You Won’t Amount to Anything… Until You Do: Justin Hartman’s Story

What happens when someone tells you that you won’t amount to anything—and you prove them wrong?

Justin Hartman shares his journey from struggling student to community leader, and how mentorship, resilience, and lived experience shaped the way he shows up for others today. From rural social work to real-life barriers families face, this conversation is raw, honest, and deeply impactful.

If you’ve ever questioned your path or felt underestimated, this one will hit.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the Community Mic, where every voice matters and every story counts. I'm Maria and I'm Stephanie. And we're your hosts. This is a space for honest conversations, community voices, and the power of showing up.

SPEAKER_03 0:12

Whether you're tuning in from your car, your couch, or your favorite coffee shop, thank you for being here. Let's get into today's conversation. Today we have Justin Hartman. So do you want to tell us like a quick elevator speech who you are and then we're going to dig into it?

SPEAKER_00 0:25

So I grew up and raised in Valentine, which is Sharon State College, went there to become a uh special education K through 12 teacher, switched halfway through or through my sophomore year, um day grew with the advisor. So I switched to undeclared and then went to social work classes, graduated in 2019 with my social work degree. Um in that time I was in five clubs and then came back home and got a job with South Dakota State, um, Department of Social Services as an employment specialist underneath the TANF program. And I've been there for seven years now. Almost seven years, I should say, in May or B. I mean, it just time flies. So I do a bunch of organizations in right now. I have the VFW Auxiliary, I'm president of that, and then I'm also conductor at district level, and then I've got Knights of Columbus. I'm our grand knight in our area, and then also regional growth director for Valentine Ainsworth over to Shattern and south to Sydney.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

So you do a lot.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

So my boring fact is that I've been to the airport 10 times now and I've never been on an airplane.

SPEAKER_03 1:58

What? Yeah. So you've just picked up and dropped off people, but you've never been on one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

This is my favorite question. Well, our favorite question. So if you could be eaten by any animal, what would it be and why?

SPEAKER_00 2:11

This one. I was like, I went through so many different scenarios. Like, no, that's not the way I want to go. So I landed on a snow leopard.

SPEAKER_03 2:20

Good one. That's a great answer.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

And the reason is like they're gonna sneak up on you, you're not gonna know what's gonna happen. They're gonna do it and be done. And so it'll be quick, and it'll be kind of like a shock, and like the adrenal will take over.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

So I'll be and you'll be like, I'll be gone.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Because I was like a puma. I'm like a puma or you know, yeah. So I was like, but we have like mountain lions, like it could be a mountain lion too, but yeah, I was like, Snow leopard would be so much cooler.

SPEAKER_03 2:47

Better story. That is a better story. Okay, so you kind of mentioned this, but where does your story begin?

SPEAKER_00 2:53

Oh, my story begins in elementary though.

SPEAKER_03 2:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Um growing up in a small town, education was good, but I also like fought in education because I did not learn like everyone else. Like, I had a learn disability in sixth grade. I was doing it at third grade level. I didn't catch on to stuff. So um in first grade, there was things going on and stuff, and I had a teacher tell me like you won't amount to anything, you know, and I was like, well, and no fault of her own and stuff that everyone's got their things going on, but like that stuck with me. So like we didn't read out loud. You know, public school, you don't really read out loud until sixth grade, fifth grade, so they didn't catch it till then. So then I um got an IEP just for my reading, and Miss Strudge, wonderful lady, helped me. We got on the right path, and so I basically had you know a paro with me and I'd go take my tests outside and with the other kids and had the questions write to me so I didn't understand. And I don't know. Um, I'm also like they had the teammates' mentoring program come into our school, and so I got my mentor in seventh grade, and my first half of my seventh grade was like I was getting C's and B's, not it wasn't just clicking for me, and with all the help with IEP and all that, I flipped a switch going into second half of the um seventh grade year, and I just started clicking for me. And so by the time I got out of eighth grade, I they didn't want me in IEP or in the in that room, but it was the best thing for learning, you know, a small group of just getting my vocabulary back up. Um, and I still have a hard time with it sometime in today, you know. My spelling's not the greatest. I overlooked things.

SPEAKER_03 4:57

Don't feel bad. I can't spell either. It's okay. We've got spell check for that.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

No, like that's a my grammar is not the best, but that like that motivation I was like, you ain't not gonna amount to anything. That's not the best thing for you know, tells a first grader that that's awful, and so and it's somewhat hard to talk about because I never talked about it before. Yeah, no, but I'm like, that really like did that, and then our gowns counselor.

SPEAKER_03 5:23

You have to think about what you tell little kids. I don't care like if you're not meaning to be malicious, like they are little sponges, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

And I'm like gowns counselor when I I was not a great test taker. CT, not my best suit. I hate I don't like tests like that. I could do good on regular tests, but when it's unknown like that, and time, just let me take my time. I don't get why we have to have a time, just finish it on your own if you're later sooner, so be it. So just going through that challenges, and my parents that got divorced at when I was a sophomore and didn't have the best relationship with my dad and my mama's boy. And and my dad and we're great friends now, and we do a lot of things. This is a quiet kid, just get me through high school. I'm good, like I'm here. Didn't really have much friends and all that. And I went to Shattering, and it was quiet at first, probably that first year and a half, two years, and then it just like it switched when I got into the social work field and and all that, it made me see another side. And I was like, okay, this is where I want to be. And so, and it helped I had like and let me back up, I should say. Um, when I went to college, like it was just me and my mom, you know, the longest time. And so we would do things, and and she met um Rex, my stepdad, and stuff too, but there for a while it was just us, and we just worked, she had similar disabilities growing up, and so she's the one that kind of helped me get things together after working three jobs and stuff and making sure I had things. I just we worked together and we got figured out. And when I went to college, like I didn't talk to my mom or dad for like three months. Like, I'd say, hey, I'm coming home for everyday weekend and then went here for me till Columbus Day.

SPEAKER_03 7:17

I just I found my niche and I was just your mom wasn't like at your door banging it down, like, are you dead is the response.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

She wanted to. She wanted to.

SPEAKER_03 7:27

I'm surprised she wasn't at Chagrin. That surprises me a lot.

SPEAKER_02 7:32

But that's really cool too, that at the same time she also let you be, you know, that you found something, and that's really awesome.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

And so, like, I had ping pong, we were playing ping pong and and the wing and and staying up to two o'clock doing that. You know, it's not like I was out drinking or something like that. But I wanted to go into like with my story and all that, I was like, I could be a special education K through 12 teacher, I think I could do really good. Well, me and this professor didn't see eye to eye because I had one of his classes and it was over like regulations for feds and states for special. We had no book, had just look up website and figure out your your homework for this, didn't really teach anything, and then you want to make me a a Prezi and presentation for you to look over. Well, I'm not paying for this to do this, and he was also my advisor at the time, and so he forced me to go to the tutoring because I had so many spelling errors. I'm like, you're not playing that for in I'm not either. It's only one C I got in college, and towards the end of that semester, he was well, I'm not gonna approve you to be a sped teacher when it comes to board exams. Um he's setting that factor's like I you you won't get my vote, you know. Basically he was saying, I was like, Well, I'm not happy where I'm at. I thought about dropping out, but like I had my teammates mentor in high school, and then I got another one when I went to college. So um with that, I mean my anxiety was picked up because I was like, I don't know. And we had one class with um, I think it was the psychology professor, I think it was his eighty-year-old guy, joined the heck out of him, and I was like, I'll become a counselor, this is what I want to do. But they don't have a bachelor's degree for a counselor, it's only a master's level to do counseling. So I was like, Oh, I can't do that. So I was like, I'll go on to player, and I went into that social work deal, and I was like, I don't know what I'm gonna do, you know, I'll just play this by year and figure out. And my professor, Rich Caney, he um sat down and you know, you do the typical first day deal of like, okay, what are you here? What's your favorite deal to do? And I was like, it came to my turn, and the field is not male dominant, so there's like 13 girls and two guys, and so I was just like, okay, um, I was like, this, you know, I just do my thing. But I was just he asked the question, I was like, Well, I do demoish and derby, I do woodworking, my own artwork, and and all that. And so we got me and this professor got on this tangent of what's the hardest demo card, and it just something so simple, but I just felt I felt right at home, and I was like, okay, and so um we go through there and I just find my voice, and I find the voice for me, but at the same time, I'm like, what other voices are out there? And so then there goes, I was like, I could start doing a leadership role. So I was like, well, what's you know, I started getting the Niman House a little bit more, and I just opened a whole chapter, you know, still work. I mean, you're still working on your faith in anyone, you know. And I started to find my voice, and then one of them became president of Niman House. Back in my mind, I'm like, I'm gonna prove that I can complete college, and I mean I do it the best of my ability, and so I used it as like just a foundation of like don't give up, and that's like why I didn't give up before is like I could do this, and I got into the social work side, and it just that connection and being able to speak up at that time, and so like that's who I became, you know, and it just somewhat turmoil from the past that builds you too.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

I mean, the only thing that came to my mind was like how cool it is, you know, that how far you have come, especially like you mentioned, you know, a teacher tells you you're not going to amount to anything, and this is a way of like look at me, like look at everything that I have accomplished, being told no, like I'm not going to do anything. I dude, I'm so proud. This is so awesome. Like, I got goosebumps. This is oh my god. Thank you so much for sharing that.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

It's really cool. And like that's what my mom always says like, don't take no for an answer, you go find it. And I was like, Yeah, I go, you go do it, you know. And so you're just like now, like seeing where I'm at. I would have never as a kid thought I'd be where I'm at right now.

SPEAKER_03 12:18

But you did it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

I did it, and I'm just like, and I want more. Yeah, I'm not done. Just getting started.

SPEAKER_03 12:25

So, who or what has been some of your biggest influences in your life?

SPEAKER_00 12:29

Well, I would say my mom is my main influence, but I've had so many mentors now going through my life. It's just unimaginable how many people because I had so that my mentor that I had for the teammates program was since seventh grade, and he was a parts company guy in town. I mowed his lawn in the summer months. So for him to become my mentor, we already knew each other. Yeah, I shoot basketball, and so it was just like when I got to be with him, I just got to be not worried about family at home, go shoot basketball, play pickup sticks or something like that, you know. So I had him, and then I have my mentor um from college, and I look up to him because like he moved, Ted, he moved through so many things when I was at Shattered, because he went from IT when he first started, and then he went to Title IX coordinator, and now he's assistant AD at Shatter.

SPEAKER_03 13:34

What a wild switch.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Right, and so like his interactions though with the students and with the athletes, because a lot, you know, you do so much with Title IX with the athletes, it caught eyes, and so he got pushed up to there, and he's been there for it's gotta be about four years, I would say now.

SPEAKER_03 13:54

As 80.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Yeah, it's just an 80.

SPEAKER_03 13:56

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Um, and it just like I had him, and then I've got like my dad has been through stuff. I've got that, and then I've got just some wonderful friends, you know. And I would say Mary Kate's that too, you know.

SPEAKER_03 14:12

That's sweet, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Um, I have just so many puzzle pieces that made everything come together, made me who I am today. And I think that's what's so great about like social work. Social work, you always have a different puzzle, like just like the customers I deal with. I mean, I could deal from a high schooler to a person that in their 50s, as long as their kid, yeah, you know, um, they have a kid under 18. I'm working with them, you know, if they applied for tannin.

SPEAKER_03 14:42

And so it's just can you explain what that is?

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Oh so the tannin program. I pray this is for needy families, and so we are called a plummet specialist. Now Nebraska, I think they might call it like work experience program, is what they consider it under. So it's anyone that is a single parent and they come in and they've got kids that are from a newborn to 18 years old. I am working with that parent for the most part to get them the job skills that they would need to get employed. So, do we need a driver's license? Do we need birth certificate? Do we need GD? Do we need just on-the-job training? Do we need work experience? Like we have like deadly nutrition's tree of life and stuff, depending on the age of the child. They're five and under, they would work 20 hours a week. It's their minimum. And six and over, it's 30 hours a week. And it's only like it's not much money. You know, they're I may give a rough ball estimate, but I'm like, you're looking at I think it's 385 for a mom or dad and one child a month.

SPEAKER_03 15:57

My god, they can't do that.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

No, and and yes, they've got food stamps and other stuff that they can apply for, but that's that's where we get the job skills and learning. I mean, it's not much, and we're we're telling them, hey, yeah, I work 20 hours a week, 30 hours, but we're on, you know, I work on the reservation, a Rosebud Switch Tribe reservation, and so it there's not much jobs out there, you know. Even if we got you all the stuff you would need, there's not 20 jobs out there for anyone to get in the communities and stuff. And we cover a wide range because I I travel, I could travel 90 miles one day to visit all my communities. And it's just like if you might put this as like say you're at right now, a pinpoint here, and you just do a half circle of 50 miles or not even 35 miles, I would cover that that whole area.

unknown 16:58

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

And so I can go to Parmaline, and then they have some people working there, which is I mean, all they have is an alien nutrition and a post, small post office, a head start, and that's it. And then you go 10 miles or 15 miles to St. Francis, they have the nutrition, they have a small store and stuff, but nothing like a Walmart or even a group, you know, there's not enough jobs to sustain the population. No, yeah, and but then you get to like rosebud and stuff, and they have more diverse areas there, but then like you have one village that's right on the edge of Valentine that all you have is the casino and the plaza. It's nine miles to Valentine and it's 21 miles to Mission. Like, if you don't have transportation to go get food and stuff, yeah, you're walking it, and you see a lot of people, it'll catch rides and stuff, but it's just like it's crazy how you know, and I didn't know living at Valentine, I didn't know much of the reservation. I mean, we drove through to go to Rapid City and stuff and all that. My first time experiencing it was in college. We took a field trip out there and I went to the wellness center and and went to different areas and stuff, and um are great people and and they want to do good, just it's not much money to live off. You have expenses to do, and they can use that like that money they get for it, you know, like base amount say base amount is 35 for every child that they have after that, it's fifty dollars, you know. That's not gonna do much. Um, but if we can get them on a short-term or long-term goal of like, okay, this is you need to get your T D, go get your G. If you're a tribal member, all you have to do is give them your ID, it's free to you, and we go and get it. And then with the program while you're on, we can help, you know, if we need to get some clothing, if you need some job interview clothing, if you need car parks, we can do that possibly, you know, personal preparation items, toiletries, yeah, all that kind of stuff we can help with. Um, but it just kind of it each case is unique. But like say when the kids get older, say we have a 16-year-old, 17-year-old that's not at school, and the mom's trying to get him into school. Well, then we bring that kid in with the mom and be like, okay, you're gonna sign this goal, because we do our intake paperwork and we have a uh what we they call roadmap, but so like a personal goal. Okay, this is your goal is to get your GD. Your goal is to go to your site eight to five, you know, or eight to two, you know. And so we set those up personally for them, and so we set one up personally for the kid. Well, if that kid doesn't go to school, it could affect how much money mom gets. Yeah, because then we could throw a a sanction out there, you know. It's just so hard, and I was like, I don't want to do this, that's not my favorite part of the job. It's like as a social worker, I realized how much power that you have. Yeah, you know, and I try to be as much respectful, but I also try to push my customers like I know what you can get to, so let's get you there so that you can get the jobs that you deserve. Um, and I have great work relationships with endutrition and and some assignment managers and uh supervisors and I support them. I was like, hey, you've got this, like you're doing this for people. I've had people get hired. And if they get hired, you're like, okay, well, you're done, you're done with the hair program. There's you know, they think, well, there's enough house for me. Well, now with the state, we're able to do um incentives if they stay hired for so long and then they are eligible for it, we can then give them incentives and throughout that year-long process, if they need again personal preparation items, clothing, and other stuff. There's we have certain amounts we can go to, but we could still help them. Yeah, and so like that part is rewarding because you could see that, and like we'll be at a site now and stuff too. And I I see some of my past customers, and they're working now and they're living the best time of their lives, but you know, they're also like their living situation at home. We have one right now, and that's kind of echo speechless. It's we have an apartment complex behind us that is not it's not up kept. If you look at the 10-11 news and see how Sun Race apartments, they did a whole documentary about it, about the situation is and then there's like you expect you know, they live in that and you're just like, I'm working with you, you know. I can't do what I can for you, but you know, we'll we'll try to figure something out where we go. That's some art, you know. Yeah, you know, I've got it made in the shit on my side, you know, and just uh you're just trying to make. It through the next day.

SPEAKER_03 22:01

That's true. Yeah. Well, the system isn't really set up for a lot of these people to succeed. So it's great that you're there to help them work through the system.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

One thing though, too, is like so since reservation has such high poverty. If you were on TANF in Iowa or Nebraska, anywhere besides a reservation, you have five years to get your life together. And then you're if you use all five years up, you no longer qualify for TANF. You're done.

SPEAKER_02 22:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

On the reservations, it's there's no time limit because of high poverty level. So I mean that's a plus on our side is that we have we don't want to linger out, but we also want to give enough time for someone.

SPEAKER_03 22:44

Because if there's no jobs, what are you supposed to do? Like if there's no one to hire you, where are you supposed to make a job out of that?

SPEAKER_00 22:50

I have transportation and there's no bus run. There's no bus run to go from community to community, you know, besides like the casino will come pick them up, you know, if they get a job stuff, but you have to get down there to do an interview and we can help with that.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

That is, you know, when when you talk about that, that's for those who are within the program. What about the ones who are not, you know, and just trying to make the best out of it? That is it's really hard. Uh, I know that we had a conversation too that here in um just concept blasts, like they're talking on. If you are is it suburb suburban areas? Uh, we were talking about like there's times when they call, but the uh like they call 911 to get help and they take about 20 to 30 minutes to get there. My goodness, 20 to 30 minutes. I could be dead by then. Like how it's just it doesn't it we're I don't know, like the system, like instead of making it better for people, we're making it worse.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

And like they have the hospital there, but there's only so much they can do. It's 30 minutes or 20 minutes to the next town. Valentine, we're the biggest town in 200 miles.

SPEAKER_03 23:51

And their town is like 4,000.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

No, we're not even that, we're 2,000.

SPEAKER_03 23:56

You're not even you're not even that dang.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

And it's 20 minutes, but that is if you're driving and if you're walking, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:05

So like and there's not the greatest cell phone reception out there either. So like if you're walking and you have problems and you have no cell phone reception, you're just stranded.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

Well, like our closest Walmart's two hours away.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

Oh my god. Yeah. Do you do you guys at least have like you know the family too? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

Yeah, we have we have Family Dollar, we have Dollar General, and then we got two um grocery stores in town. We got bomb guards and all that, but like if you want to buy TV in town, not gonna be any TV stores in town anymore.

SPEAKER_02 24:38

So you have to go and take a road trip.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

Yeah, we have to go take a road trip. So yeah, I mean, and then like for life for life, for example, that'd be North Platte, Kearney, Sioux Falls sometimes or Lincoln will come in. Well, Sioux Falls is four hours, Lincoln's four hours, North Platte would be two hours, Kearney's three and a half, and so you know it we've had instances, you know, if you get car wrecked up there. I mean, there was a couple and stuff, it's a 30-minute drive, you know.

SPEAKER_03 25:11

Yeah, that's for the EMTs to come get you. That's before they even get you to the hospital. So it's an hour before you even get care.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

I mean, thank you so much for you know, for helping us see that because I think like some of us, especially when we live in cities, we have that um privilege that we're like, oh no, no, they're gonna come in here, you know, five minutes, ten minutes at the most, they're gonna get here and we're gonna be safe. But we don't think about those who don't have that. And it's really hard. It's really hard, especially um when you work, you know, you're you're a case worker and you're trying to do the best, and you're like, oh my god, I'm trying. And then all of these other things are coming together, and you're like, oh my god, how do we make this work?

SPEAKER_00 25:54

Yeah, and it's just like it's crazy because like for us growing up, everyone's like, oh man, you have a long way to drive. And and that I think that's why I'm so used to driving so long, is because um I'm fine with it, because like coming to Lincoln, it's five hours. Yeah. And and so, like, for us, you know, coming down here is a six-hour drive. We've got what four or five hotels, and then when we have uh Northwest Community Action, and then we have uh um what is it, uh Southern Plains, not Southern Plains, but uh like San Jose Plains or um a shuttle bus. So they're able to in Valentine, they're able to shuttle all the elders around and stuff to appointments and stuff, which is a great asset for us now. Something that we've needed for years, it's just very Midwestern out in the boondocks.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

It's a different world. It is a different world, very different world. This is so cool. Okay, so uh what is one miscon what is a misconception people often have about your work or your story?

SPEAKER_00 26:57

I think because everyone's miss, I don't know if the misconception might not grasp it as much. I think there's a disconnect, like if you don't live on the reservation and all that, and there's certain things, yes, um right there's like oh I get that, but they don't, you know, don't grasp like living situation. They're uh these families, you know, they're nuclear families, so they got grandmother and stuff, and they're living all together, but they don't have the housing, you know, they're very short on the housing side of things, and then the tribe does the best they can and stuff by just like there's multiple families living in one together and getting a clock or getting a phone. You know, we take that for granted.

unknown 27:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

If they don't have like our program or the there for a while, they had free cell phones going out that they wouldn't have a you know, we we take our cell phones for granted. It's a high idol, you know, it's just totally different. You know, we always talk about reservation stuff, but until you kind of immerse yourself in there and everything that goes on, there's a lot, you know, and it's n I would never know that. Even growing up in Valentine, I never knew what was all going up there. For my personal life, I I think maybe hard work ethic, you know, how hard, you know, just growing up and stuff, and I was like, you know, and I don't want to say we have and you guys had you know the stereotypes and stuff like you've had everything given to you, and like there's times our family we lived off of Popeyes round, you know, and we all have our battles and work very hard to get where we're at, and it takes a lot of grit. Um just how diverse. I think a lot of people are are shocked of how informational I can be at a time, but like also like when I'm on a committee and stuff and like president stuff, I'll say what I want to say, but then I don't I don't control it because it's a group effort, you know, and I want to be able to I like hearing other people's deals, but I'm like also you get to the point where you're gonna whisper out.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

And and I was I was getting there, I'm like, you guys do what you want to do. I'm taking time for myself. I'm like, I like what I do and the diverse and I keep push apart, I was looking for the next thing. Like, how can I grow the business on the side? I want to do my artwork again, you know, and and recharge your battery. And that's kind of how kind of flashbacks are going into social work day, you know, I was in all these committees, and they were they were just like, How old are you? Like doing my interview process to go to the next side, and it kind of caught me off guard, but I'm like, Oh, I'm only, I was only um 23 at the time. And I'm just like doing it, it was like you're so diverse and you know what you want to do. Um always adapted from where I came from, you know, and you learn my mistakes and failures to help me where I am today. That's a great great way to learn, and we're always, you know, we're afraid to fail in today's society, but we also like our society. I feel like if we fail, we're done for. Yeah. There's not this encouragement of like go fail. Like, yeah, so what? Where are you gonna you fail now? What are you gonna do? You you learn from it, you adapt, and it helps you figure out okay, this didn't work, so I can do this. And you like with my customers that I see that and and and like so you guys call them customers, you don't call them clients? Yes, we were told we interesting um not told not that it's bad, interesting.

SPEAKER_03 31:00

I guess it's interesting to hear how every discipline calls them something different because you know, like customers, patients, clients, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 31:08

Well, that's that's what they call them at. Um sorry, and I'm sorry to it's for so for public health, it's clients.

SPEAKER_03 31:14

So it's I was just curious on what you guys called them.

SPEAKER_00 31:17

So when I first started there, we said clients. I don't know, it's probably been four years now. They are customers, they're customers here for service, here to get their GD, here to get learning spirits here to get this, and it adapts. And so I'm gonna go off a tangent here because like one thing I learned also from like, and I think this is what expectation kind of correlates and stuff, is it opens your mind on social work and solo. When I was in college, we had a professor. You don't ever say problem or issue. If you say that or it's in your paper, no, get it out of there now. I'm telling you to do it now. And I was like, I was like, at first, you're like, why is that?

SPEAKER_03 32:03

Is she solution-based?

SPEAKER_00 32:05

Well, so and so I got second goes, always refer to back to a challenge. So this challenge is I don't have a driver's license, I don't have this. We have things and I and and we have when a customer comes in, we have an assessment and they fill it out and we go through it together and stuff, and it says issues or it says problems. I'm like, no, what challenges do you face? Like, how can I help you? Because then it's an open-ended question of like, okay, this is where we can circle back to be like, I know how I can kind of you know do my best of saying this is where we can start with your challenge here, and we can use that to make the next goal to the next goal to the next goal.

SPEAKER_02 32:46

Nice. So is it like just to reframe it so you're not okay?

SPEAKER_00 32:50

Because you, you know, I have problems, you probably have problems. We could say we all have problems, but how are you gonna solve those if you just call them problems?

SPEAKER_02 32:58

Yeah, right. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 33:00

So you call them a challenge, go, okay. What challenge do you have today? Oh, I had a challenge, my alarm clock didn't work. Okay, so why didn't your alarm clock go? Because it's on my cell phone, it was dead. I don't have a charger. Oh, great, so let's get you a charger for that.

SPEAKER_03 33:13

I like that.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

And oh, oh, your cell phone broke. Well, let's get you an actual alarm clock for now until we can get you a cell phone. So it's just my way of adapting and making them go to instead of I have a problem, period. I have a challenge. This is what I could do, and this is how we can overcome it together.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

That's awesome. See, I'm learning something new today. Now I feel like when I write, like I'm when I'm journaling, I'm gonna be like, this is my challenge today. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 33:40

I like that. What impact do you hope your story has on others who are listening?

SPEAKER_00 33:45

Believe in yourself. I think even today, I don't know what our world has for us, but I think if we work together and you believe in yourself and you have that group, it could just be one person or so that you go to. It can flourish to more, but even if you don't have that, know that you're worth it. Because one day it is gonna be that light bulb's gonna click on and it's gonna be a fun ride. I I don't think you're ever done. If you uh I think you reach your goal, you have not reached your goal. Because there's always more to do, especially as a social worker, there's more to do of adapting and stuff. I think like a big goal of mine, and I and I don't know how I'm gonna do it. Like, I had one day like to just do my landscaping or you know, do my own wordworking and stuff, but also like there's a part of me that wants to dabble into politics. You know, I wouldn't mind doing that and just raising that voice um throughout Just let me know, man.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

I you got my vote. This is really cool.

SPEAKER_03 34:54

Telling people have to ask for their platform. Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

I think voices heard and like they just having that voices happen. I think it'd be just so cool. And like I was then on diverse committees. I mean, I was also on the excited committee. You know, I helped get the Dunblish Derby ready to go for the next year or our county fair. And it just like the diverse opportunities I've gotten just at 30 years old, it's so crazy to me. Yeah. You know, I would have never thought I'd be on the ice board or on the VFW auxiliary, IT Columbus and now I'm on the state side of that Columbus, and I'm just like opportunities are still coming forward, and I'm like, and there's things like you learn to you can say no. Yeah, I think that's a very great deal. And and like there's one organization, I'm like the Knights, and I'm like, if there's opportunity for someone, I may say yes. That's my first and foremost goal. But then there's one thing I'm gonna have to say no to, yeah, you know, and and it's probably not gonna be the nights, but whatever it is, you know, um learning how to deal with that, you know, and that's like just always on the go. But then you're like, you gotta have your time too to recharge too.

SPEAKER_02 36:18

You know, I love that I just keep hearing from you, like how you overcame all of this challenges, and this is where you're at, but you want to keep growing more. Like, hey, I'm not stopping, like, this is not my stopping point. Is you're talking to politics. I've never I don't look at politics. To me, politics are just too much for me. So anyone who says I'm going in, I'm like, I'll vote for you. Okay, so what legacy do you hope to leave behind?

SPEAKER_00 36:42

I think just no, I don't care if my name's put after me, would rather be this conversation or that thing that he did, you know. That was pretty cool. You know, I I more want to be a helper. You know, I'm known to be helping and and guidance and and that leadership to hear, you know, that I empowered someone else. You know, I think that's uh I don't care what mine is, like whatever happens, happens with you know what I end up doing or all that. And it just empowering someone else to reach those goals and know that they can do it too. If I can do it, someone else can do it for sure. That's forget all you know. I just I don't I don't care. You know, I don't care for my if I were able to do my own woodworking, like I have some amazing plans in my head to do woodworking and build shelving units and and this stuff. If I do that, that'd be cool. You know, I don't need my name out there all the way, but if I saw my name on the side of the building, I think that would be it.

SPEAKER_02 37:48

That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, that's really cool. That could be your next goal.

SPEAKER_03 37:51

Yeah, so with that, what is next?

SPEAKER_00 37:53

I think I'd like to see like the landscape of business would be cool to take off more um my woodworking. Like I was looking at that shelf back there. And I those are the kind of shelves I want to make, but I have a totally different way of doing it, and so it's like makes my mind want to do that. I think the next goal, I mean, would be let's pay off some debt first. Yeah, be pay off that debt. I think it's gonna open a whole new section and and adventures, you know, with Mary Kate. I think the business side, like I would like to get more on the business side for sure, on my woodworking because I do wood burning. I can do that and adventuring into that, but also like living life too. Like I've seen the parts of like traveling and having fun, but also like just living in the moment. I think we get past us, like we gotta reach the next thing, you know, you gotta reach that next goal. We're always about goal, goal, goal, goal. But then you forget, and it's like, man, I wish I was living at this time, yeah. You know, a little bit, you know, and and and this aspect of the thing. So I think it's just taking day by day, you know, all the ups and downs. Like for me, it's like right now it's a sense of relief because I'm like, I'm caught up on work, I can start doing stuff. I get to go see my men team more now. You know, I'm excited for that. I'm excited to start mowing even start dreading it soon. Yeah, no, it's just um building. I think it's just building those building blocks still, and and getting it to succeed.

SPEAKER_03 39:34

That's what your early 30s are for.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

Yeah, that's really cool. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. Thanks it's been an honor. That's it for today's episode. Thanks for being a part of the conversation.

SPEAKER_03 39:45

Remember, every voice has power and every story makes a difference.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

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