Nichole is a born and raised Ketchikanite!
In 2014, a Service Coordinator from our Children’s Mental Health department found her slingin’ stone baked pizzas and reached out to her about our Support Specialist positions. She decided to apply, was hired in September 2014 and has been a support to 159 CMH customers! We couldn’t be happier to have her here!
The part of her job, as a Support Specialist, that she enjoys the most is being able to build relationships in the community, schools and with other collaborators. She enjoys learning different ways to help the community grow.
One thing she finds challenging in her position is wanting to take some of the kiddo’s problems off of their shoulders onto her own, but since she can’t, she tries to be as much of a support to them as she can.
In her free time, Nichole loves reading, and being outside doing activities such as hiking, kayaking and beaching. She also enjoys leaving the Ketchikan island-life for bits of time to travel to see concerts and live bands.
Her supervisor says, “We appreciate her commitment to our program and the children we serve. She has a strong willingness to collaborate with the community partners, most importantly with the schools. Teachers connect with her and enjoy having her in their classrooms.”
Other team member say, “Nichole is a caring, competent advocate for the children she serves in CMH. She is able to work with a wide variety of children from preschoolers to teenagers and provide high quality services to all of them. She speaks up when needed to bring issues to the attention of leadership in a constructive way. She furthers her own learning and professional development by reading and she models excellent services as a peer leader. I am proud to be working alongside her!”
Nichole, thank you for being an amazing support to our CMH customers!