting children.
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00:00:54 Intro
The relentless pursuit.
00:00:56 Intro
whatever works in the life of a child.
00:01:00 Athena Cordero
Welcome to Fostering Futures with CAHELP, a podcast dedicated to our relentless pursuit of whatever works in the life of a child.
00:01:08 Athena Cordero
I'm your host, Athena Cordero, inviting you to join me and countless others as we share our unique perspectives and expertise in the world of special education, behavioral health, social-emotional well-being, and community.
00:01:21 Athena Cordero
Follow us on Buzzsprout, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
00:01:25 Athena Cordero
Welcome everyone to Fostering Futures.
00:01:27 Athena Cordero
Today I'm sitting down with Dr.
00:01:29 Athena Cordero
Amy Young.
00:01:30 Athena Cordero
And Dr.
00:01:31 Athena Cordero
Young, you are Chief of Forensic Pediatrics at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital.
00:01:36 Dr. Amy Young
Yes.
00:01:37 Athena Cordero
I love that hospital.
00:01:38 Athena Cordero
Actually, my kids have been there and they've taken very good care of them.
00:01:40 Athena Cordero
Oh, I'm glad to hear that.
00:01:43 Athena Cordero
Good,
00:01:45 Athena Cordero
I think the biggest reason we got an opportunity to sit with you today is because you're actually going to sit with our entire staff this afternoon and talk to them about your work and about the impact that our work has on kids just based on what you've seen in your experience locally and in some of the data and how the impact affects them.
00:02:06 Athena Cordero
in their circumstances, maybe if they're dealing with trauma, things like that.
00:02:10 Athena Cordero
So as chief of forensic pediatrics at Loma Linda first, what is forensic pediatrics?
00:02:17 Dr. Amy Young
That's the same question I asked myself in medical school.
00:02:21 Dr. Amy Young
So, there are various subspecialties in pediatrics.
00:02:25 Dr. Amy Young
So most people, when they come out of medical school, they complete a residency in some area of focus.
00:02:31 Dr. Amy Young
For me, that was pediatrics.
00:02:33 Dr. Amy Young
So that's a three-year training program, and then you gain board certification in pediatrics, which we really consider as like general medical care for children, zero to 21, right?
00:02:46 Dr. Amy Young
So most people with kids go for well child checks, vaccinations, those types of things.
00:02:50 Dr. Amy Young
After completing that residency, you can decide to go on to subspecialty training.
00:02:55 Dr. Amy Young
It's not as common.
00:02:56 Dr. Amy Young
It is more training.
00:02:58 Dr. Amy Young
Still, you know, you're not being paid very well, but your school loans are due.
00:03:02 Dr. Amy Young
And so pretty much any system in the body has a subspecialty.
00:03:06 Dr. Amy Young
So there's pediatric endocrinology, rheumatology, neurology, and those are all three-year additional trainings.
00:03:14 Dr. Amy Young
My subspecialty, we call it forensic pediatrics.
00:03:17 Dr. Amy Young
It's also known as child abuse pediatrics.
00:03:20 Dr. Amy Young
And that is an additional three-year training to become board certified as an expert in child maltreatment.
00:03:26 Dr. Amy Young
So that includes evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment for children who have been victims of sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, really any type of significant trauma or adversity in childhood is our expertise.
00:03:40 Athena Cordero
Wow, so is it safe to say that you are called on often to testify in any type of hearing when it comes to child abuse, neglect, things like that?
00:03:51 Dr. Amy Young
Yes, so what typically happens, it can happen two ways.
00:03:54 Dr. Amy Young
So a child who is a suspected victim, the first interaction might be with law enforcement or Children and Family Services.
00:04:03 Dr. Amy Young
We used to call them Child Protective Services or CPS.
00:04:06 Dr. Amy Young
If they have a case, they will refer it to my team.
00:04:09 Dr. Amy Young
We're the only team for all of San Bernardino County, and we also handle most of the severe cases in Riverside County because Loma Linda Children's Hospital is the only level 1 trauma center for the Inland Empire.
00:04:22 Dr. Amy Young
So a case may come to us outpatient.
00:04:24 Dr. Amy Young
If a child has injuries, but it's not so severe that they need to be in the hospital, then we'll see them as an outpatient.
00:04:32 Dr. Amy Young
Or the other way a child can come to us is really through the hospital or an outside hospital who suspects child abuse for an injury, transfers to Loma Linda, and then we're called in as a consultant.
00:04:44 Dr. Amy Young
So really the first interaction is typically with the child and examining them.
00:04:48 Dr. Amy Young
You can kind of think of the
00:04:50 Dr. Amy Young
body like a crime scene.
00:04:53 Dr. Amy Young
And we're, you know, a lot of the kids who have severe injuries are too little to verbalize what's happened to them.
00:04:59 Dr. Amy Young
We piece it together through the exam, imaging studies, and then we make a diagnosis as to whether we believe the injuries are the result of abuse or an accident.
00:05:09 Dr. Amy Young
And so yes, eventually we may testify in court, although our priority is like immediate safety for children.
00:05:17 Athena Cordero
Okay, so when I'm hearing you talking about childhood.
00:05:20 Dr. Amy Young
Yes.
00:05:21 Athena Cordero
And thank you for clarifying that because my thought was forensic pediatrics, you know, what all does that encompass?
00:05:27 Athena Cordero
So when you're making that determination, I know you have, you said you work with a team.
00:05:33 Athena Cordero
Have there been, I guess I'm looking at this on a spectrum where you might be called in where they're not sure.
00:05:39 Dr. Amy Young
Correct.
00:05:39 Athena Cordero
And you guys get to help them determine or let them know what you think it is to where you come in and it's absolutely what they were concerned about.
00:05:48 Athena Cordero
And then I guess what happens then, you know, do you have to notify, like you said, Child Protective Services?
00:05:54 Athena Cordero
Do you write a report?
00:05:55 Athena Cordero
Like what's the protocol, I guess?
00:05:57 Dr. Amy Young
Yes, so we immediately engage.
00:06:00 Dr. Amy Young
If we,
00:06:01 Dr. Amy Young
if we feel that it is accidental or a medical condition.
00:06:05 Dr. Amy Young
There are some medical conditions that can mimic abusive findings.
00:06:10 Dr. Amy Young
And so we're there, our job is to clear that up because we don't want any undue stress to a family that isn't necessary to disrupt the family environment.
00:06:20 Dr. Amy Young
So that would be information that we would educate the investigators about.
00:06:24 Dr. Amy Young
If we do feel from the evidence that it is consistent with an abusive injury, we're also working with investigators.
00:06:32 Dr. Amy Young
They may already be involved or we may be reaching out to them.
00:06:36 Dr. Amy Young
And then we have a whole multidisciplinary collaborative within San Bernardino County that involves District Attorney's Office, the County Council for Children and Family Services, all the investigative agencies who come together to come to the best resolution for a child.
00:06:53 Dr. Amy Young
First, for their safety, ultimately for the criminal aspect.
00:06:58 Athena Cordero
Wow.
00:06:59 Athena Cordero
You said that there are some conditions, like some health conditions that might present as signs of abuse.
00:07:06 Athena Cordero
What's one of them maybe?
00:07:08 Dr. Amy Young
Yeah, I think so.
00:07:08 Dr. Amy Young
There are conditions that, for instance, can impact the genital area of a female that can look like bruising, bleeding, things that make a lot of providers think I need to worry about trauma in the genital area.
00:07:22 Dr. Amy Young
But with an exam by someone who knows what to look for, we can actually realize that those are either infectious
00:07:29 Dr. Amy Young
or autoimmune conditions that have weakened the tissue and led to those findings.
00:07:34 Dr. Amy Young
So that, you know, I've had quite a few cases where it was felt it was sexual abuse and we were able to correct that and make sure children, one, got the treatment they needed for the medical condition, but then also didn't disrupt the family.
00:07:47 Athena Cordero
Right.
00:07:48 Athena Cordero
So I would imagine then in a situation like that, because the average parent has no idea of a health condition that can cause, you know, symptoms that can present as
00:07:59 Athena Cordero
abuse, but I would absolutely imagine that they would feel intimidated and attacked if a pediatrician made a comment or a question that made them feel like that was the case.
00:08:10 Athena Cordero
So, I would think that me as a parent that you...
00:08:14 Athena Cordero
parents would be happy, that there's someone or team of folks who can make that distinction or that clarification for doctors, especially with something so sensitive.
00:08:24 Athena Cordero
Okay, that's fascinating.
00:08:26 Athena Cordero
I didn't realize the difference there.
00:08:28 Dr. Amy Young
I mean, you bring up a good point though, in that we are really trying to also educate the family because it can feel very adversarial and that people are making assumptions or judgments
00:08:40 Dr. Amy Young
Whether it isn't abuse or it is abuse, I want to be very transparent with a family to let them know what I think, because I feel like for one, we have this idea that child abuse happens by evil people, and that's almost never the case.
00:08:55 Dr. Amy Young
There are systems that there's frustration, stress, poor coping, and when it's identified, we can work to stop any future occurrences.
00:09:06 Dr. Amy Young
and hopefully strengthen a family, especially those that are protective within the family and just need to know that it shows us there's something going on with their little one.
00:09:16 Dr. Amy Young
And oftentimes people will say they are appreciative, that they want the best for their child like I do.
00:09:24 Dr. Amy Young
And we work to that end.
00:09:25 Dr. Amy Young
Yeah.
00:09:26 Athena Cordero
Wow.
00:09:26 Athena Cordero
So, and then also I can imagine, like you said, it's not always some evil person, to blame for that.
00:09:33 Athena Cordero
It's often someone a family trusts or knows, which is a shame.
00:09:37 Athena Cordero
That's very, very hard to understand.
00:09:41 Athena Cordero
But at the same time, you're almost breaking it to a family that there's something going on and now they have to figure out, you know, what that is.
00:09:50 Athena Cordero
And of course, still, wow, try to put that together, you know, to be able to
00:09:56 Athena Cordero
just to be at home and, you know, take care of the little one.
00:09:59 Athena Cordero
I can't imagine how difficult that must get.
00:10:01 Dr. Amy Young
Yes.
00:10:03 Dr. Amy Young
Yeah.
00:10:04 Athena Cordero
I mean, on one end of it, I appreciate and grateful that there's teams like you and yours to do the work, but then at the same time, like how do you not take it all home with you?
00:10:19 Dr. Amy Young
That's a very good question.
00:10:21 Dr. Amy Young
I wish I had better answers for this, but I tell people, you know,
00:10:25 Dr. Amy Young
Once the door was open to me, and I knew about this, and I knew there are less than 300 doctors practicing in the entire country who have the training that I have.
00:10:36 Dr. Amy Young
It is the biggest area of workforce shortage in medicine, which you could understand why.
00:10:42 Dr. Amy Young
The personal toll, burnout, no doctor likes to be in a courtroom.
00:10:47 Dr. Amy Young
It can be very adversarial.
00:10:50 Dr. Amy Young
there are people who have said, I'm A crusader, I call everything a, you have to deal with all of that.
00:10:57 Dr. Amy Young
But I also have a job where every single day I can see the difference I'm making in kids' lives.
00:11:04 Dr. Amy Young
And I feel very fortunate for that, to be invited in during a very rough time, a very vulnerable time, and to do something to speak up for someone who has no voice.
00:11:15 Dr. Amy Young
It kind of fuels you forward.
00:11:18 Dr. Amy Young
it's also taught me a lot about what to do to change how we even do forensic medicine in pediatrics and kind of build the next chapter that I think has improved from where we were, you know, 20 years ago when I started.
00:11:32 Athena Cordero
Right.
00:11:32 Athena Cordero
You know, it reminds me, there are positions in education that get to deal with child abuse or neglect.
00:11:42 Athena Cordero
And we
00:11:44 Athena Cordero
got a chance to talk to, child welfare and attendance folks who have kind of laid out what their role is and really like you, they're trying to work with families to educate them as much as they possibly can because we know that worst case scenario.
00:12:00 Athena Cordero
abuse, a child can be removed, from their home, from their family, placed in foster care, or, change, kind of change their life very abruptly.
00:12:10 Athena Cordero
So when you say things like people think you're a crusader and, you know, this is what you're, what you want from the situation, I think it's because we hear more about the negative than, like you said, where this is a, you know, a health issue or, you know, something that you didn't realize could present this way.
00:12:26 Athena Cordero
We probably hear less of that where it's not
00:12:30 Athena Cordero
not as serious, but we hear more of the serious, which of course, of course, you're going to hear the negative and you're going to think that's what they want.
00:12:36 Athena Cordero
That's what they want to find.
00:12:38 Athena Cordero
That can't be an easy position to be in.
00:12:42 Athena Cordero
But again, grateful, right?
00:12:43 Athena Cordero
We're grateful that we have folks who look at that.
00:12:46 Athena Cordero
You also serve as medical director of the Children's Assessment Center, CAC, of San Bernardino.
00:12:53 Athena Cordero
I read that it's one of the largest child advocacy centers in the nation.
00:12:58 Athena Cordero
Can you tell us what the center does for kids?
00:13:00 Dr. Amy Young
Yeah, so there is a group in Alabama called National Children's Alliance.
00:13:05 Dr. Amy Young
And years ago, if a child was, decades ago, I would say, was considered to be potentially a victim of child abuse, it was very disjointed.
00:13:16 Dr. Amy Young
The investigation was very difficult.
00:13:17 Dr. Amy Young
disjointed.
00:13:18 Dr. Amy Young
They might tell a teacher, then that is reported to police, and first patrol comes out, and patrol might take them to a hospital where there are no experts.
00:13:26 Dr. Amy Young
And all of these people are talking to kids and asking them questions and examining them and maybe don't have the training, right?
00:13:33 Dr. Amy Young
Because I'm not trained in, you know, there are many forms of medicine I don't know, right?
00:13:39 Dr. Amy Young
And by the time a child is finally where they need to be, they've been asked so many questions, re-traumatized through the process.
00:13:47 Dr. Amy Young
Sometimes things can be asked in a way that aren't developmentally appropriate.
00:13:51 Dr. Amy Young
So it seems like a child's changing their story, but they're just very little and weren't questioned appropriately.
00:13:57 Dr. Amy Young
So out of Alabama, they developed these standards of excellence for a child abuse center.
00:14:04 Dr. Amy Young
And so the Children's Assessment Center is a national model of a center of excellence where everybody comes under one roof to make a one-stop location for children.
00:14:14 Dr. Amy Young
So it's really minimal facts in the field that should be gathered
00:14:18 Dr. Amy Young
and then the child should be brought to a center where the expertise exists to have a forensic interview by a trained provider who knows how to ask developmentally appropriate questions while investigators watch.
00:14:31 Dr. Amy Young
That's a very child-friendly atmosphere instead of being talked to by a police officer, right?
00:14:36 Dr. Amy Young
Have a therapist in the same location who can deliver services, an advocate, say like with a district attorney's office and a medical provider, and we're all working together to case conference to get to the best result for children.
00:14:51 Dr. Amy Young
So RCAC is pretty cool because it is a very strong collaborative between, I mean, the chief executive officer of our
00:15:00 Dr. Amy Young
County sits on our board.
00:15:02 Dr. Amy Young
The head of Children and Family Services is there, the head of Department of Behavioral Health, the elected district attorney.
00:15:09 Dr. Amy Young
I mean, it is really high level county leaders who are at a table to make sure that we're doing the best we can to protect children in our communities.
00:15:19 Dr. Amy Young
And Loma Linda is the lead agency.
00:15:21 Dr. Amy Young
Loma Linda Children's Hospital is the lead agency for the medical services because
00:15:27 Dr. Amy Young
physician's job is to keep children's best interest as the center.
00:15:31 Dr. Amy Young
We're the lead agency of the Children's Assessment Center, but have this really collaborative relationship with all of these county organizations, which isn't true for every county that I know.
00:15:41 Dr. Amy Young
Yeah.
00:15:42 Athena Cordero
That's amazing.
00:15:43 Athena Cordero
I love that it is child centered in a way that everyone's wrapping around the kid instead of the kid having to go to all these different places and experiences with adults, especially because you're right,
00:15:57 Athena Cordero
trying to ask a very serious question to a three-year-old, or a four-year-old or littler.
00:16:04 Athena Cordero
I don't even know how someone could, unless you've gone to school for that, you know, train for that.
00:16:10 Athena Cordero
How do you get such important information?
00:16:13 Athena Cordero
And then for the child to go to somebody else and it get asked in a different way, that's got to be confusing.
00:16:20 Athena Cordero
My heart goes out to, man,
00:16:23 Athena Cordero
That just seems tough.
00:16:24 Athena Cordero
It just seems like a tough spot to be in.
00:16:26 Dr. Amy Young
Well, and it's providers who there's a lot of secondary trauma from those situations, right?
00:16:34 Dr. Amy Young
If every day, day in and day out, you're examining victims who have just recently experienced abuse or just for the first time talking about abuse, it can really take a toll on the providers.
00:16:46 Dr. Amy Young
And I would say I myself reached a point of pretty significant burnout mid-career.
00:16:53 Dr. Amy Young
And I thought, I saw children who I saw them as infants.
00:16:58 Dr. Amy Young
I did everything I felt I needed to do to protect them.
00:17:02 Dr. Amy Young
And years later, I was seeing them again for a second instance of abuse.
00:17:06 Dr. Amy Young
And at times, we have children who lose their life to child abuse.
00:17:11 Dr. Amy Young
And it is very rare that those weren't preventable.
00:17:15 Dr. Amy Young
Most cases of child homicide, we see that there were prior signs and symptoms of abuse that were missed.
00:17:22 Dr. Amy Young
And so mid-career, I thought, I know you're doing good work, but what we know that children do better in their families.
00:17:30 Dr. Amy Young
They need safe environments.
00:17:32 Dr. Amy Young
I'm coming in, it's an opinion of child abuse.
00:17:34 Dr. Amy Young
They may go into foster care and I may never see them again.
00:17:37 Dr. Amy Young
And what were their educational outcomes and how did their life turn out?
00:17:41 Dr. Amy Young
So, all of us as professionals, I feel like if we keep an open mindset doing the right thing, which is typically the hard thing, we'll open new chapters up for ourselves that are solutions.
00:17:54 Dr. Amy Young
And that's really where the Resiliency Institute came in, was to figure out how to take it to the next level of building something bigger and more lasting for kids.
00:18:03 Athena Cordero
You read my mind.
00:18:04 Athena Cordero
So you said mid-career, you were kind of at that burnout stage.
00:18:09 Athena Cordero
And so is that where RICA, it's the Resiliency Institute for Childhood Adversity, is that when that started or around that time?
00:18:17 Dr. Amy Young
Yes, so I had quite a number of children.
00:18:22 Dr. Amy Young
I mean, they weren't children anymore.
00:18:24 Dr. Amy Young
They were teenagers and they had been in foster care for quite a long time.
00:18:28 Dr. Amy Young
I connected to them when they were victims.
00:18:30 Dr. Amy Young
I wasn't their pediatrician.
00:18:32 Dr. Amy Young
So I really had nothing to offer them as a physician, but they would make appointments to come back and see me at the CAC and they would bring their college application or they would be job hunting and want my opinion.
00:18:45 Dr. Amy Young
And so I had this group of kids where I had become really their mentor or that one consistent
00:18:52 Dr. Amy Young
adult in their life.
00:18:53 Dr. Amy Young
And I just wanted a better opportunity for them.
00:18:57 Dr. Amy Young
I wanted them to go to college and realize their dreams.
00:19:00 Dr. Amy Young
And I also had a number of cases where those, as I was saying earlier, saw them as an infant, they came back re-injured.
00:19:11 Dr. Amy Young
And so I knew in my heart there was more that needed to be done that was long term.
00:19:16 Dr. Amy Young
And as serendipity had it, one of the district attorneys that I work with often, she was actually the high desert district attorney, was on a random trip with a friend and met a philanthropist, a man who had the 4th largest credit card processing company in the country called Heartland.
00:19:36 Dr. Amy Young
And he had a college scholarship program.
00:19:38 Dr. Amy Young
And it wasn't in California.
00:19:40 Dr. Amy Young
He was kind of looking at maybe Sacramento as an expansion.
00:19:43 Dr. Amy Young
I didn't know any of this.
00:19:44 Dr. Amy Young
I just knew that he had amassed considerable wealth from his very ethical, strong business practices.
00:19:53 Dr. Amy Young
I never thought I would meet someone in credit card processing.
00:19:56 Dr. Amy Young
So, you know, she said, well, he gives out scholarships and he's looking at vulnerable youth.
00:20:01 Dr. Amy Young
So I had this group of kids and I thought, well, I want to meet him.
00:20:04 Dr. Amy Young
And maybe he would give them scholarships.
00:20:06 Dr. Amy Young
And, you know, one of them was a high
00:20:08 Dr. Amy Young
desert student.
00:20:10 Dr. Amy Young
And so she arranged for us to meet and he came to the Children's Assessment Center.
00:20:14 Dr. Amy Young
His name is Bob Carr.
00:20:15 Dr. Amy Young
And I showed him around and told him what I did.
00:20:18 Dr. Amy Young
And he's like, okay, Dr.
00:20:20 Dr. Amy Young
Young, like, yes, I will give those kids a scholarship, but 150 more if you would oversee a chapter of the scholarship program called Give Back.
00:20:30 Dr. Amy Young
And I was like, well, I would be a fool to say no to this, right?
00:20:34 Dr. Amy Young
But I'm a physician.
00:20:35 Dr. Amy Young
How is that all going to work out?
00:20:38 Dr. Amy Young
And as I spent time kind of in contemplation about that, that's when I realized that's what gave me the vision of getting even more under one roof.
00:20:47 Dr. Amy Young
So not just forensic pediatrics, but then ongoing trauma-informed primary pediatric care.
00:20:54 Dr. Amy Young
So those team of providers, we would now also become their primary providers.
00:20:59 Dr. Amy Young
follow them long-term till they're 21 for medical care, integrate mental health services, so we grew a mental health team, and then bring in the educational advocacy piece and give scholarships to young people who had experienced foster care or homelessness.
00:21:15 Dr. Amy Young
So that group of young people, he gave them all a scholarship.
00:21:22 Dr. Amy Young
my high desert patient student was the first one I brought in to the program.
00:21:28 Dr. Amy Young
And she got a scholarship to the University of La Verne.
00:21:31 Dr. Amy Young
He prepaid scholarships at three schools, Cal State, San Bernardino, University of La Verne and Chapman.
00:21:37 Dr. Amy Young
And she graduated with a bachelor's degree.
00:21:40 Dr. Amy Young
And then what I found
00:21:42 Dr. Amy Young
We have 200 kids in that program and about 92% of them are on track in their post-secondary plan, which could be career or college.
00:21:52 Dr. Amy Young
But we learned it also doesn't stop there.
00:21:54 Dr. Amy Young
It's not just the money, they need support, and it's not just the degree, they need help with career placement.
00:22:01 Dr. Amy Young
And so that's our
00:22:03 Dr. Amy Young
next latest chapter is helping young people find housing and career placement after they finish.
00:22:09 Dr. Amy Young
And we're hiring some of our alumni as medical assistants in my clinic, community healthcare workers, student advocates.
00:22:17 Dr. Amy Young
Yeah, it's kind of full circle.
00:22:22 Athena Cordero
I can't imagine how much it fills your cup when you have to deal with such serious work and then you get to do something where you can see a positive impact from students receiving a scholarship, be on track with their program, and then
00:22:40 Athena Cordero
to have them come to you all those years later or however much time later for advice or to show you what they're doing, I think that would take me from depleted to like overfilling immediately.
00:22:53 Athena Cordero
So I guess that burnout, that kind of helps some of that I could see.
00:23:00 Dr. Amy Young
Yeah, I think I see my work as like my love letter and how I'm gonna get choked up, you're getting me choked up.
00:23:09 Athena Cordero
Sorry.
00:23:11 Dr. Amy Young
My love letter to the world, my goal since I was little was to make a lasting impact on somebody's life.
00:23:19 Dr. Amy Young
Like just so one person, a couple people breathe easier because of me, that I always felt would be worthwhile.
00:23:27 Dr. Amy Young
And to sit it at a kid's college graduation and then they say to me, I wouldn't have made it if you didn't, if you weren't there.
00:23:36 Dr. Amy Young
That feels really fulfilling, I can't imagine.
00:23:40 Dr. Amy Young
But then you also want to do that over and over again.
00:23:43 Dr. Amy Young
How do I replicate that?
00:23:44 Dr. Amy Young
Yeah, not just one.
00:23:45 Dr. Amy Young
You want 100 and 200.
00:23:47 Dr. Amy Young
And I think that's my mission now, is how do I create an army of people who want that same thing for kids and will carry that torch after I'm gone?
00:23:57 Dr. Amy Young
Yeah.
00:23:59 Athena Cordero
I've learned so much in such a short amount of time.
00:24:03 Athena Cordero
But I can tell you right now, I appreciate the explanation, the science, and the seriousness and what you get to do.
00:24:11 Athena Cordero
But I'll tell you, you're one of the few people that I've sat down with for maybe 20, 25 minutes where I can see your heart, like going all over you.
00:24:21 Athena Cordero
And it's very sincere.
00:24:24 Athena Cordero
I'm
00:24:26 Athena Cordero
I want to make sure people understand what this is and what you and your team get to do.
00:24:32 Athena Cordero
I want to keep talking about it.
00:24:34 Athena Cordero
I know that our folks are going to love hearing from you this afternoon.
00:24:37 Dr. Amy Young
I'm glad.
00:24:37 Dr. Amy Young
I'm glad.
00:24:38 Athena Cordero
Okay, I'm going to stop.
00:24:39 Athena Cordero
I don't want to make you cry before you go talk to us.
00:24:42 Athena Cordero
Thank you so much for sitting down with us.
00:24:44 Athena Cordero
This was awesome.
00:24:44 Athena Cordero
I hope to get you back at another time to talk about what's going on in the future.
00:24:48 Dr. Amy Young
Okay, and I guess I would just leave with this.
00:24:51 Dr. Amy Young
If you see something, say something.
00:24:54 Dr. Amy Young
Children need us.
00:24:55 Dr. Amy Young
They need us to be the eyes and ears and to speak up for them.
00:24:58 Dr. Amy Young
Often we can be worried.
00:25:00 Dr. Amy Young
What if I'm not right and I report a suspicion?
00:25:04 Dr. Amy Young
I mean, the system is there to figure that out.
00:25:07 Dr. Amy Young
services want children maintained in their homes.
00:25:10 Dr. Amy Young
We want to see children maintained in their homes as medical providers, but we have to get the protective systems involved and strengthen families.
00:25:18 Dr. Amy Young
So I tell people, if you see something, say something.
00:25:22 Dr. Amy Young
Don't hesitate.
00:25:24 Dr. Amy Young
Don't lose sleep over being worried about a child.
00:25:26 Dr. Amy Young
We just need to take action.
00:25:28 Dr. Amy Young
And if you want
00:25:30 Dr. Amy Young
If you find yourself in a position where you need help, reach out to the services.
00:25:36 Dr. Amy Young
The Resiliency Institute will hopefully always be there.
00:25:39 Dr. Amy Young
We're a phone call away for someone who wants to know how to receive help.
00:25:42 Athena Cordero
We'll put that link up on the landing page to make sure people can find that, get more information from you.
00:25:48 Athena Cordero
I love that message.
00:25:50 Athena Cordero
If you've got it on a t-shirt, I'll wear it.
00:25:52 Dr. Amy Young
Okay, yeah, I love it.
00:25:54 Athena Cordero
Thank you so much.
00:25:54 Dr. Amy Young
Okay, thank you.
00:25:57 Outro
Before we wrap up, we want to remind you that
00:26:00 Outro
you or someone is facing a crisis, help is available.
00:26:05 Outro
You are not alone.
00:26:07 Outro
If it's an emergency, please call 911.
00:26:11 Outro
For immediate support, you can reach out to the crisis and suicide hotline by dialing 988.
00:26:18 Outro
Remember, taking the first step to ask for help is a sign of strength.
00:26:23 Outro
Stay safe, take care of yourself, and take care of each other.
00:26:28 Outro
Until next time,
00:26:29 Outro
Be well.
00:26:31 Outro
See you next time.
