Karen Wolivar
Why are you nominating this individual?
"It is exceptionally difficult to work in a public school, especially in this current time of stigma, angst, and inaccurate information. Couple that with working in a rural area, sometimes called a "resource desert", especially for youth struggling with significant mental health symptoms and substance use experimentation and/or addiction. Yet, Karen Wolivar provides a calm, nurturing, informative presence to the students, staff, and families everyday.
She is ethical, humble, kind, and approachable as evidenced by the long list of students that want to check-in with her regularly. Her role at a public school is nebulous to some, yet those of us who know how hard she works to help young people during trying times is truly priceless! I am grateful to have her as a colleague."
Biography:
Karen (aka Mrs. Wolivar as the students call her) plays an integral part of supporting the mental health and risk reduction of our high school students everyday. Both her and I have unique roles in a public school as we are licensed health professionals working alongside teachers and other school staff to best support the various needs of young people. Our different yet often overlapping lenses (see credentials after our names) provide a comprehensive approach to prevention, intervention, and treatment referrals for the youth and families of the Newfound community.
Mrs. Wolivar co-facilitates suicide prevention training for all district staff and high school students annually. She also leads the "First Day" documentary for incoming 9th graders and teachers prevention and harm reduction topics as it relates to various substances. She is organizing "safe prom" presentations and advises the "Getting to Y" extra-curricular group of teens that study their own YRBS (Youth Risk Behavior Survey) data and then plan activities for their peers to reduce our highest risk categories (suicidal ideation, substance use, and unhealthy dating relationships). And then there is her daily role of meeting with several students to teach healthy coping skills, provide an understanding of how substances impact learning/thinking, and validate their adolescent roller-coaster emotions.