Sheila Liechty, CDA, BS, CPST #222

After 15 years in Early Childhood Education the desire to Nurture and help children even more than in the classroom, drove me back to school where I pursued my Bachelor of Science Degree in Family and Child Studies with a minor in Psychology. During this time, I formed a friendship with my professor and mentor. I respected her teachings and began learning about and embracing the philosophies of The Nurturing Parenting^® Program; which I found so close to my own personality, character and beliefs.

 

I hear the odds of landing your “dream” job right out of college is slim… in November 2007 four weeks before graduation, I accepted a position at Educational and Treatment Council, Inc. (ETC) a non-profit social service agency whose motto is “helping people live better lives.”   Since 2008 I have been supervising ETC-Resource Program (Family Resource Center) and leading Nurturing Parenting Program groups as well as providing in home services to families at risk for abuse and neglect. Since beginning employment at ETC, I have also become an integral member of our leadership in the agency. The mission of ETC is the same as my own personal passion and work to “ensure youth and children’s safety, enhance life functioning and reconnect families back to the community.” ETC-Resource is also part of Louisiana Family Resource Center Network which covers the entire state with 10 centers and 9 regions. Therefore, we are Nurturing the Families of Louisiana together.

 

Maintaining the required education and credits as a Nationally Recognized Nurturing Parenting Program Trainer/Consultant, Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST), safeTALK Facilitator for suicide awareness, Darkness to Light (D2L) Facilitator for child’s sexual abuse, and Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) Practitioner is very important to me. Sharing my experiences, education, knowledge and nurturing care to everyone I come in contact both professionally and personally is who I am.

 

I have always been involved in my community. As an active member in my church, I also teach Sunday School, Coordinate Children, Youth and Women’s activities as well as plan church wide fellowships. Other community and civic activities include working the polls on Election Day as the Commissioner-in-Charge of our precinct.

 

Along with my husband, who I have been married since 1986, participate in community events, parades and support the local schools and sports teams. Even though my 2 children are grown with families of their own, many Friday nights in the fall we can still be found at the high school football games.  This is no surprise since this is how and where we met. In high school we were both in the band and the Friday night football game was the highlight of our week. We still attend community band concerts and enjoy watching our nieces and nephews in their extra-curricular activities.

 

All additional free time is spent playing and caring for our grandson. It is especially interesting watching our children start their own families and discovering for themselves how important and different life is now.

 

We love to spend our vacations camping, hiking, fishing and taking photographs of the places we go, sights we see and the beautiful and wonderful nature around us.