Family Support Specialist, Pep Chesnutt
Kim Perry’s initial interactions with Positive Education Program were as a parent. In 1999, her preschool-age son Richard was having problems at home. When she contacted his pediatrician, the doctor recommended PEP’s early childhood program. It was a turning point.
“I fell in love with PEP almost immediately,” Perry says. “The staff helped me to understand my son’s behaviors and my misconceptions about his outbursts and cues. I learned about childhood theories, interventions and gained new self-awareness. We were at PEP about a year before he transitioned to public school.”
Later that year, Perry joined PEP professionally in a position to support children and their families. She has held several positions at PEP since 1999. Today, Perry works at PEP Chesnutt, one of PEP’s Day Treatment Centers as a family support specialist. She says her job is to support PEP families. “I help parents find their voice and advocate for their child’s needs. I equip them with the tools they need so that people can understand their point of view and respect their authority in their child’s life.”
“For example,” she continued, “parents are often looked at as being angry or hostile, but they are often frustrated and have been let down by the systems. It is my job to help them understand their role, understand that everything is not their fault, and connect with them through our shared life experiences.”
One of Perry’s favorite things about working at PEP is providing hope to families. She says, “often our families are ‘held hostage’ in their homes because of their child’s challenging behavior and I can come in with my supportive umbrella and model how they can better manage those behaviors. It allows them to be able to get out and do the things they need to do, like running errands or going to the doctor’s office.”
Perry provided an example of what a difference this type of support can make for a family. “I once met a mom, and we took her child to the department store. The parent and the child were both overwhelmed but we worked together to make the trip successful. When the child had a meltdown and the mom struggled to manage it, we did a ‘watch me and then you’ll try’ technique. I modeled how to handle the situation. In time, the mom felt more confident and comfortable and was able to say, ‘Okay, I can do this!’”
Something else that stands out to Perry about her career is how much she has learned. She feels grateful that she has always worked for good principals who provided guidance and support. She also cites PEP’s CEO, Habeebah Rasheed Grimes, as someone she sees as a mentor. “Habeebah helped me understand another way of seeing things, rewording the question, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ to ‘What happened to you?’ It helps frame my work with families.”
As a teenager, Perry thought she wanted to be a lawyer. She understands now that her calling was to be a mother and work with the students and families at PEP. “My work doesn’t feel like a job,” she says. “I love making people smile and I enjoy helping others to feel good about themselves.”
She has clearly succeeded. Not only is she an extremely valuable team member at PEP, but her son is also thriving. Richard has had a successful military career for over a decade and is responsible for the people who report to him. He still calls upon the skills he learned at PEP to connect with and serve as a mentor to others.
In her free time, Perry enjoys spending time with her husband and watching television shows like Law & Order and Chicago Hope. She likes any type of drama where the characters are trying to put the parts and pieces together.
When her sweet tooth strikes, it’s chocolate-covered pretzels for the win!