Reviewed Content on May 8, 2024
This Spotlight series is focused on presenting the amazing stories of fellow CSS employees. These incredible testimonies exemplify CSS’s HOPE-Centered approach. Through goal setting, the creation and recognition of pathways, and enduring willpower, we can achieve inspirational accomplishments within CSS and our personal lives. The inspiration you receive from these stories could open your own eyes to new goals you thought were impossible or pathways to achieve the important goals you have already set for yourself!
Jackie Garrett-Faulk has worked for CSS for 25 years and is now the Office Manager for the Lawton District Office. Jackie tells a short part of her story in this video and responded to a follow up written interview. Here is what she shared:
Encouraging Stories – Jackie Garrett-Faulk
As you heard from Jackie in the video, she has faced seemingly insurmountable adversity in her life completely outside of her control. Jackie entered foster care when she was 5 years old, was adopted by a family that did not treat her well when she was 9, forced into homelessness in early adulthood, and lost her husband of 30 years in 2012.
When hearing her story, you might have asked yourself, “What gave her HOPE to keep going?”
We had the same thought and we asked Jackie that exact question! Jackie shared with us that retrospection has provided her with the understanding that her “strong mind” provided her HOPE and the persistent thought, “I can dig myself out.” Jackie emphasized that she was persistent in attaining “small goals” when facing setbacks. When she was homeless, and in her words, “fishing for my meal,” she would remind herself of her small, immediate goal and try again.
A recurring theme in Jackie’s video and written responses to our questions is that she has a passion for helping others and that is what caused her to fall in love with CSS. Through the Science of HOPE and CSS, Jackie found her passion for helping the families of Oklahoma as they attempt to build stability in their lives.
We asked Jackie if she thought anything in her life impacted how she viewed her role in CSS, and her response drew an interesting parallel between the adversity Jackie faced in her life and her passion for helping others achieve stability. She mentioned how many of us share a desire to avoid the mistakes of our parents and that she certainly related with that sentiment herself. With that in mind, remember that Jackie begins her testimony by sharing her experiences of instability and adversity that was outside of her control through her childhood and early adulthood. In contrast, consider how she ends her story by sharing how she has been a powerful source of stability not only for her own family but also for the assistance she provides CSS customers on their paths to stability.
We are not alone in our quest to set goals and work to achieve them. We need others in our lives who believe in us and encourage us, especially when our willpower is fading and we are losing HOPE. Jackie credits two supervisors who trained her, and who let her know she was a valuable member of CSS, and her limitless potential in CSS. More so, they became close friends that Jackie could confide in. In the Science of HOPE one of the elements is having people to support us by believing in us.
Jackie takes the experience with her supervisors and applies that when working with those she supervises, by providing them pathways to achieve their own goals.
It is truly remarkable what Jackie has achieved within CSS and her personal life.
We all have hardships that we have faced or are facing, our own personal goals, and what led us to CSS to help the families of Oklahoma. It is through the Science of HOPE that we can achieve our goals and assist our customers to achieve theirs.
Do you have an inspiring story you would like to share? Please reach out to the PFRs at the Center of Professional Development: OCSS.PFRs@okdhs.org
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The accuracy of this CS Quest Article is up to date as of May 8, 2024.