Kimberly Trask

Background

About Kimberly Trask

SERVICES OFFERED: Positive Discipline Parenting Skills Training Family Workshops (sample listing): Communication, Transition into Teen Years, Understanding the Challenges Teens Face Individual and Family Counseling (Preteens - Young Adults) Educational Transition Assistance: Facilitating Section 504 eligibility & accommodations for students with mental & emotional health issues that impact their school functioning. Why I Do What I Do: I was well into my teaching career when treatment for a physical ailment revealed major depression that had been undiagnosed for at least 17 years. I began to see myself in many of my students, and began to realize that the teens years seem miserable for most teens, and that depression and anxiety are more rampant during these years than many individuals probably realize. I transitioned into school counseling, and quickly learned that school counselors do not have the opportunity to counsel for the emotional and psychological issues. Following a call I believe God has developed throught my entire life, I left education, worked with adolescents in a psychiatric hospital, and then opened the ministry called The Refuge Counseling Resources, a vision God began to reveal while still in the school setting. I have raised a daughter through her teen years, and we have both survived to tell about it. My only child, she is technically my stepdaughter; I have experienced the unique challenges of step-parenting. As an educator and a counselor, I have facilitated communication between teens and their parents; intervened with suicidal students; counseled students in the aftermath of suicide, military death, accidental death, and murder; witnessed the accidental death of a student and comforted his friends and classmates; counseled victims of abuse; and continue to assist teens in realizing their life potential is far beyond their imagination. My message for teens and their parents: Teenage is temporary. There is hope and there is help.