Seeing (and Supporting) Youth for Who They Are — Melissa O'Keefe

We all want to feel truly seen. To have at least one person who knows our true selves and loves us as we are. This is critical for youth as they learn about themselves and how to navigate the world around them. Melissa O'Keefe believes that empowering youth to be themselves is vitally important. 

Melissa has a degree in social work that she got somewhat by accident. “By chance, all my classes and volunteer work lined up with that degree,” she says. “I didn’t even know there was a social work school until my junior year! I just had a natural interest and gravitated to this area of study.” 

Why social work? “I believe in the strength of ‘hope’ and ‘empowerment,’” shares Melissa. “My parents were both educators. They were – and still are – my role models in life. That combination of supporting others in their journey and focusing on kids is incredibly fulfilling.”

During her career, Melissa has worked in multiple positions within social work, human resources, production operations and customer experience. 

Melissa has also been volunteering since she was 20 years old. She has volunteered with parents who had mental illnesses, teaching healthy parenting techniques. She has also worked with veterans, food banks and more. “Connecting with people and offering a hand up or a hand to hold – figuratively speaking – is an important experience for me,” she explains. “We all need help and support from time to time, so when I can reach out, I feel good about doing so. There have been times others have supported me along the way. Life’s journey takes a village!”

Focusing on Helping Youth from Low-Income Families

Throughout her life, Melissa has particularly been drawn to making a difference in the lives of youth. She believes it’s important to see them for who they really are, empower them in their paths and encourage them when needed. This led her to look for a more substantial role with a charity and, in 2023, she started to look for a Board where she could put her passion to good use, leveraging her education and experience to help a nonprofit youth program. She came across Great Life Mentoring and loved its mission.

“Even within the most challenging of circumstances, when people–especially youth–know at least one adult believes in them, supports them in healthy ways, and provides opportunities for them to see how amazing they are … it opens the door of hope and belief in themselves and in others to be there for them with genuine care and compassion,” shares Melissa about why she joined Great Life Mentoring.

Together, Melissa knows the team at Great Life Mentoring can bring their passions to life to help youth from low-resource families with mental health needs. As she pointed out, it takes a village. You can be a part of that village by donating or applying to be a mentor in Great Life Mentoring’s evidence-based program.