A River of Love — Elizabeth Higley
A teenage girl stands by her father on a riverbank near the Central Oregon coast, the river meandering its way to the sea. Both have fishing poles. But that detail is not really important. What is important is the feeling of complete safety the girl feels with her father.
Growing up, Elizabeth Higley led a charmed life. “As far as I knew, people were good, and the future could be whatever you wanted it to be. It was the stuff of storybooks.”
Being with her dad was the safest place in the world. “Though he didn’t know it, I took off my seatbelt when he was driving because I knew nothing could hurt me when he was there.”
Unfortunately, this story takes a tragic turn. When Elizabeth was 16, her father was killed in an accident at work. “My safety net was gone. From that day on, I was an entirely different person. I took on adult responsibilities.” But despite tragedy, Elizabeth persevered. “My faith became my anchor, my mom was my champion, and my grandfather gave me confidence in myself.”
With her faith and the support of her family, Elizabeth bravely set out to explore the world at age 18. “I traveled, lived abroad, sought higher education, and volunteered. I had witnessed my mom volunteering all my life.” When Elizabeth was little, she helped her mom with parade floats, delivering Meals on Wheels, and teaching Sunday School. “Giving and serving the community was deeply integrated into our life, and I continued to do it when I left home. Wherever I was, I looked for ways to help others.”
At a young age, Elizabeth found she had a particular gift for helping children. In the second grade, she vividly remembers helping a crying classmate to the counselor’s office, where she was asked to stay with the girl because the Counselor saw what a help she was to the upset student. Her mom would also assign her children who needed extra help in Sunday School.
In fifth grade, when Elizabeth learned about the harsh reality of foster care, her heart broke for those kids. “It was a huge shock to learn that some kids were not safe in their own homes,” she recalls. “I was in disbelief and still remember the face of the girl who I learned had been abused. The injustice of it fueled me, and I wanted to help right the wrong.” Despite losing her safety net in adolescence with her father’s passing, it never changed her belief that all children should have the same secure childhood she was blessed with.
Thus began a life-long mission to improve the lives of children in need. Throughout college, she worked in the child development center, and she designed and taught summer classes through the Audubon Society. She also volunteered as a mentor, at a crisis line, and at church. However, volunteering did not end when she left college. She has spent over 25 years in community service to faith-based ministries, mostly working with women and children. “This has been a huge joy in my life,” Elizabeth shares.
In 2000, Elizabeth was hired when the Clark County Department of Community Services wanted to create a program that integrated mentoring with behavioral healthcare. This was the call that Elizabeth had been waiting for; Everything she had done up to this point made her the perfect match for the job. It was her “calling,” the man who hired her said. Elizabeth replied, “I know it is, and I’d like to start today.”
Elizabeth says she created Great Life Mentoring (GLM) from all that she had in her as a person, all those life experiences and passions, as well as her college education. Elizabeth holds a Certificate in Adolescent Mental Illness and Addiction in addition to a Bachelor’s degree in Communication, minors in Sociology and English. She has also been a WA State Registered Counselor for over twenty years. While she enjoyed her volunteering experiences, she had learned what not to do along the way. The mentoring programs she had volunteered for provided no formal training to mentors, didn’t run background checks on mentors and had no insight into the children they were serving. “You were assigned a random child and left to your own devices to try and figure out how best to help them,” Elizabeth shared. She knew she could do better, and, more importantly, that the children deserved better.
Since GLM caters specifically to vulnerable youth already in the mental health system, Elizabeth knew she needed to create a program where the mentors were enabled to succeed in the important task of helping these children heal and be empowered to live to their full potential.
“These kids were in my charge, and I had to do right by them,” Elizabeth says. “They needed to have the very best mentors: People who knew how to actively listen and provide empathy. People who were sure to follow through with the commitment, and who believed the best in their friend. These kids had been disappointed enough. If I was going to let an adult into a child’s life, I had to know beyond the shadow of a doubt they were going to benefit the child.”
The result was what has now become GLM’s nationally recognized, award-winning, evidence-based program model. The program received a national designation and evidence rating of Effective (the highest possible rating) by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs in the criminal and juvenile justice and criminal victimization fields. Further, it has achieved status as a mental health intervention on the WA State Inventory of Evidence-Based Practices. GLM’s model starts with rigorous screening, to ensure only the best candidates become volunteers. Twenty hours of training prepares the mentors to provide the youth with the special care they need, and continued support throughout their relationship establishes success.
“Through this program, I have witnessed countless life-changing miracles. Each child has a story all their own, but every story includes a mentor who brings encouragement, consistency, and hope.”
She continues, “I work long, hard hours running the organization. It’s all behind the scenes now. But I stay close to the stories of the mentors and kids. That’s what keeps me going. Because we know GLM’s model is working and improving lives I’ve built a team that is helping me to expand this intervention to reach more kids and increase equity. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the only human thing to do. When you know you have something that brings life, you have to give it away.”
For Elizabeth, giving vulnerable children the chance at a better life is what it’s all about. “I’d love to be one of the reasons a child could believe that people are good, and the future can be whatever they want it to be.”
“And to stay balanced in life, I walk to the river.” Elizabeth concludes. “It’s where I find my peace. I put my feet in the water and feel the presence of all the love that has carried me through this great life.”
