Name: Justina Wu
Position: Unconditional Education Coach
What led you to your current position? During my time as a Mental Health Counselor at an NPS (Building Blocks) and public education, I was a part of teams that collaboratively worked together to create systems/routines and focused on building relationships with students that resulted in tremendous growth in our students. At the same time, I observed that general education staff were in need of support for students who mainstreamed into their classrooms. There were also misconceptions about our i-CEC classrooms, and how staff and the community identified these students. With both experiences, I desired to do more to not only support our i-CEC classrooms further, but to also support the inclusion of our i-CEC students and to build a positive school-wide culture and climate.
What inspires you to do this work? What drew me to join Seneca is the crucial work we do with students who have experienced trauma, institutional systemic barriers, and our agency's value of providing unconditional care. The kids are my "why" and continue to inspire me with the resilience they show daily.
What is an important lesson you’ve learned in this role? This work is relational. It's very difficult to be successful in this work without trusting relationships. We all need feedback and guidance to grow, for both adults and students, but we will never be able to receive and act on it if there is no trust established which takes our walls and defenses down.
Share your life motto: My life motto is that everyone just needs a place or a person where they truly feel seen, heard, and belong. The world would be a different place if that were true. I desire to create spaces where people can experience it.
Position: Unconditional Education Coach
What led you to your current position? During my time as a Mental Health Counselor at an NPS (Building Blocks) and public education, I was a part of teams that collaboratively worked together to create systems/routines and focused on building relationships with students that resulted in tremendous growth in our students. At the same time, I observed that general education staff were in need of support for students who mainstreamed into their classrooms. There were also misconceptions about our i-CEC classrooms, and how staff and the community identified these students. With both experiences, I desired to do more to not only support our i-CEC classrooms further, but to also support the inclusion of our i-CEC students and to build a positive school-wide culture and climate.
What inspires you to do this work? What drew me to join Seneca is the crucial work we do with students who have experienced trauma, institutional systemic barriers, and our agency's value of providing unconditional care. The kids are my "why" and continue to inspire me with the resilience they show daily.
What is an important lesson you’ve learned in this role? This work is relational. It's very difficult to be successful in this work without trusting relationships. We all need feedback and guidance to grow, for both adults and students, but we will never be able to receive and act on it if there is no trust established which takes our walls and defenses down.
Share your life motto: My life motto is that everyone just needs a place or a person where they truly feel seen, heard, and belong. The world would be a different place if that were true. I desire to create spaces where people can experience it.
RSS Feed