By Keysha Goodwin, Paraeducator
On Wednesday May 5th, Tishea Lester organized a beautiful, revitalizing BTU PSRP Conference. We had the privilege to listen to two dynamic DJs, workshop presenters, and a keynote speaker. DJ NoID started us off with positive, feel good, jump out of your seat music and DJ Unikue added his spin on the 1s and 2s to seal the music vibe. There were so many great workshop options from ‘It’s Okay Not To Be Okay’ to ‘Resiliency: Bounce Back Stronger’. Now, I have attended quite a few Self Care workshops either from the district or within my school in the last three years, so I went to this conference thinking this would be a nice refresher. To my surprise it was amazingly soothing, informative, and engaging; it was so much more than a refresher! The Keynote Speaker, Dylesia Hampton Barner, LCSW, is an interpersonal trauma expert, founder of Trap Therapist and MESH. Hampton’s open spirit spoke her truth with a heartfelt and raw delivery. Hampton revealed her trauma (rape and unhealthy relationships), how she sought and continues to receive professional help, and the changes she made to her daily routine. Needless to say, her truth is so relevant to so many, on so many levels!
As a PSRP who is currently on external assignment for BTU, Tishea Lester is well aware of PSRPs working on the front line from meal sites, delivering materials/equipment to homes, ITD support, trauma team, the front office, and reading COVID scripts and temperatures while dealing with the pandemic too. Lester chose PSRP facilitators, BTU staff, and others to highlight gifts and talents amongst our members. Hence, she provided a healing relative space to honor PSRPs’ hard work. Thank you Tishea; your effort was well received!