Clear Lake Area Chamber Of Commerce: Clear Lake Connections Podcast Episode 46 | Changing Lives And Saving Lives.

Press release from the Clear Lake Area Chamber Of Commerce:

January 10, 2022

This week on Clear Lake Connections Podcast presented by UTMB Health: Meet Pam Reed, Executive Director of Devereux Texas. In this weeks episode, Pam discusses the work Devereux does for our community and their century long history of assisting those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Pam also talks about how they have gotten creative when it comes to activities, how they make their people their first priority and how you can get involved in things such as their “My Holiday Wishes” event.  If you would like to get involved, you can go to their website at https://www.devereux.org/

Deveraux is one of the oldest and largest nonprofit behavioral healthcare organizations in the country. They have been around since 1912. They we’re founded by Helena Deveraux who was a Special Education teacher in Philadelphia. She decided she was not happy with the way things were going in the school she was working in, so she decided to create her own. She worked until she got enough kids and a place to rent, and she started the Deveraux school. Since then, it has expanded to 13 states. There are two locations in Texas, one in League city and one in Victoria.

Pam currently splits time between the two campuses. They work with adolescents ages 14-18 in LC and in Victoria they work with Young Adults in the campus and community settings. The adults in Victoria have intellectual and developmental disabilities along with some medical issues and emotional and behavioral disorders. The adolescents in League City have medical, psychiatric and emotional behavioral disorders.

With over the past 18 months, with her population she is seeing that change has happened just like it has for the rest of us, but it has been magnified. They have instituted safety and cleaning protocols, but they have done a good job of keeping COVID out of their facilities. They have gotten creative with ways to continue to have children involved so they don’t feel left out. Recently, they had a petting zoo at their campus which helped them to interact and learn. They are trying to comply but also keep the people entertained.

Pam got her start at Deveraux as a special education teacher in 1991. Deveraux was build in 1992 and she lived in League City and loved the area and knew she was going to say. She drove by when it was a former name and she went in and talked to someone about what they do there and she knew when she walked in and saw children’s faces that she was in the right place.

Over the years she learned many responsibilities and then 14 years ago she was asked to become the executive director. She loves the work they do and their core values. She says the staff keeps people coming back to Deveraux. They do the very best that they can with them by focusing on their strength and skills they can teach them to learn and grow. They are an accredited school with all special education teachers, and they offer all core subjects including art and career and technology education. They also have a therapy dog named Otis that is there every day with one of their teachers. They allow children interact with Otis and be a companion to him. They have found that animals have a very calming effect on people.

They are very mission focused and are a national organization and local affiliate. They have a very active board that completely supports Deveraux through, time, effort, and community involvement. They also have a group called the Friends of Deveraux. They host things like their Christmas Party that is coming up called “My Holiday Wishes” they make sure the kids get all the things other kids get such as gifts, stockings and celebrations. They also provide tutoring and library services along with other fun activities like a Prom to make it feel like home. A lot of the things they stand for are very important to a lot of their Board Members such as many of their initiatives.

Pam shares one of their many success stories of one of their adolescents who has worked through the program, graduated. They are constantly changing lives and saving lives. Their biggest needs as a nonprofit right now are people who are willing to help them educate and advocate about the impact of mental health on individuals as a society.

This press release was produced by the Clear Lake Area Chamber Of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author’s own.