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Making a difference
in her hometown
Perkins helps put
kids back on right path
By KRISTA J. KARCH
Observer-Dispatch
Kathleen Perkins said
she came to the House of the Good Shepherd the same way her young
charges did.
“I was lost, confused and didn’t know what to do with
my life, so the house gave me some structure,” she said,
laughing.
It was her first job out of college, 18 years ago. Now, she’s
the director of the Schafer Residence, an 18-bed residential treatment
center that cares for children from across Central New York.
“We provide services to kids who are challenged by living
in the community right now,” Perkins said.
The Schafer Residence is the most structured program at the House
of the Good Shepherd, where children have a 12-month school year
and strict guidelines that assist them in dealing with psychological
conditions.
When Perkins first started out at the House of the Good Shepherd,
a mentor said if she needs to leave work each day feeling certain
that her work has gotten through to the residents, the job wasn’t
a good fit.
“We have a lot of staff that just don’t make it,”
Perkins said. “They can’t deal with it.”
But if a staffmember can endure the first year, they’ll stay
for a lifetime, she said.
“It’s that first year of appreciating and understanding
the lives our kids have lived, and after that you really see the
rewards,” she said. “I know we’ve created some
stability, and I think that they’ll draw on that someday.”
Perkins, a Rome native, studied early childhood education at SUNY
Cobleskill for two years before transferring to Utica College
for psychology, and later went on to Syracuse University to earn
a master’s in social work. She never dreamed of leaving the
Mohawk Valley. This is her home, she said, and she likes it here.
“I only made it 1.2 miles away from my parents house,”
she said.
But Perkins is proof that one needn’t travel far and wide
to make a difference.
“I tend to just think, this is where I am, and what can I
do to make my life and the lives of those around me better,”
she said.
She’s seen people leave the area, expecting a magical life
transformation along with a location change. But often, they return,
Perkins said.
That’s why she’s never left. Everything she needs, she
said, is right here.
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