Stevenson Is Always With You

Stevenson Is Always With You 

After 14 years working at Stevenson as a teacher, advisor, and administrator, KaDee Jay left in 2017 to move out of New York City with her family. Fortunately for our community, she didn't stay away for long. When she began her dissertation for her Doctorate in Special Education, focusing on the factors that impact the retention of college students, she conducted a study of high school graduates in order to understand what is and is not helping them to remain in college. By extending her work and focusing specifically on Stevenson alums, KaDee learned that alums were not previously aware that Stevenson is always here for them, and that they can come back at any time for connection and support. Today, KaDee works with Stevenson students both during and after graduation to provide an ongoing support network, where Stevenson is always with you. Her work takes place alongside the continuous support provided by Stevenson's College Counselor, Amy Shalita, who works with students and their families beginning in their junior year. 

KaDee has an in-depth understanding of Stevenson students, the challenges they face, and the relationships and trust they need to develop in order to be served well. After working with high school students, her current role as a learning specialist and advisor at Mansfield University has shown her the other side– the college experience– for students with emotional struggles. This inspired her to speak with Chris and Lana about the sort of support system that Stevenson graduates need in order to succeed after graduation.  

Her work with Stevenson students begins with introductions at the end of their Junior year, and it then involves multiple touchpoints.  Here’s a general timeline. In the fall of their senior year, she meets with students individually to discuss their next steps, including college, a gap year, or other paths. By January, when college applications have been submitted, they meet again to touch base and further discuss options. In March, she has an individual Zoom meeting with each student to review their choices. By May, when students have chosen a path for the following year, they begin discussing a plan for how she can best support them after graduation. 

For Stevenson graduates who attend college, KaDee works with them to make sure that they understand the services that are available to them, ranging from tutoring, to the counseling center, to accommodations and more. It's typical for college freshmen to become overwhelmed with time management, so she helps them budget their time and plan their workload. For students who live at home and commute, she guides them through ways to connect with peers on campus, such as student clubs. For all graduates, she supports them in continuing with therapy, medication, and anything else they need to succeed. Due to the time KaDee takes to understand and get to know each student, every single Stevenson senior has asked for her support to continue beyond graduation. 

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Stevenson's Director of External Affairs and Program Innovation, Jerry Pavlon-Blum, understands that we are all emotionally complex, and he works to preserve options for children and their families. Jerry's extensive work includes collaborating with major arts, education, and mental health organizations, designing programmatic enrichment, and cementing Stevenson's role as a mental health connector. He most loves working with our staff to develop students' interests and talents over time.

In addition, each year there is a subset of Stevenson students who, as they grow, develop needs that Stevenson cannot match. We take the perspective that a point can be reached where we're not able to serve a student well because our services no longer match the intensity of a student's challenges, or because of the onset of new mental health challenges that arise with development. In these cases, students benefit from our help to transition elsewhere. This is where Jerry's leadership and long standing professional relationships with therapeutic schools and programs around the country come into play. Supported by Stevenson's team-based approach, he guides Stevenson leadership, parents, and their professional teams to explore options offering a higher level of care. A school service of this sort is rare in NYC and distinguishes Stevenson in its ongoing commitment to its families, including those who may not remain enrolled. As it happens, many students who leave for a higher level of care during earlier high school grades often return to us after discharge. Here are a few snapshots of the ways in which Stevenson is always with you. 

~Though Jack was thriving during the school day at Stevenson, he began having trouble outside of the school, and it became clear he needed a higher level of care beyond a day school. Yet, living with his grandmother and lacking financial resources, he faced significant barriers to entry. Jerry networked with national organizations for scholarship funds for wilderness therapy, activated his professional network to get the family a new lawyer, and called a residential school to describe Jack's needs, which were complex but a good match for that particular environment. Once Jack was accepted, Jerry worked with the school to design a one year program so that Jack's lawyer could effectively pursue funding. 

~Jane was succeeding academically at Stevenson, but felt strongly that she would be better served by a single sex environment. Taking into consideration Jane's needs, talents, and the family’s preferences, Jerry offered a shortlist of therapeutic residential school options. Once the family chose its top three in rank order, he assisted by calling colleagues at each program to represent our faculty’s opinions and leaderships’ belief in Jane, supportively personalizing circumstances. For Jane's overwhelmed parent, he walked her through the process of applications, and, in concert with Stevenson's Clinical Director, created a shortlist of available child and adolescent psychiatrists who would clinically update and support a transition.

~When it became apparent that David needed a higher level of care, Jerry connected with a colleague via a national network of therapeutic residential and day programs. He spoke with David's therapist, and generated a plan with David's parents. Jerry walked them through a list of schools that would match David's talents and academic abilities and offer the direct services that are important for continuation of progress to occur. He reached out to another colleague at a residential treatment center to share data about David, which he learned sounded typical of their students overall. Once enrolled, David will join a cohort of similar students his age.