Yes She Can Job Coach and Program Advisor Retires.
When I opened Girl AGain boutique in Hartsdale as a proof-of-concept in February, 2014, I put out a call through my autism network seeking a clinical professional to help me with job coaching young women with autism. Sheri Baron, PhD, responded to that request and joined as a volunteer with Yes She Can.
After three and a half years of intensive service to our organization, Dr. Baron is leaving Yes She Can. I want to thank her for her inestimable work and wisdom in helping Yes She Can become a reality.
Sheri has a demanding career as a psychotherapist working with individuals with autism – and she saw many of her clients from their toddler years through high school and even college. Dr. Baron says in her blog post, Diplomas are not enough. Scholastic ability is not enough to obtain a meaningful job. “We were not adequately teaching or helping to develop those skills and traits that matter most on a job: motivation, social skills, emotional regulation, responsibility and dependability.”
Dr. Baron recognized the need for an intensive and immersive learning experience to teach the skills needed to become a successful employee. In her role with Yes She Can, Sheri was instrumental in establishing our coaching methods; defining the segment we serve; articulating our program goals; and creating and implementing our candidate intake process. She developed instructional tools to teach trainees the business processes, and designed and tested our initial assessment tools.
Sheri derived great satisfaction in working one-on-one with trainees; first in our tiny location in Hartsdale, NY (where when there were two trainees, Sheri and myself in the store at one time then one of us had to step out when a customer came in!) and in our White Plains location. Sheri coached on Thursdays and Fridays, often working with three trainees at a time, each with different social and emotional needs, as well as abilities. Not only did she serve as a volunteer coach, but she also spent hours counseling parents of trainees pro bono.
The trainees loved working with Sheri; they appreciated her understanding of their challenges and her focus on helping them stretch and develop their social skills. They held a retirement party for Sheri on her last day.
We will all miss Sheri, her professional expertise and her personal concern for those she worked with at Girl Again.
In addition to coaching, Dr. Baron served on the Board of Directors of Yes She Can and helped guide the strategic plan for the organization. Along with volunteer job coach Pat Rowan, Sheri was a member of our original program development team.
While volunteering with Yes She Can, Sheri continued with her private clients, arranging her therapy schedule so she could commit to coaching when trainees were available. In addition to her career and family, Sheri enjoys her time on the court playing competitive tennis.
The board members of Yes She Can join me in thanking Dr. Sheri Baron for her time, talent and treasure to our organization. She has been an invaluable member of the team!
By Marjorie Madfis, President, Yes She Can Inc.
I want to join Marjorie and the other members of the board in thanking Dr. Sheri Baron for all of her commitment to the young women who have been trainees with Yes She Can. Dr.Baron has made a significant impact on the lives of those young women who have participated in the training at Girl Again. I commend her for her dedication and wish her the best.
As I have said so many times over the past 5 months, I am so impressed with what you and Marjorie put together as a pilot model of a job skills training program. You have been the backbone of this organization and I am sad that we didn’t have more time time to work together. I know the trainees enjoyed and greatly benefited from your expertise, as did I. Thank you for welcoming me.
I wish you lots of “good stuff” in the future.
It was a privilege, honor and pleasure to serve on the board with Sheri from the start up of Yes She Can until now.
Her experience, patience and insight were obviously valuable to the trainees, but also indispensable on the board which had a number of people like myself with limited understanding of the needs of young women with Autism.
Not only did she educate us – but also, as we brought our skills to bear for the benefit of the mission (in my case “business development, growth etc.”) – she also helped us temper and refine our instincts inclined to focus on quantitative measures of our success and make sure we also focussed on the more vital qualitative aspects.
This was transformational for me as I was able to be more sensitive to the needs of our trainees and the lifeblood of the organization – our coaches! She will be missed but her impact will continue I am sure.
Enjoy retirement! And keep in touch 🙂
Better late than never as they say. We have now been without Sheri at the Girl AGain Boutique for almost 2 months and her absence is felt. Sheri is one of the kindest people I know. Her calming presence, understanding of the business aspects of Girl AGain and dedication to helping create a meaningful job skills program will never be forgotten. I am so glad that I got to work with Sheri and thankful for all that she was able to accomplish for Girl AGain. We hope you visit us soon Sheri.