Cassie Velasco, Director of Children’s Services at Women’s Resource Center to End Domestic Violence, joins this episode of Listen to the Helpers to talk about the important work she does in supporting children and families experiencing domestic violence.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is confidential and available 24/7 by calling 1.800.799.SAFE (7233) or texting “START” to 88788. The National Domestic Violence Hotline can help with safety planning and connecting with local resources.
Listen to the full episode below:
Sarah Goehring: Welcome back to Listen to the Helpers, a podcast created by the Fred Rogers Institute to elevate the voices of helpers everywhere. Fred Rogers once said, "When I was a boy and would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." Today, we're joined by Cassie Velasco, director of children's programming at Women's Resource Center to End Domestic Violence. At the end of today's episode, stay tuned as Kenzee and I reflect on our discussion with Cassie in the context of Fred Rogers legacy and our own work at the Fred Rogers Institute.
[Music]
All right. Thank you so much for joining us today, Cassie. We're so excited to have you on this episode of Listen to the Helpers.
Cassie Velasco: Thank you for having me. I'm so honored to be here. So, thank you.
Sarah: So, we'd love to start off by just having you tell us a little bit about who you are. Can you tell us who you are, where you are, and what you do?
Cassie: Yeah, absolutely. So, my name is Cassie (Cassandra) Velasco, and I am in Atlanta, Georgia. I am the daughter of a Cuban refugee, and uh my father went to live in Cuba, did medical school two times, English and Spanish. My mom was a Peacecore officer. She lived in the Dominican Republic. She was supposed to stay for two years. She stayed for 12. Um, so she loved and lived in that country. So I'm a person that grew up learning that to work hard for what you love and want and to serve and to work hard for others to serve others. And so I've kind of continued that into my work. I am now the um director of children's programming for the women's resource center to end domestic violence. It's a long title. Um, and we are located in Decatur, Georgia. So, we serve Dekalb County, but really all of Atlanta. Um, and we get many people. We help kind of coordinate across state lines as well.
Kenzee Knott: No, that's amazing. And it's great to hear about your culture and your heritage. Um, so like how did you end up at your current job? Like what is your background on that?
Cassie: Yeah, I actually started as a volunteer. I was volunteering with this organization while I was in school and I was studying actually religious studies and philosophy and so I was learning about culture and religion and what makes people you know make the decisions how are they thinking about the decisions that they're making how are they preserving culture how does that in you know what does that look like as a filter looking at the world in a global way how does that you know affect how they deal with other people and connections between cultures and that's something I've always been really passionate about probably because my family is international and has grow I've grown up and you know be in contact with many different types of people and languages and that's always been something that's fascinated me. So I was studying that and I happened to just be volunteering. I grew I was a a child of domestic violence and so I knew it was something I was passionate about of just getting in and connect you know connecting with kids just kind of being that uh consistent adult for children that that kind of just need some extra love that need to know that they're seen that need to just hear that you are worth and capable of love and so I knew I wanted to volunteer and I kind of just started volunteering turned into an internship turned into I kind of just couldn't stay away and so the previous director as a close friend and mentor of mine and I kind of just like I said I just didn't really leave. I became really involved with the families. Um and when she went to she was actually moving. Uh she was like, "Cassie, you already know the families? You're already intimately involved in Christmases and Thanksgivings and our summer camp. It would be such an easy transition for you to step into this role." Um and it was a big one for me because I just saw I was like, "How could I ever do that? How could I ever love on so many families at once?" Um, and I was really intimidated by that prospect, but I kind of took a leap of faith. I reached out to some mentors and I, you know, talked about that and it was an easy transition for me. I stepped into that role in 2019 and have been doing it ever since. Yeah. Pretty wild.
Sarah: Wow. That's so incredible. And it's so cool that you started as a volunteer and that you worked your way up. And I'm sure that that makes you so much more connected to the work that you do because it's been growing with you.
Cassie: Yeah, I think that's right. And I think when you look towards the need, when you see just how many people are affected by domestic violence and that this is kind of a need, you're trying to work yourself out of a job, right? And unfortunately, this is a need that hasn't gone away, isn't going away. And there's just so many people that need services, need help, need that extra time and love and care. And the kids are often in the crossfires of all of those things. And that can really directly affect how they see their futures, how they see themselves, how they connect to others. And so I think part of it was jumping in with these kids and seeing the resilience, seeing how strong they are, seeing what they could overcome and do in their lives. And the other part of it for me was the agency, the other advocates there, my mentor Selena who was there before me, our executive director Jean and Barbara, our safe house director. There was just a light about these women. It was like they were doing the work every single day and bringing the light with them. The light of justice, the light of truth, the light of compassion and care. And they're just they were it was amazing to kind of be in the room and just listen. I'd never kind of been in the room with such strong women working together for a cause. And I was like, I can't turn away from this. It's like this is I want to learn from this. I want to be in this environment. Um, this is how you really make a change, right? When you have this big fire of compassion to kind of give out and when yours a little bit lower, you have the person next to you to light it and to help you hold it. And so it's it's really been a blessing to learn with other women just to be an advocate for for people.
Sarah: Oh, I love to hear that that culture that you're working in is so supportive and so so adamant about being that light and that making that change. And you mentioned that when you stepped into this role that you're in now that it was a little bit intimidating because there were so many families that you would have to love on at once and it might just be like how do you divide yourself or how do you separate yourself and do that? How how have you found a way to do that?
Cassie: Yeah, I think it was like I saw my mentor. I'm like, "Oh, wow." Like you help so many people. I hope to be able to do that one day. And I think what you don't know is that you are like every one person that you love on that day. That's enough. If you can go in your community and impact one person in a positive way, then you're building towards what what I felt like she was doing. Like she didn't feel like it was this big thing. And now kind of being on this side, that's how I feel as well. I'm like if I get to impact and walk with one family that is the work that that's enough, you know, and and so it doesn't feel like dividing. It feels like there is no us and them. It's sitting together and creating community, right? Like I'm going to need help and I have needed help over the past few years and becoming a mother. I became a mother while I've been here. And leaning into other moms and like I'll help you with this, you help me with this. and we get to kind of lean in together and and help is something that we do all the way around the table. It's not one-sided. It's giving and taking and flowing what that can mean. And so this role has really taught me that one you're going to be on one side of the table or the other, but you're going to keep switching. We're always learning and we're growing. Um and that's the same with help and and advocating as well.
Sarah: That's so wonderful. I I was planning to ask you as well what you thought it means to be a helper because obviously this podcast is called listen to the helpers inspired by Fred Rogers talking about looking for the helpers and you kind of did a wonderful explanation without me even asking what a helper even is. I guess do you have anything to add about what it means to be a helper even though that like I said that explanation was fantastic.
Cassie: Thank you. So I think I've thought a lot about that and I I have quoted that Fred Rogers quote many times like when things have gotten hard in the past few years even just in our country and in the world and sent sent that quote out to my colleagues like you know when I think of the helpers I think of you guys like I think of we are the people holding the lighthouse in the dark sometimes and you know like they say that quote if if you feel like you're in the dark sometimes you don't realize that you are the light like holding it for others. So when I think of helpers, I really feel like it's people that are willing to enter into suffering and sit with that and not look away from it, right? Just to enter into someone else's suffering and to hold it with them knowing you can't always fix it. You can't always even make it better. You can try, right? But you can be there with them. The compassion and empathy that it takes to really enter into someone else's suffering and not look away from it even though it's hard, even though it hurts. And I think to me that that's what real help is.
Kenzee: No, that's absolutely beautiful. Like the holding on to the light and the darkness and that you're being like just the whole quote in general is just so beautiful. Um like I unrelated, but I'm also curious to hear like what does a typical day look like for you in your job?
Cassie: This is a fun and interesting question because every day looks different for me. Um I work in primarily in our safe house and so because our safe house has about 32 beds um and it's it's res it's community residence right it is emergency housing so our families are there around 90 days sometimes it's longer sometimes it's shorter but generally and so generally what that can look like is is when kids come into the house I'm greeting them and kind of orienting them to the new space I'm assessing any needs do we have it's got to be cold do we have jackets do we have? Do we need to go to an appointment? Have you had medical care? Right? Kind of the physical, but then the emotional. What what actions are coming up? How do we feel? What are some coping skills we can do together? Um, so some of the days are literally walking in and seeing what's going on that day, what what's what can I help kind of plug in? Is there a big, you know, emotional fire that that we can I can kind of sit with you through? Um, there's so many systematic barriers that happen when domestic violence happens, right? They're coming to the safe house. Oftentimes they don't have their documents. They're they don't have clothes. They're coming kind of with the clothes on their backs for safety reasons. And so it's helping to untangle all of the ways that we're going to move forward and separate that previous life, which is really challenging and really heartbreaking. So sometimes it's that. Sometimes it's literally walking in. I run an afterschool program. And so the children get off I get the children off the bus with our child advocate. Um, and we do tutoring and we do social emotional work, coping skills, mindfulness, meditations. We go to parks. Um, other days I'm running team programming, so I'm picking up teenagers that live in our house and have maybe moved out and taking them to different partners. Um, other days I'm meeting with partners and trying to get connection. So, every day kind of looks different, which is I like I like that.
Sarah: And it sounds like you work with a really wide range of kids. I guess I wasn't imagining like I when I heard your title, I was imagining like the younger kids, but then you just mentioned that you work all the way up through teens as well.
Cassie: Yes. So zero to 18. I've had a summer camp as well. So our after school program turned into a summer camp which serves about 60 kids during the summer for eight weeks and it's free for the families and they get peace education, social emotional work, mindfulness. And a couple of years ago, it's really typically only gone up to 15. A couple years ago, my teenagers like, "We're coming, Miss Cassie." So, like, you can make a curriculum or not, but we're coming. So, I was like, "Okay, here we go. We have high schoolers now." Um, and I just had two high schoolers I've been walking with for a while um get accepted into college. We were able to secure scholarships for them and then they're the first in their families to go to college. And then we got to like at the end have a graduation and find reward, you know, reward money to help them with dorms. And so, yeah, it's all the way. I've had women that come in pregnant and I've literally been in the birthing room with them as they are giving birth to that child. Um, which is a wild story, and all the way up to kids in school, you know, even past 18. And so, we get to continue to walk with them. Many of those kids that we have at camp um I've been walking with since 2014 since I kind of started. So,
Sarah: Wow. What incredible relationships you're building with the people that you work with to be, you know, have such a strong connection with those teens that they tell you, no, we're coming back. You don't have to beg and plead like please be involved in the things that I'm creating for you. Like they are seeking out the things that you're creating. And to have mothers who are pregnant wanting you to be a part of that really intense, really special, really emotional, all of the things, part of their life, that's that's incredible for you to be that person to it sounds like so many people.
Cassie: Yeah, I think I I take that with so much honor and thank you for that compliment. I I agree. I feel nothing but gratitude around that. Um, what we know about building resiliency and cultivating resiliency in ourselves and others is that you need one consistent person to just show up and be there with you and through the hard, through the good to remind you, you know, and oftentimes, whether it's the ladies or the kids, they don't always have that consistent person. That person might be going through a really emotional time that they can't, they're not emotionally available to be sitting with you in that moment. And I find it's a really and they've done it for me. Like I said, like it's not a one-sided relationship, but to be able to be that one, you know, a consistent person in that way is definitely one of the greatest honors of my life, for sure.
Kenzee: Yeah. And you just spoke about the many ways in which you help children and their families. And but I do have to ask though, like is there anything or something that you wish people knew about what you do that goes unrecognized? I guess
Cassie: I think you I think I touched on it a little bit when I was think you know thinking about that I think it's just how prevalent this is like domestic violence is affects one in three women so whether or not it's you directly it is one of your friends it is someone that you love um and this is a systematic abuse it's a community abuse it's often an an intergenerational one and so there's a lot of trauma to unpack when it comes comes to domestic violence and so like I think so many people think of domestic domestic violence and in two things it's oh that happened to her like an other you know to kind of separate and create distance of that could never happen to me though and I'm here to say like it absolutely can I have so many different walks of life in our shelter I've seen different class different race different ethnicity I've seen everyone and so I think for me what what it comes back to is we're all going to need help at some point. And if we're entering into I truly believe the only solution for these types of violences is community, right? Community has to step in and stop those violences. We have to teach better, know better, do better. And part of that is is running towards the light and being the help when you can be and knowing that when you are going to have your moment that people are going to run towards you and be that help and be your light and and together as a community kind of stamp out those dark things and stamp out those violences.
Kenzee: Yeah, that um I guess related to something else I was going to ask you, but like how can community members support the wonderful work that you're doing and the families and the children that you support?
Cassie: Yeah, I think everyone has their own way of what they're comfortable with. I think when I get involved or try to get people in the community involved, I'm always like, we all have different talents, right? And if we were trying to raise children, what I've something I've not kind of separately noticed with children that have been affected by trauma is they've been given themselves permission to dream. That curiosity, that imagination, it's all shut down for that survival brain. And survival brain tells you to adapt, to be resourceful, you know, and sometimes over so overcompensation ways to stay safe, right? But if we're going to be a community that holds up and creates safe places for children and for us for adults, then what we have to do is give our best selves to each other. And so what I always say is everyone has a talent. Everyone has something you're passionate about. So if you can teach that to another person, then you're spreading positivity. You're spreading l love. You're spreading compassion, right? And that's contagious. Like what you're excited about. There are so many things I didn't know I was excited about. But when you talk to somebody, you're like, I yeah, I'm going to try pottery. This sounds amazing. You know, um, and so part of the work has been just connecting kids to compassion and passion in a way that's like, oh, this is a new idea about the world now. Maybe one you didn't even think about or had the opportunity to think about before. And maybe you take it, maybe you leave it, but you tried something new. And there's something so brave about that. There's something that takes so much confidence about that. Um, and then to know that someone's there to talk about it with or hold you through it or to say like, "Yeah, no, it wasn't for me, but I'm glad I tried it." Um, so for me, I would say community members plugging in with what you already know. You don't have to do some big new thing. Um, and money is always great. People always say, right, like the financial piece, yes, the financial piece is great, but really your time, your love, your ability to show up if you're able. um even just with crafts or you know connecting we all know people that are have wonderful talents so I think connecting that in some way is really a bigger gift than people realize.
Sarah: I love that because it invites anyone and everybody to to share what they're able to.
Cassie: Yeah, that's my hope. Right. And I think like that that contagious factor like that light if we're talking about spreading the light that's how we do it. We each have a version that lights us up. like the how do you spread that and how does that begin to go into community and go into the world that that does create safe places?
Sarah: Absolutely. I'm wondering if you have a story of a time that you remembered why it is you do what you do. Clearly, you're very dedicated and passionate about your work, but given the the gravity of the work that you do and the, you know, the traumatic situations that you're helping people cope with, I'm sure that you have more than a few tough days here and there as a helper in your role, um, to say the least. But, do you have a story of a time that you you really remembered why it is you're doing what you're doing?
Cassie: I think, you know, like you said, this work is really challenging. um because you're you're sitting with people on their hardest days and their hardest time. Um, so part of the why and the purpose and and getting, you know, feeling like what you're saying, I think there's small versions of that and large versions of that. And like small versions are after a hard conversation, you are can still like get up, get your kids ready for school, you're still being resilient. You're still working towards a future and a goal. Like that's a huge deal. That's a huge thing to kind of sit with someone. And that why is often daily, right? I had a kid um I was actually just I was thinking about this because I just was with a mom. I was at a teen event yesterday doing a paint uh paint therapy with teenagers and I was talking with the mom and she was saying that one of the girls who I met when she was like in sixth grade was very had very low confidence and she had a very timid voice and she really hadn't found that voice when she came to the safe house. And um the mom's like she's going out for cheerleading. Can you believe it? Like she's going to show up. She has a plan. and she feels so excited. Um, and then she added to that that during summer we were doing some college visits and we saw we went to SCAD which is a art university here in Georgia and she went home unbeknownst to me. I didn't realize how much it impacted her and her mom's like yeah you know she's planning for SCAD, right? She went one look on that campus and she is going she is ready. She is like gearing up and no one in her family has been to college. she is the first person to work towards that goal. Um, and so just kind of hearing her mom's excitement and hearing it also from her later, it was just like, oh, I didn't even real like her and I have shared so much and that wasn't even a thing. You know what I mean? But it's something that's like blossoming in her heart and it's opening a version and a path of a positive future that I didn't even realize was happening. And that felt really like a full circle moment of like that happened in the summer. That's so cool that three months later I'm hearing about it at a while we're doing art together. You know,
Sarah: that's so incredible. And I I love that that you have had those moments where you you can tell the positive impact of your work because I'm I'm sure there are also times where you hope that you're making a positive impact, but you might not get that direct feedback or you might not get the person that says like, "No, what you did mattered to me." And I'm so glad to hear that you are getting that feedback and that that kind of can help keep you going because it's clear that you're doing such important work.
Cassie: Thank you. Thank you for saying that. It is. It's having that long-term approach, you know, and to see that sometimes teaching you to breathe and teaching you like what's that coping skill? Have a glass of water in that moment when they're frustrated. That's not going to come through in that moment, you know? And people, the teachers that I'm training sometimes, especially for our summer camp, I'm like, you might not think that they're making progress yet. Wait till next summer. You're going to see a whole different kid, you know? And I see I hear it from the parents as well. The parents will, what are you teaching my son? He told me to take a deep breath when I was about to have a panic attack or when I was getting on to him. I had a kid that had a very lots of energy, lots of lots of feelings, big emotions. And we were working with him about just calming those down in the moment and taking some breaths. And his mom came up to me the next week and she was like, "Um, Sean asked to lead a group meditation when we woke up this morning." And I was like, "Yes, that's great. How'd it go?" Um and so just kind of changing the cultural dynamic culture of your own family towards peace if you know we have to start with ourselves first so that we can teach it to others. And so for him to take on a teaching role means he was taking that on himself. That's what that shows me. And so I think as we all kind of embody the and model those things we can do it for our family for our friends and then for our community.
Sarah: Yes absolutely. So, you mentioned earlier that um one in three women experience domestic violence, which I I'm not sure I knew it was that high of a statistic, which is really unfortunate and why I'm so extra thankful for people like you doing the work that you do. But I'm wondering if you have any any resources or anything that you can share with listeners who might be either experiencing something along those lines or might know somebody who's experiencing something along those lines.
Cassie: Yeah, absolutely. And that statistic is for physical violence and that's reported, right? So, what we know is there's so much more that's not reported. And what we also know is that physical violence is often the last violence or, you know, one of the last things that happens. It's usually financial isolation, social isolation, you know, emotional and and psychological abuse that kind of get you to that point of the physical altercation. And so I think there probably are so many people, especially college age, the highest rates are college age and the highest rates of homicide are 15 to 25. Relationships that start between 15 and 25. Um the rates of homicide are go up to like a really wild like 80% or something like that. Um and so I would say resources are I think a knowing what your local resources are. There's always the national domestic violence which they will tell you your local numbers to call. We're in Georgia, we have a 24-hour crisis line and so you're always can call that number or the national number and they will like let you know where shelters are or they'll just safety plan with you, right? It's sometimes it's about how can we safely get you to somewhere else. It's not always a shelter, it's to a different family member's house, to a friend's house that you can be safe. So, it's really thinking through in the safety planning, what are things that you can start doing to protect yourself, what are ways that you can start, you know, getting to a different a different place. And so, if you have a friend that's involved in that, sometimes when you're in the middle of of that, right, that statistic, there's like a kind of a a statistic that it takes um a person like seven times to leave before they actually leave. And what we know is that's kind of true. When people are in it, there's so much psychological manipulation that's happened that takes a lot of deprogramming and unlearning to to kind of see what that person has made you believe about yourself, what you should accept. And so sometimes it's sitting with them and and just being there and not judging and cutting off when they're ready to seek help, right? Because what we know is we can't force people into help, unfortunately. They have to be ready to seek that. but to always have creative solutions on the line. Hey, you might not be ready to leave, but are you ready to at least just let me know that you're safe that night? Send me a text. Are you are you ready to at least just hear about some other apartments I found and ways you can afford it or some child care in a different part of town or right kind of just being creative about what safety can look like and putting in different accountabilities as a community to keep each other safe.
Sarah: That's really helpful and I'm sure that if any listeners are, like I said, experiencing something like this or know somebody experiencing something like this, I'm I'm sure that that will be really helpful. And we'll be sure to put in the caption of this episode that national crisis number um so that people can be connected to the local resources in their area.
Cassie: Yeah. And they even have text lines. So for people that want to text and you're like something happens, I would say just listen to your gut. Sometimes we're we're meant to like talk ourselves out of our gut, but something happens, you're like, "Oh, this kind of doesn't feel right. Don't like let the next thing happen and talk you out of it." And if you do, it's okay. But maybe just tell someone so they can keep tabs on you, you know?
Kenzee: Yeah. Thank you so much, Cassie, both for that information and just for speaking with us today and doing all of the wonderful work that you do. Um so to end um our time with you um do you have any final thoughts that you want to share with our listeners?
Cassie: I think final thoughts are just as hard is the reason that we're here right looking towards the helpers. Like that's one of my favorite quotes from Fred Rogers and like I said I've referenced it so many times. The world can seem so dark and it can seem so hard to kind of keep going whether you're looking in in an individual situation. Maybe you are in an abusive relationship right now and you're you don't think you can leave yet and you don't find another way or maybe you're looking at a global sense of you know what things and policies are happening and it just feels dark and I think this quote hits the nail on the head when it's like there are people working towards good and if there are always people working towards good that creates right it's not what you do it's it's what you do in your life to make it better and so if we're all working towards this light and sharing this light with each other we're going to be tired but someone else is carrying it that day and that's okay. And so we rest that day and we come back the next day and try again. And so I just want to hopefully infuse some optimism in that that like every time you see something bad, there really are so many people willing to help. And that is the optimism. That is the hope. And as long as we always have hope, then we always have light. And I just I believe that that that grows that that that grows faster than than any darkness could ever hope hope to take over. So, I I hope that there's just some reinvigoration around hope and to know that you're never alone. Um, and that there are people willing to help. You are worth help. You are worth being loved. You are capable of love no matter what you have been through in your life. And, and it won't always be like this. It's temporary. And there is hope and love and light ready for you, seeking you as you are seeking it.
Sarah: What beautiful words to end on. Thank you so much again, Cassie. We've had such a such a great time talking with you and hearing about all the wonderful work that you do. So, thank you so much.
Cassie: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
[Music]
Sarah: Kenzee, what did you think about that conversation with Cassie?
Kenzee: It was absolutely so amazing getting to hear about all the wonderful ways she supports children and their families, especially in, you know, those spaces. Um, and I I don't even know where to start. What stuck out to you?
Sarah: First and foremost, I think her role is super interesting and so unique and so needed when you think about shelters and places that support people experiencing domestic violence. You think about the families and the children going through those challenging situations, but I don't know if I've ever really thought too much about who it is helping the children through those challenging situations. So to hear that she has that dedicated role of being that person for those children and those families that that's really again so needed and so special and so unique and I I love that she referred to it as such an honor to be able to do what she does
Kenzee: right? and the fact that she helps these children in so many ways from ages birth to 18 and it sounds like she stays connected with them and continues to serve them even beyond their time within the shelter as well. Um, even like the something that's been on my mind is like they even have like a free summer camp that
Sarah: Yeah, I feel like they she's being so intentional about the work that she does and it sounds like, you know, she's been in that role for quite some time now and even back from when she started as a volunteer, it seems like she's been so intentional at every step along the way. um and that she's just so passionate and so dedicated to the work that she does, which again is absolutely a necessity in that type of helping.
Kenzee: And the fact that she encourages community members to give the best their best selves to others as well, like because you really don't know who's going through difficult times.
Sarah: Absolutely. And I'm so glad that she brought up the statistics around domestic violence because if nothing else, then hopefully our listeners can think about that and maybe be a little bit more aware of the facts around domestic violence and those experiencing situations like that. Um I'm wondering which the fundamentals of learning and growing stuck out to you in that conversation with Cassie?
Kenzee: Well, she says herself, which I want to point out, curiosity. She brought up that, you know, many children within this type of situation don't have permission to dream and be curious and to imagine. And that it's important to be that safe adult and give them permission to dream and be that creative self that they might be, you know, packing away.
Sarah: Yes, I thought that was so interesting that she brought that up. um that like you said that permission to dream was kind of shut down when the children are in survival mode and she she kind of mentioned that it's the same for adults as well which I think is so true and especially because our work at the Fred Rogers Institute we work with adults who are working with children so I love the fact that she made a note of that as well that that totally applies to adults too but that children and adults need those safe spaces to be able to be curious um that I think of course that applies to her work, but that applies to anyone anywhere as well. Um, we need to have, you know, those basic needs met before we can be able to be playful and curious and learn how to trust people and all of the six fundamentals. We need those safe spaces, whether they're physical spaces or people that we feel safe with or both.
Kenzee: No, exactly. Um, are there any specific fundamentals? like you brought up trust, but are there any other specific fundamentals you think are highlighted in this conversation?
Sarah: Yeah, I think trust is a big one in Cassie's role in particular because it seems like she's working with people over a period of many years. So, she might um know somebody from the time they were born to the time they were 18. Um, and you know, be a part of somebody's life in so many different phases and stages. um and all of the things that comes with that, whether it's going to school, going to college, being the first one in your family to go to college, or supporting you as your son or daughter goes to college. Um it sounds like that's the type of role that really really requires the ability to create and build and foster those trusting relationships,
Kenzee: right? Like she even mentions that she was literally in the birthing room with someone. Like that is there's has to be so much trust there.
Sarah: Right. If that doesn't say that she's built trust with somebody, I don't know what does.
Kenzee: Right. Right.
Sarah: Well, thank you again, Cassie, for joining us today. It was an absolute pleasure. And um like I mentioned earlier, we have in the caption of this episode um the National Crisis Line that you can call or text if you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence. Um you can connect to local resources and um ask for tips on safety planning if that's relevant to you. We also encourage our listeners to tell themselves and the people they love that like Cassie said, you are worth being helped. You are worth being loved. You are capable of being loved and being helped. Um it might be hard to accept help and accept love from others sometimes, but um I think that was a great reminder from Cassie that we are all worthy of that help and love. Um so please as our listeners remind yourself of that. remind the people in your life that um and please know that you're worthy.
[Music]
Kenzee: The Fred Rogers Institute advances the legacy of Fred Rogers by investing in the strengths of families and caring adults to support the healthy development of children. To learn more about the Fred Rogers Institute in our initiatives, visit fredrogersinstitute.org or and follow the Fred Rogers Institute on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and X.
Your financial support of the Institute helps us expand our initiatives and resources so that educators and children's helpers can continue to learn and grow from Fred Rogers' legacy. Thank you!