Farewell Melissa!

On Thursday April 25th the youth and staff of one•n•ten Phoenix said goodbye to our beloved Master’s of Social Work intern Melissa Foushee-Keller with vegan cakes and many hugs. Melissa joined the one•n•ten staff at the beginning of the Fall 2012 semester as a part of her degree requirement from Arizona State University. Melissa has done extensive research throughout her academic year with one•n•ten to assess both what the needs of youth who are about to turn 25 and age out of our programs, and make recommendations as to how we can better prepare our youth for when they do age out. Her recommendations to create a mentorship program for young adults and what that should look like in practice are being continued and further developed by our Q-High Site director Donald Smith.

In addition, Melissa’s warm and welcoming personality was one that youth took a shine to right away. Her strong background in mental health training and holistic healthcare was an invaluable asset to youth dealing with particular issues requiring one on one attention. Her absence is already felt, she is already missed!