Skylar LeBron

I had the rare opportunity to land a job in this field before graduating and had the honor to work as a caseworker for my Senior year. In doing this, I worked with families that had open and active CPS cases. I was able to help people work through their addictions, link them to treatment services, help find housing, gain employment and settle in stability. This was a community based job so I was working with people in their homes, at stores, in public libraries and just about anywhere you can think of. 

I have found that community based work is where I want to be (for now, at least) and that is something I plan to continue post graduation. I am moving to my home state of Florida where I plan to use my degree and credentials from the Addiction education certificate to work towards my Certified Addiction Counselor (CAC) license in FL. 

After gaining some more experience in the field, my goal is to return to a graduate program and work my way to becoming a school counselor. 

My education received and experienced within ODU has given me so much to work with and bring with me as I continue to help children and families in this field. My life goal is to eventually have my own private mental health services agency where we provide additional resources and opportunities to Social Workers and their caseloads as we know these families need more attention and encouragement and support than what is provided during the typical one visit per month. I also hope to have a good handful of homes that could be used for group homes, both for children in the system that do not have foster care placements, but also homes for people that are coming out of their addictions and are estranged from family and people that are freshly out of being incarcerated trying to acclimate themselves into the world. I feel that some entrepreneurship is definitely in my future.