Speaker: Suzanne Gaetjens-Oleson
What is Your Why?
Suzanne Gaetjens-Oleson: Hi, thanks for logging in today and being willing to record a short video about your "why?" So when you think about your "why," you know, you think about the things that fuel you and the things that drew you to this work and the things that make you stay in this work. I will say what my "why" is, it's a pretty big question for me and a little bit difficult to answer. So hopefully this comes together and makes sense in a short amount of time. But, I will say that my why has shifted over the years when I started doing clinical work, My "why" was about just helping people realize that they were valuable and that they could do things that they never thought that they could do. And I'll give you a short story about that. I was in a store and uh checking out and the cashier looked up and said, Suzanne, is that you? And I said this is me, but I really wasn't sure who it was. And it turned out to be someone I'd seen when they were a child. And she said, you know, I just wanna tell you that you were the first person that ever told me I was normal and that there was nothing really wrong with me that I was ok and I believed you and now I'm working and I broke my family cycle and things are pretty good in my life. And I gotta tell you, I kind of floated out of the store after that. It's a small thing and, you know, it struck me that the thing that made the difference in her life was just knowing that she wasn't broken or that somebody saw her as not being broken or not being odd or strange or that anything was wrong with her and it stuck with me for a really long time. So that's my clinical "why." I will say right now, my why is really about trying to make Northern the best place that it can be trying to support the staff, trying to make it a place where people just want to come and stay and they find fulfillment. That's not to say it will be without frustration. But my hope is that this is a place that is good to work and that people are able to see that and that you see that we value you, I value you and I appreciate all the work you do. It's not just words, it's for real. So that's my short synopsis on my "whys" and I have a lot of them so I'll stop now, but I can't wait to see your video and learn about your "why." Thank you.
