March 20, 2024
This month, we say, “See you later,” to long time Family Resource Coordinator, Becky Seaman.
The Center will miss you dearly, Becky! Thank you for your lifetime of service to our community and for the years that you spent at the Children’s Developmental Center.
From Micaella Bernal (FRC) and the FRC department.
My name is Becky Seaman, and I’ve been a Family Resource Coordinator (FRC) for the ESIT program for 16 years, with five of those years being here at the Children’s Developmental Center. Before working as an FRC, I was a registered nurse for about 15 years, working at both Kadlec and Lourdes hospitals. I started working at The Arc years ago, in 1995, as the 3rd FRC in all of Benton and Franklin County.
The best thing about being an FRC is that you are able to come alongside a family, meet them where they are, and try to help them navigate the whole system. You can kind of hold their hand if they need you to do that because when you first meet some families, they have no idea what to do. They’re in shock, and they have somewhat a ‘death of a dream’ because sometimes those little kids are really impacted. We’re able to say, “it’s going to be OK. We will cry with you. We will hold your hand, we will hug you, and soon, you will be the expert…” because they are. They are the experts on their child, and they don’t have that confidence to begin with. We say, “OK, let’s just start here.” Some families are proactive, and they’re really on it. But for the most part, they’re in shock, and they just need somebody to be real with them and say it’s going to be OK. That’s where we come in. Our families know that they can call us anytime, and we’ve got them on speed text for the most part. It’s so wonderful and it warms your heart. You can have a really rough week, but you’ll go on a home visit the next Monday, and it reinforces the reason I do this. It’s really a wonderful thing to have.
My fellow FRCs and I are all on the same page. We really work off each other and encourage each other. Sometimes there’s things we individually don’t know. We’ll go to each other and gather around, just like we do the family, and we navigate it together.
This was the best job I ever had. I loved my hospital work, and I loved healing families. But this is even better because it’s not only healing, but it gives us an opportunity to provide the needed emotional support as well.
