Carley Downing

Carley says that her two jobs have impacted her and each other in numerous ways. In her own words, “I think my education leading up to being able to see my own clients now has certainly impacted he way I interact with the kids and families I work with, because it kind of creates a different lens through which you see people.” She adds to this by saying,

 “You gain this, really big, perspective shift, and a lot of respect for the people doing that hard stuff, because it's not easy when you have a kid that has intense behavioral outbursts, or really acute medical needs, or a kid that needs total care and needs pretty much everything done for them… I don't think you truly can have the respect and the empathy for how those people live their lives, how those families live, because our world and our society are not built for those kids.” 

One of the biggest driving forces behind Carley's desire to pursue this line of work and a significant contributor to the investment she has in her work was her childhood. This is largely because of her mother and grandmother’s line of work. When asked how her childhood has affected her work, Carley says, “Being a Medicaid Waiver provider and working with kids with developmental disabilities has always been on my radar, because our grandma and my mom both have worked with kids with developmental disabilities my whole life.” She then goes on to talk about her career as a therapist, “Similarly, as a therapist, I think I've always been surrounded by people in helping professions. So, social work, teachers, you know.. people who help other people and do further work.” 

Carley’s bio on the modern therapy website describes her as accessible, empathetic, and accepting. Saying, “Carley has spent about six years working with children with developmental disabilities and has a passion for supporting these children and their families. In addition to this work, she gained valuable experience with crisis intervention working with diverse children, adolescents, and their families in a Psychiatric Crisis Department.” This provides context for just how dedicated she is to her work and to providing help to others.

She also shares her experience providing for a medically complex child and his brother, and how that has profoundly changed her life and career. 

“Well, I think Ellis impacted my life perspective, and what I mean by that is the ten months that I spent with him were 

probably the happiest I've ever been, and the saddest I've ever been. 
I mean, working with siblings of children who have developmental disabilities, or who have an acute, terminal, or chronic illness. I feel like that's pretty obviously all because of Matthew and Ellis, because Matthew's experience and witnessing him go through that grief has been an amazingly eye-opening experience as well. He's so little, yet he has said some of the most profound things about loss, grief, and just death and dying in general. And that kind of stuff you don't expect to come out of a four-year-old’s mouth, because it's not something that, quote unquote, is supposed to be in someone's life at that age, you know?”

My talk with Carley really helped me see how her work has and continues to greatly impact who she is as a person and how she goes about navigating her work and life.