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to counselors
 Yolanda’s
passion and love for people is what fuels her desire
to help people see their potential, and to see the opportunity
for something positive to come out of every difficulty,
challenge, hardship, and struggle in life. Her heart
and passion for people in general, especially youth
and families, compels her to believe that she has been
called by God to help people work through various pains
and struggles that they have encountered and endured
in their lives. The time that she spent working in Family
and Kinship Care at the Baltimore City Department of
Social Services is what moved Yolanda to transition
into counseling. During Yolanda’s time at the
Department of Social Services, she gained experience
by working with children who had been abused physically
and sexually, and children who were abandoned by their
parents. This experience helped Yolanda to gain a greater
understanding and a more determined conviction of her
calling to transition into the counseling field.
Yolanda is married to her wonderful
husband Vernel and they have five children ranging from
the ages of 7-19. She was in the military for 16 years
and has worked at various duty stations overseas and
in the United States. She feels that her experience
in the military has helped to make her the caring, insightful,
and intuitive person that she is today. Even though
she considers her most challenging time in the military
to be her tour in Panama during the time of Just Cause,
she loved her time in the military and the experience
that she gained from it all.
Yolanda has worked with youth of varying
age both inside and outside of the church for 20 years
in the capacity of a youth leader, youth minister, camp
counselor, and youth mentor. It is her belief that the
youth ministry is responsible for enhancing the “Christ
experience” and knowledge that the youth already
receive from their family at home, that the youth that
she works with has an opportunity for their voices to
be heard and that there is a lot to be learned about
life and oneself if you just take the time to talk and
listen to our youth. It is also important to her that
the families of the youth are embraced and respected
as the head in a youth’s life and as a co-partner
in enhancing the youth’s experience as he/she
grows emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
When Yolanda is not working,
she loves to use her spare time spending it with her
family, reading, volunteering at her children’s
school, or fellowshipping with friends. Her favorite
scriptures that helps her to get through her challenging
or difficult times are, “I can do all things through
Christ who gives me strength,” and “Greater
is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.”
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