Episode 221 – Serving Children and Families in Teton County with Sarah Cavallaro

Sarah Cavallaro is the Executive Director of Teton Youth and Family Services. Sarah is a wife, a mom, cancer survivor and a fierce advocate for kids and families in Teton County and throughout Wyoming.

Sarah is an incredibly brave and resilient woman, who has faced numerous challenges in her life, including battling cancer not once, but twice. Despite these challenges, Sarah has persevered and has dedicated herself to helping others, particularly families in her community.

During this episode, Sarah shares her inspiring journey with us, including how she ended up in Jackson back in 1999, her journey of discovering and surviving breast cancer, and how she has learned to find the funny in life. Stephan and Sarah also discuss the various programs and initiatives offered by Teton County Youth and Family Services and its partner organizations, which are dedicated to supporting families and strengthening the community.

To learn more about Sarah and Teton County Youth and Family Services, visit TetonYouthandFamilyServices.org. 

This week’s episode is supported in part by Teton County Solid Waste and Recycling reminding you to reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost. Avoid single-use products whenever possible, and remember to bring your reusable bags with you while shopping. More at RoadtoZeroWasteJH.org or at @RoadToZeroWaste.JH on Instagram

Support also comes from The Jackson Hole Marketplace. The Deli at Jackson Hole Marketplace offers ready-made soups, sandwiches, breakfast burritos, and hot lunch specials. More at JHMarketplace.com 

Want to be a guest on The Jackson Hole Connection? Email us at connect@thejacksonholeconnection.com. Marketing and editing support by Michael Moeri (michaelmoeri.com,@thatsamoeri)

Transcript
Stephan Abrams:

You are tuned into the Jackson hole, connection, sharing, fascinating stories of people connected to Jackson Hole.

Stephan Abrams:

I am truly grateful for each of you for tuning in today and support for this podcast comes from:

Stephan Abrams:

I so much enjoy reading so I can share the thoughts of others with you and my wife, who so enjoys listening to me share quotes and today's quote.

Stephan Abrams:

Is the worst thing you can do for those you love, is the things they could do and should do for themselves.

Stephan Abrams:

And that comes from Abraham Lincoln.

Stephan Abrams:

I think we all know who he is, and you are listening to episode number 221, and my guest today is the courageous and funny Sarah Cavallero.

Stephan Abrams:

Sarah is the Executive Director of Teton Youth and Family Services.

Stephan Abrams:

Sarah's a mom, a wife, an advocate for kids and families here in Teton County and throughout the state of Wyoming.

Stephan Abrams:

Sarah's story is one you will want to listen to and certainly share with others.

Stephan Abrams:

Sarah is inspiring with her bravery for herself and her family, and she also shares with us how she works tirelessly for the families here in our community.

Stephan Abrams:

Sarah will share her journey of arriving here in Jackson battling cancer.

Stephan Abrams:

With two young kids in the household and why finding the funny in life is so important.

Stephan Abrams:

Sarah, thank you for joining me here today at the Jackson Hole Connection.

Stephan Abrams:

It's great to have you here today.

Stephan Abrams:

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Stephan Abrams:

You are welcome.

Stephan Abrams:

Uh, it's a snowy morning.

Stephan Abrams:

You are commuting around town in your car.

Stephan Abrams:

we will, jump right into the conversation because you have some appointments to take care of as well.

Stephan Abrams:

Okay.

Stephan Abrams:

you have a big role that you, fill in this c.

Stephan Abrams:

Let's start off Sarah, by you sharing where did you grow up?

Stephan Abrams:

Where were you born and raised, and how did you land out here in Jackson Hole, Wyoming?

Sarah Cavallaro:

I grew up in upstate New York, in this little town called Norwich.

Sarah Cavallaro:

it was more cows and people.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It was a four H kid.

Sarah Cavallaro:

my dad owned a feed business and so we got to be part of having a family business and all of.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Entails.

Sarah Cavallaro:

and I went to college in Prescott, Arizona.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I went on an Outward Bound trip when I was 16 for the summer and canoe the west branch of the Penobscot River in Maine and kind of fell in love with.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Wilderness and I was going for a tough time and as every 16 year old usually does.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And it really helped me find a place that I felt good and happy and safe.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And so I went to college to study to do that, and I got my undergrad in wilderness therapy and when I left college, I did a bunch of research.

Sarah Cavallaro:

there's this group called the Association of Adventure Education and they had a newsletter that would come out monthly and post jobs and highlight programs, and Red Top Meadows was one of the top ranked wilderness programs in the country.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And I was looking at different wilderness programs to go try my degree out in, and Red Top came up as one of the options and I was like, oh, Jackson Hole.

Sarah Cavallaro:

That sounds like a good idea.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I was in Arizona and I Didn't miss the grayness, but I missed the winters and the seasons and so I moved to Jackson and before I moved to Jackson, I applied to Sea Barbie and Red Top Metals and Red Top was not hiring cause Had no staff turnover and CRV hired me to work and, that's how I got to Jackson.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And so I worked at CRV for about two and a half years.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And then from there took a little hiatus to Hawaii for about a year, and then came back and then worked at laptop.

Stephan Abrams:

So what year was that that you first moved out?

Sarah Cavallaro:

1999.

Stephan Abrams:

Hey, where's we're

Sarah Cavallaro:

the same class?

Sarah Cavallaro:

It feels like it wasn't that long ago, but it really is.

Sarah Cavallaro:

. Stephan Abrams: It's like 23 years ago.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Sarah

Sarah Cavallaro:

When in 99 did you move out here?

Sarah Cavallaro:

I was June of 99.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Oh,

Sarah Cavallaro:

I was August.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And I lived in my truck for four months moving around from like Shadow Mountain to the rec center parking lot to Mosquito Creek, you know, the whole dance.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And I remember that was a really cool time cause everything I owned fit in my truck and including living in my truck with me and my dog.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And it was like so easy and simple and I can't imagine putting all of my belongings in a truck right now.

Sarah Cavallaro:

. Stephan Abrams: Well, as we age in life and acquire spouses and kids, we get more things that come along with that.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It's not our, it's not our fault.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It's all the spouses and the kids.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It's

Sarah Cavallaro:

definitely not

Stephan Abrams:

my fault,

Stephan Abrams:

And so now you are connected to Red Top Meadows.

Stephan Abrams:

You don.

Stephan Abrams:

For them directly, but, share with us what you are, are now

Sarah Cavallaro:

doing.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So sometimes I work for them directly.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Okay.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I am the executive director of Teton Youth and Family Services and there are times where I need to do childcare to help with staff shortages, so I get to be with the kids on occasion.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I was actually just thinking about how next summer I'd like to go and do part of the wilderness trips with the kids, cuz it, I miss that part of.

Sarah Cavallaro:

actually doing, taking them out on the trips.

Sarah Cavallaro:

But I run Teton Youth and Family Services.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I took over from Bruce Berkland almost exactly four years ago.

Sarah Cavallaro:

He retired after 40 years, and I got chosen by the board to carry the torch.

Sarah Cavallaro:

it's been an interesting but mostly fun, fun journey.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Yeah, it's definitely where my heart lies.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I feel really, really, really lucky to have such fulfilling work.

Sarah Cavallaro:

and, you know, it's just a lot of problem solving and figuring out how to take the parts and pieces and fit 'em together to make the, the services available to kids.

Stephan Abrams:

Mm-hmm.

Stephan Abrams:

. Now I'm, I wanna learn more about Teton Youth and Family Services, but I also would like for you to share before we get into that, A pretty major life-changing event that you went through.

Stephan Abrams:

Yep.

Stephan Abrams:

could you share that with us?

Sarah Cavallaro:

Sure.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So I got hired in 2018 in December to be the executive director in January of 2019.

Sarah Cavallaro:

My mom got diagnosed with breast cancer and.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Which was kind of out of nowhere.

Sarah Cavallaro:

she, I went home to visit her.

Sarah Cavallaro:

She's in upstate New York still, and went home to visit her.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And sh I was like, I should probably have a mammogram.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I was 43 years old but that's not indicated typically for my age.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And so I came back to Jackson.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I went and visited her mid February and came back to Jackson and, on.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Birthday I, I was like, oh, I'm gonna go have a mammogram every year on my birthday.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So I remember.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And so I went in on February 28th to go have my mammogram, and a week later I found out I had early stage breast cancer.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Which was fairly shocking because it was, I mean, I think it's fairly shocking anytime you find that out, but I was not in my sphere of things that could happen.

Sarah Cavallaro:

what happened next was a bunch of testing and, it was very, very, it was like the end of a ballpoint pen, the size of it, and very deep, like almost near my chest wall.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And so, It was talked about, you know, what are the options?

Sarah Cavallaro:

And I decided to go with a double mastectomy.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And I have two kids and I felt like I was 43 and really young, and I didn't wanna be worrying about this for the rest of my life.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Even though you do kind of worry about it for the rest of your life.

Sarah Cavallaro:

. Mm-hmm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

so I had the double mastectomy at the end of April and then they did some genetic testing on the tumors, which is if anyone's gone through cancer treatment, you go down this rabbit hole of crazy and kind of find all these different paths.

Sarah Cavallaro:

But they have an incredible amount of research on, you know, you're this age.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Get this situation.

Sarah Cavallaro:

This is what's supposed to happen next.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And so they did the genetic testing and what was supposed to happen next is that I was supposed to have chemo and I thought it was gonna be just get a mastectomy and I can move on with my life cuz it was kind of preventative.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Well, And then I got to have chemo for four months and it was the kind of chemo that's like the nuclear bomb chemo, where they, they basically said, we're gonna try and kill everything in your body four times and then you should probably be good . So, I did that.

Sarah Cavallaro:

it was a very strange, surreal experience.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I had a four-year-old and a seven-year-old at the time, and you know, I lost my hair in like a week and a half after the first treatment.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And my son was like, you're not my mom.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I don't wanna touch you.

Sarah Cavallaro:

You know, like he was really scared and it was just one of those times where it was like, wow, this is like a really crazy change of, you know, where my perspective and priorities are.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So, time went on, I had reconstruction that November and then they said, you should be good to go now.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And so I took this pill that was supposed to block estrogen cause this, tumor was est, like eating estrogen essentially, and feeding on it.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And so they wanted to block the estrogen and.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So we did that and I'd go back every six months and get checked in.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And a year ago in January, the first week of January, I went in because I had found this like weird lump and I was like, this can't be anything bad because I had a double mastectomy and I found this lump.

Sarah Cavallaro:

But I thought it, I was like, it's probably scar tissue.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It's probably you.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Trying to not go off the cliff.

Sarah Cavallaro:

luckily Carrie Carr is, an oncology nurse at St.

Sarah Cavallaro:

John's and she's also a friend of mine and I was able to text her and she was like, come in tomorrow, . And so I came in the next day and then I went, it was almost like the exact same.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Process happened again is I got a mammogram.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Then suddenly I had to go get a MRI and a biopsy, and I, it, I just freaked out.

Sarah Cavallaro:

turns out I had cancer again.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It was in the same spot.

Sarah Cavallaro:

They think that they didn't because the first time.

Sarah Cavallaro:

The cancer is so close to my chest wall.

Sarah Cavallaro:

They thought they had clean margins, but perhaps they didn't.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Anyway, I had to go back to Huntsman.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I had surgery again February of LA of this past year, and then, they wanted me to do radiation, so I went, my sister lives in Ogden, so I went and moved down to Ogden with my sister for a month, and then had, you know, a month of radiation and.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Every single day, which was weird.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And then I came home and I had decided to have a hysterectomy as well because the estrogen piece of the puzzle and all of this is a big factor of it coming back and I just was ready to not do this again.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

, um, So I had that in April, and then by mid-June I was back on my feet and here I am.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I'm cancer free, but I think the second time around I've kind of become a little bit more aware of.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It's not gone.

Sarah Cavallaro:

You know, like it's, you can never say forever.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And I gotta just live in the moment and live in the gray.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Cause it could come back next week.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And isn't it great that we have so much research on breast cancer and it's like the most research treatable form of cancer?

Sarah Cavallaro:

So I'm, I got, as I've heard, I got a good form of cancer . Hmm.

Stephan Abrams:

So brave

Sarah Cavallaro:

Sarah.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Well, you know, stuff.

Sarah Cavallaro:

People say that, but you just show up.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It's not brave.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Like I, I've said, well, what was I gonna do?

Sarah Cavallaro:

Lay down and die?

Sarah Cavallaro:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

, that's not really my style of, you know, you just, it's, it was very, very scary every day.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And, but I will say, The Huntsman Center gave me incredible amount of hope and confidence that I was gonna be okay.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So having that level of care, I feel very, very lucky.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I went to Huntsman the first time and I , I remember saying like, did someone pay them off?

Sarah Cavallaro:

Or know that I was coming down here and like give someone a tip or extra money to be super nice to me and like arrange all the things.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It was just an incredible medical experience where I showed up for the first appointment and they had already scheduled five more appointments during that day to do biopsies and MRIs and all the things.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So they had like they knew the program and had it all scheduled and I didn't have to come back eight times and it was really, I feel very fortunate that we had.

Sarah Cavallaro:

That kind of healthcare coverage to be able to go through this.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Cuz they made it, I had the, the head of oncology for Huntsman call me eight o'clock at night one night and I was like, that's above and beyond any kind of, you know, regular service.

Stephan Abrams:

They're phenomenal, phenomenal facility there.

Stephan Abrams:

I have my Wyoming dad, he.

Stephan Abrams:

Pancreatic cancer and was down there and the treatment that he received and they come up here.

Stephan Abrams:

yeah, that doctor,

Sarah Cavallaro:

yeah, I got to have chemo here.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Like that was huge.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I didn't have to leave, like radiation was hard to leave the kids for a month, but I had to be down there and it, it's amazing that we, I can do my checkups here and not have to keep going to Salt Lake.

Stephan Abrams:

Well.

Stephan Abrams:

I said, you're brave and you're, you said, well, what else am I gonna do?

Stephan Abrams:

I mean, you're brave, you're a fighter.

Stephan Abrams:

You, you were brave to fight and say, I'm not gonna let lie down.

Stephan Abrams:

you didn't not allow it to overcome you.

Stephan Abrams:

And,

Sarah Cavallaro:

I'm also a really stubborn human, so of it,

Stephan Abrams:

but you sharing this as well can help other people realize, how important it is to receive that testing.

Stephan Abrams:

The screening.

Stephan Abrams:

Oh, yeah.

Stephan Abrams:

You know, I assume it was just a whim for you to

Sarah Cavallaro:

say Totally.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And it was an accident that they found it, what they were looking for the first time when they were doing the biopsy was not what they found Like what they were biopsying right next to it was the cancer.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So they were like, oh, I think we'll just biopsied this too.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And it was like, thank God, and they're just the talent that happened here, the talent that happened at Huntsman.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I feel very, very, very lucky that I was where I, where I was living, where I was to be able.

Sarah Cavallaro:

The incredible treatment.

Stephan Abrams:

Well, you started your story by sharing about your mom going through through cancer.

Stephan Abrams:

How can you share with us, how is your

Sarah Cavallaro:

mom doing?

Sarah Cavallaro:

Yeah, she's fine.

Sarah Cavallaro:

She had a lumpectomy and then she didn't need any radiation or chemo.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And you know, honestly, the reason why I went in last January is because in the beginning of December I had two really close friends get diagnosed with breast cancer and then, A week later, my mom was going in for a regular visit and she's like, oh, they found another lump.

Sarah Cavallaro:

They're gonna have to do a biopsy.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And I was like, I can't avoid doing this anymore.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Like I can't pretend that this is scar tissue anymore.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I need to go in.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I had noticed it at Thanksgiving.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So thank the, whatever is bigger than us for putting those steps in my life because I think that you.

Sarah Cavallaro:

, there are no coincidences.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And I feel lucky that, my mom, my, I joke with my mom that she probably saved my life by getting cancer . Cause I, I wouldn't, they, you know, at the time it was like, go get a mammogram on your 50.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And then during my cancer treatment, they changed it to 45.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

, I mean, there's no harm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

In getting a mammogram, it's not a, it's not that big a deal, but the re you know, not doing it is a big

Stephan Abrams:

deal and not to take away from women and mammograms, but for men, they need to do self-checks or learn how to do a self-check for testicular cancer as well.

Stephan Abrams:

It is real.

Stephan Abrams:

It is out there.

Stephan Abrams:

I have a friend who passed away from it.

Stephan Abrams:

I have another friend, her husband.

Stephan Abrams:

Did get checked because of what he was our friend was going through and they found testicular cancer in him.

Stephan Abrams:

And he, he is a survivor in that.

Stephan Abrams:

So for men who are listening, remember that there is testicular cancer, make sure you get checked as well.

Stephan Abrams:

Yeah,

Sarah Cavallaro:

absolutely.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And it's, you know, it's one of those things like, I think there's some shame around like, oh God, I don't wanna talk about my boobs, or I don't wanna talk about my testicles, but it.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Those things can kill you if you don't.

Sarah Cavallaro:

If you just wanna avoid, and I, it's, there should be no shame.

Sarah Cavallaro:

There should be like an acknowledgement that this happens way more than I think.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Anyone real going to Huntsman, I was like, oh my God, there's so many people, there's so many people that are going through this right now.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Like made me feel less lonely.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Also was kind of sad.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Because I knew I was gonna be okay and there was a lot of, a lot of really hurt soldiers out there that I know probably didn't make it.

Stephan Abrams:

Well, you speaking out today and reaching this audience are helping break down the barriers of talking about boobs and testicles,

Stephan Abrams:

. Sarah Cavallaro: I mean, I have so much to say about that, but I'll keep it to myself.

Stephan Abrams:

. Stephan Abrams: I I would love to hear it on another

Sarah Cavallaro:

day about it.

Sarah Cavallaro:

You know, when I decided to, I found out I had cancer, like literally a week and a half before I was supposed to go on spring break to Mexico and changed our trip.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So I actually went to Huntsman the day before we flew to Mexico and we got to Mexico and we were with another group of friends and we turned it into, We said we were doing research on the beach of like what my new boobs would look like.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Like I feel like you gotta find the funny and stuff.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And if you don't, it gets heavier.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And I think it's healing to be able to laugh at like, I have fake boobs now.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I never really thought that that would be part of my story, but that's a real thing.

Stephan Abrams:

Fake boobs have a purpose.

Sarah Cavallaro:

They have a purpose.

Sarah Cavallaro:

. That's not just

Stephan Abrams:

aesthetics.

Stephan Abrams:

. That's right, that's right.

Stephan Abrams:

And how did your, your kids come out of going through your cancer?

Stephan Abrams:

Because it, it's not just you, it's Right.

Stephan Abrams:

Your, your kids.

Sarah Cavallaro:

so the first time.

Sarah Cavallaro:

You know, we were all kind of in the wild west rodeo of this cuz it was new.

Sarah Cavallaro:

my dad and stepmom, my family and my sister, like my family rallied and were awesome and you know, like came to stay with the kids when I was in Salt Lake and recovering.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Cause I didn't come home after I had the mastectomy.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It was a lot of, you know, yucky stuff that they didn't need to be more scared.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

. So I stayed for about a month to recover from that and.

Sarah Cavallaro:

so we worked through the first time.

Sarah Cavallaro:

The second time, that was really, really hard.

Sarah Cavallaro:

my son was seven, my daughter's 11, so it was like, We actually got them involved in therapy because there was a lot of anxiety happening.

Sarah Cavallaro:

A lot of, you know, they were acting out in their own ways, not in bad, not terrible, but it was, you could tell that there was major stress happening for them.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And so we got them in with each of them had a therapist, and the therapist taught were awesome.

Sarah Cavallaro:

They were our, they were actually our first shield therapist, which I.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Asked to do that because I knew who they were and I knew how amazing therapists they were.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So I was using our own services because I knew that that program, the program worked.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And what type of program did you call it?

Sarah Cavallaro:

It's the Hirschfield Center.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Oh, okay.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Okay.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Yeah.

Sarah Cavallaro:

one of our therapists is an art therapist.

Sarah Cavallaro:

The other one, you know, does emdr.

Sarah Cavallaro:

They're both just phenomenal people and the kids, you know, came to my office a lot.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So the therapy piece of working with 'em felt more comfortable and they, you know, they worked with them weekly for a while and now we're kind of to six weeks to every two months just to check in.

Sarah Cavallaro:

But I really wanted the kids to have a resource because I knew that Andy and I had our plates full and.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I wanted them to feel like they had their person that was outside of Andy and I trying to parent them, but they had someone to go to to talk about hard things and be able to talk to us, talk to someone about how to talk to us about their feelings.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And it really, really, from February until.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Pretty much when school came out, they were regular, you know, regularly going to therapy.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And I think it helped them a ton, make it through a really, really rugged time.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And who knows what comes out when they're adults.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And I probably messed it up somehow, but we tried to give 'em , give them some supports that were outside of our house or family

Stephan Abrams:

that's, important.

Stephan Abrams:

Parents or people wanna bury it versus getting help.

Stephan Abrams:

And I've had several people on the podcast and we've talked about mental health and it's, well, we talk about our physical health.

Stephan Abrams:

People talk about that very openly or their diet health.

Stephan Abrams:

But when it comes to mental health, it's as though that it, that side of it gets buried.

Stephan Abrams:

Or there is the social stigmatism of saying, I go see a therapist.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I've seen a therapist more years of my life than I haven't mm-hmm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

. So I, I believe in our product that we're selling yfs.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So I feel like it's pretty important for me to practice what I preach and not that I have it all figured out at all.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I think older I get, the more I realize how much more help I could use.

Sarah Cavallaro:

But I think it's really important to have whether or not you're continually working with the therapist, just knowing that you have a resource that you can turn to if the world flips upside down someday.

Stephan Abrams:

Well, it did a few years ago.

Stephan Abrams:

Yeah.

Stephan Abrams:

it did Your did well with Covid.

Stephan Abrams:

I mean, for, for a lot of people in that side of things, but, yeah.

Stephan Abrams:

You know, yeah, I've, I've been there before with therapy and.

Stephan Abrams:

Figuring out life with parents and growing up and

Sarah Cavallaro:

yeah, growing ups hard.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It's not like there's, it's not a book, like, here's how you do it.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

, Stephan Abrams: no.

Sarah Cavallaro:

There's, there's books, but there's not really, we're people, there's no instruction manual for people.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Yeah, there's thoughts and ideas, but which is the world that you work in, being at, you know, the executive director at Teton Youth and Family Services.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Is there a connection between Teton Youth and Family Services and Red Top is

Sarah Cavallaro:

Teton Youth and Family Services is the umbrella nonprofit for Hershfield Center for Children, the Van Block Group, home and Crisis Shelter, and Red Top Meadows.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So they're all under Teton.

Sarah Cavallaro:

They're

Stephan Abrams:

all under there.

Stephan Abrams:

And how many kids at one time are you all servicing?

Sarah Cavallaro:

It depends.

Sarah Cavallaro:

We, we serve over 800 kids and family members every year.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So when we work with a kid, say they're in our group home, we also provide therapeutic services from a family.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

try to look at it holistically and not, there's the, the kid that's in our program isn't the identified patients, the whole family.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It needs support and so we try to look at it beyond just the kid and so, We serve, different, numbers of kids and families in our programs and the different levels.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So her shield center is really, I call it our prevention program.

Sarah Cavallaro:

so as we go up to red top, we start at her shield.

Sarah Cavallaro:

The her shield center's the cheapest.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It's outpatient.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It serves the most kids and family members.

Sarah Cavallaro:

it's like probably the le the least restrictive I guess.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And then you move into our group home and crisis shelter, and that's a residential placement for kids, but it's in their community.

Sarah Cavallaro:

We send kids home, so we try, it's kind of the next step.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And then Red top is kids a bit are removed from their families for a variety of reasons, but they live and go to school at Red Top.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So we try to service everyone at the hirschfield level.

Sarah Cavallaro:

That's not always something we can do because the needs might be greater, but we have levels of care that are in place so that we're not just jumping to the highest level of care.

Stephan Abrams:

And the group home is what?

Stephan Abrams:

What's the name of that?

Stephan Abrams:

the Van.

Stephan Abrams:

Black House.

Stephan Abrams:

Van.

Stephan Abrams:

Black House.

Stephan Abrams:

when you talk about the whole process and how do you get the parents to join in, because it's not just the kid that's the patient, it's the whole family.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Yeah.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Some cases are more successful than others.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I think the most success we have is when the whole family participates.

Sarah Cavallaro:

This is not about identifying one person as being bad or wrong.

Sarah Cavallaro:

This is about helping a family figure out how to function different.

Sarah Cavallaro:

and the families that participate and learn new skills and change old behaviors are the ones that we see, as a success and as.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Change happens.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So it's the ones where we're really struggling for parents to get involved, where the parents don't, you know, necessarily believe that they have a role in it.

Sarah Cavallaro:

that's a, that's harder.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Probably more prevalent.

Sarah Cavallaro:

and our job is to help the kid.

Sarah Cavallaro:

You know, I say that we're a kid-centered organization, meaning the kids' needs come first.

Sarah Cavallaro:

we've had situations where, you know, divorced parents we're working with the kid and they have divorced parents, and the parents want support for what they're doing, and we look to the kid and say, what do you need?

Sarah Cavallaro:

Because a lot of times it's very easy to defer to the adult and not listen to the kids, and our job is to make sure the kids have a voice and figure out how to incorporate the whole family structure in that.

Stephan Abrams:

I could certainly see where kids needs get pushed aside.

Stephan Abrams:

. Sarah Cavallaro: Yeah.

Stephan Abrams:

Well, they have, they have limited rights and they're reliant upon adults to take care of them.

Stephan Abrams:

Mm-hmm.

Stephan Abrams:

for food, clothing, and safety.

Stephan Abrams:

And when they don't necessarily have the resources to be independent, but they do have, you know, I I, someone told me once when I had my daughter, she was, she was my first, someone told me in the hospital, or maybe, I don't know what it was, but it was very early on, they were.

Stephan Abrams:

How you can best approach having your cause I was, you know, seeking parent advice.

Stephan Abrams:

How you can best approach your daughter is consider her human now and that she has needs and opinions and wants.

Stephan Abrams:

And she's trying to tell you that and you need to show her respect even as a one month old.

Stephan Abrams:

And so I took.

Stephan Abrams:

Very seriously.

Stephan Abrams:

And I remember like changing Callie's diaper and being like talking to her about like what was happening and it, instead of like, they were like, A lot of people do things to kids versus do things with kids.

Stephan Abrams:

And so I was, I, I really took whatever, I don't even know who told me what that, who, what that was, but it was a really helpful piece in, they have thoughts and feelings that are valid.

Stephan Abrams:

I don't care what age they are, they can be an infant, but they, their thoughts and feelings are real and valid for them right now.

Stephan Abrams:

And regardless of our judgments of if they're seen or not.

Stephan Abrams:

Their thoughts and feelings that they're experiencing.

Stephan Abrams:

And we need to say, we need to respect that.

Stephan Abrams:

And that's something that I've held as a parent because I believe that our kids, my kids deserve respect, and it's very easy for me to not listen to them.

Stephan Abrams:

Don't get me wrong.

Stephan Abrams:

Like I am not a perfectionist in the parenting department at all.

Stephan Abrams:

Had many, many times where I've looked at someone, I'm like, I'm in this business and I'm having this meltdown.

Stephan Abrams:

Yeah.

Stephan Abrams:

Mm-hmm.

Stephan Abrams:

, it happens to everyone.

Stephan Abrams:

but that's something that I do, kind of a core belief that I developed as having a kid, which I then translate to the kids that we serve, is that they deserve to be respected and treated as having their own thoughts and feelings and given respect to have those

Stephan Abrams:

Sarah, we're gonna take a quick break to get a word from one of our sponsors.

Stephan Abrams:

Okay.

Stephan Abrams:

And we're gonna come back and talk more about Teton Youth and Family Services.

Stephan Abrams:

Sounds good.

Stephan Abrams:

Sarah, welcome back.

Stephan Abrams:

We're just talking about, the role that Teton Youth and Family Services.

Stephan Abrams:

You guys have several different programs that you offer here in the community, and you, you even said, Hey, you're in this business and you're not a perfect parent.

Stephan Abrams:

Nobody's a perfect person, and your kids still have meltdowns.

Stephan Abrams:

I mean, we have them regularly in our household.

Stephan Abrams:

certainly had one last night when reading with my youngest.

Stephan Abrams:

He says, I'm not a good reader, and he's, he's getting help reading at school and it is helping him so much.

Stephan Abrams:

He's coming such a stronger reader, but he'll sta still take this position.

Stephan Abrams:

I'm not a strong reader and you are, you are a strong reader.

Stephan Abrams:

You're just at your level and you keep practicing and you'll be at a different.

Stephan Abrams:

But he still has that meltdown.

Stephan Abrams:

Yep.

Stephan Abrams:

And, it's there,

Sarah Cavallaro:

it happens to us all.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Yeah, for sure.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I mean, how many times have I melted down because I don't think I'm good in this area, or I feel like I did something wrong in the different area.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I just have figured out how to self-regulate, so I'm not like throwing books and stuff.

Sarah Cavallaro:

. That's, that's the goal is to teach kids how to regulate, how they have emotions, like have the emotions, but.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Let's not be destructive about it.

Stephan Abrams:

And

Stephan Abrams:

nowadays compared with where we are now and in this community, I mean, people look at Jackson Hole as this beautiful, amazing community.

Stephan Abrams:

But there's the real word world stuff that goes on.

Stephan Abrams:

I mean, look, VanEck was started, the VanEck house was started when

Sarah Cavallaro:

it was 1977.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So VanEck House started.

Sarah Cavallaro:

This is the story behind the Van Black House.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So, the VanEck family, we're known as a family in the community, as a family that will take wayward wanders and meaning, you know, if someone had to go to the hospital and they couldn't make it back home, and their horse and buggy or whatever.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Older form of transportation was happening, the Van Black family would be a resource to be able to go stay with 'em.

Sarah Cavallaro:

They'd feed you, they'd give you a bed to sleep in, and it was kind of an all or welcome feeling.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And so when we started, T Y F S and Van Black House was the first program.

Sarah Cavallaro:

We were a drop-in center for youth where basically kids could go if they were homeless, if they were going through crisis.

Sarah Cavallaro:

so it started as in the same light of where kids that were wayward stragglers could go, I guess

Sarah Cavallaro:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

. And from there, you know, we developed into a crisis shelter group home.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Then we did Red Top, and then Hirschfield Center came online about 2003.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And when was Red Top started?

Sarah Cavallaro:

Mm, I feel like it was 1982.

Stephan Abrams:

Okay.

Stephan Abrams:

So putting this all into context, you know, 1977, there were still a lot of the roads in here in Jackson, Teton County that weren't even.

Stephan Abrams:

Many of them weren't even, didn't have names on them back then, and we were still probably one of the poorest counties.

Stephan Abrams:

But the community saw a need.

Stephan Abrams:

Yes.

Stephan Abrams:

That even for such a small community, there was still a need for kids in crisis, or such as you said is homeless.

Stephan Abrams:

So it's always been there.

Stephan Abrams:

Yes.

Sarah Cavallaro:

we've changed over the years because the needs have changed and I think Covid has been a really fast change.

Sarah Cavallaro:

We've had to fast track some changes, in terms of the kids that we're serving are different than the kids we were serving years ago, and how do we best serve them with these different needs?

Sarah Cavallaro:

And I.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I give a ton of credit to our staff for being flexible and being able to take a look at that.

Sarah Cavallaro:

and you know, the whole world of Covid has created so many strange problems that I did not anticipate the day Covid happened or shut everything down was March 17th and.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I had a board meeting on March 17th that went virtual and at the board meeting we were supposed to approve this like five year long planning process of starting Capital Campaign to make our facilities, you know, more safe, better.

Sarah Cavallaro:

We have old facilities.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Anyway, the board, the board and I were like, Nope, that's not happening.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I need to now come up with policies and procedures of how to run a residential program, residential program.

Sarah Cavallaro:

When you're in a pandemic.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And that was a crazy journey of, I'm not a public health nurse or have any public health education.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And I was creating things that like, these are our systems, these are our processes.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Nobody like helped us with that.

Sarah Cavallaro:

In fact, the state actually took ours and gave 'em to all the rest of the proposing crisis shelters around the state because we had, actually, they didn't have anything.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And so, I kind of felt a little weird about that cause I was like, don't you maybe want your Department of Health to look at this?

Sarah Cavallaro:

Cause I don't know what I'm doing.

Sarah Cavallaro:

. But I mean it's common sense of like looking at systems and how flows are, which I was like, okay, if you can think of this as a systems thing, COVID is, we can do this.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

. And so we implemented all these different systems and were able to keep kids safe.

Sarah Cavallaro:

We never closed.

Sarah Cavallaro:

and we were there 24 7 for kids, which was the goal.

Sarah Cavallaro:

so last fall.

Sarah Cavallaro:

our kids have moved from being, I say they express that, you know, when I was working childcare staff or working in direct service in the programs, kids would throw things, they would break windows, they would, you know, punch walls.

Sarah Cavallaro:

They would express externally when they were frustrated or going through something, what the change has been over the years and very much drastic, like kinda.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Excelled.

Sarah Cavallaro:

This movement was kids have now turned internally, meaning they're self-harming, they're suicidal, they're depressed, they're anxious, but they're, how that gets expressed is very much quiet.

Sarah Cavallaro:

it's secretive.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It's very, you know, you can hide it easier, and I prefer broken windows and broken walls because I, it's me seeing kids get the energy out and getting the feelings out.

Sarah Cavallaro:

When I see kids that are suicidal and self-harming, I'm seeing them turn into themselves and that's harder, that's harder to monitor.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It's harder to keep kids safe.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Because they do things like, like they've, they were breaking, light bulbs in the group home and using 'em to self-harm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Well, our facilities were not built for that, so it became very obvious that our facilities were not meeting the needs of the level of kids that we were serving.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So we decided we can't wait anymore for this capital piece.

Sarah Cavallaro:

we gotta jump off this cliff and.

Sarah Cavallaro:

You know, we had an incredible.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Say we're gonna take this jump.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And we developed a 15 million camp capital campaign, which remodels the group home and crisis shelter and puts our suicidal holding bed in that facility.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Right now it's, they're separate and it's very hard to staff.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It upgrades a lot of the Hirschfield Center stuff like windows that don't shut, that'll close windows.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And then it rebuilds our residential building out at red top.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Belong with doing some programmatic things, like an employee housing stipend program for three years and a maintenance fund.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Just basically giving us some resources that we've never had before.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Um mm-hmm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

, I talk about when I first started working for T Y F S, I remember there was a couple times where the bookkeeper would be like, so maybe don't cash your check today.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And I was always like, what?

Sarah Cavallaro:

Like, But it, it's always been a, you know, pick up the paperclips and save every dollar we can because we believe in serving kids and.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And I, I think we've shifted that mentality of money-wise, at least from always being in crisis to the board's, done a great job of creating a reserve fund of shoring us up financially so that we're not reacting to every small thing.

Sarah Cavallaro:

We can look at the big picture and look at our big, our facilities and say, wow, if we're gonna keep serving kids with this level of need, we need to change.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And so that's where this campaign came from.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And we put it to the voters, on the spit ballot, which was.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Great.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And, we had tremendous support and I, the way we structured it, it was is it's a 10 million private part of the campaign and a 5 million public part of the campaign.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And why we did that is how T Y F S is made up is it's a public-private partnership and it really, I felt like the campaign represented that as that we're not looking to one.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Funding source for this.

Sarah Cavallaro:

We're looking to the community and the community, meaning donors and community, meaning town and county, and the community meaning the state.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So the two, 2 million spent helped the goal towards the 5 million in public funds.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I go back to Cheyenne.

Sarah Cavallaro:

For I think the fifth time and a month and a half.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I go back, whoa, I just got back two days ago.

Sarah Cavallaro:

but I go back again, Wednesday, next Wednesday, and there's a meeting on Thursday that will hopefully approve a $3 million, application for American Rescue Plan packed funds that can, that will go directly to the, capital construction of the group home and her center.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So, if we can get that public piece in place, I'm hoping that we start the new year with that in place.

Sarah Cavallaro:

we've had incredible generosity from the private sector.

Sarah Cavallaro:

We have about 7 million in commitments of the our 10 million goal.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So my goal would be to end this year in a place that we're feeling really awesome.

Sarah Cavallaro:

We can do this for our facilities, we can do this for kids.

Sarah Cavallaro:

We're gonna be around for a while and we've already started building on Hersh around Van Block and Hershfield, which is so exciting to go and see.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Cause we have video of what it looked like before.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And you go in there and just the framing out of things, I'm like, wow, this is such a huge improvement.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And the goal is to keep it feeling like a home, but also, Provide level of supervision and safety.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Like we have ligature safe stuff in the bathroom.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So the bathrooms are, you know, suicide safe essentially.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Hmm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Trying not to make it feel like you're going to a hospital where, so we have like dining area, but everything's designed to be very open.

Sarah Cavallaro:

The way our facility was before is there's lots of places to hide and.

Sarah Cavallaro:

With this changing need.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Hiding is really not good.

Sarah Cavallaro:

You can die when you hide.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

in the area.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So, it's fun.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I go over there every week or so and go tour around and they have plumbing in there now and it's just really exciting to see the opportunity and the, The resource that's getting created for our community, because I think that a lot of human services in our community, I think go under seen or under noticed and are very quiet.

Sarah Cavallaro:

You know, we quietly provide these incredible services, but I feel like this campaign has been an opportunity to talk about it and invite people.

Sarah Cavallaro:

that might not necessarily be able to or be using our services.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Typically, people don't know us unless they're using our services, and I feel like it's important for the community to know that they've, the community has created this resource, not T Y F S.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And I say that we, we wouldn't be here if our community didn't value it.

Sarah Cavallaro:

We have had enough things happen that, the community has showed up for us and made sure that the financial.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Pieces are there so that we can deliver the services.

Stephan Abrams:

That's beautiful.

Stephan Abrams:

how does your funding come through?

Stephan Abrams:

Is it federal, state, and local, or is it Yes.

Stephan Abrams:

The state and local.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It's all federal, state, local philanthropy, and so, On all of that has changed dramatically over the last 10 years.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

, we used receive around 75, 80% funding from state contracts or services.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Cause the state doesn't have facilities like ours.

Sarah Cavallaro:

They contract with nonprofits like us to provide.

Sarah Cavallaro:

That's where the public-private partnership comes in.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So they moved from funding us at 75, 80% to their, down to 28 to 30%.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And so that gap that was created has had to be filled locally, and that has been through the town and county, local governments really stepping up and through private philanthropy really stepping up.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So that's why I say, you know, and the impact.

Sarah Cavallaro:

The state funding cuts in other communities is way different for them than it is, you know, like we are lucky to live in Jackson and have this resource of a really affluent community that understands the value of the services.

Sarah Cavallaro:

That's not the case around the state, and what I'm seeing with our partners is just.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Really the, the shift is going from the state is really saying this local people, if you want these resources, you're gonna have to figure it out.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Which has been something that we definitely have been, I've been working with our association on helping to change, cuz I believe we have a role, not just them pointing their fingers at each other.

Sarah Cavallaro:

It's, we all are responsible to take care of kids and families, not just one group.

Stephan Abrams:

And, and so what's the struggle with organizations like yours and the rest of the state where there's not the affluence that Jackson has?

Stephan Abrams:

They don't.

Sarah Cavallaro:

a lot of them don't have the town and county local government support because they don't have the tax base that we have.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

and they also don't have the, the philanthropy that we have.

Sarah Cavallaro:

and I, you know, I talk when I'm at, I was just at an association meeting earlier this week and I talk about we're kind of.

Sarah Cavallaro:

The outlier in what's really happening.

Sarah Cavallaro:

what's really hap well, and that's, that's not totally true either.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Like, services are getting cut and their availability is dwindling.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And what's happening is that the state's seeing some really, really high level kids that there are no services for.

Sarah Cavallaro:

because we've let the system dwindle.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So now we've created these, all these high level kids that we've identified cost about a million bucks a year to serve, don't have the services, and there's gonna be more if we don't start trying to keep kids in group homes, keep kids in residential treatment, keep them in child advocacy centers, because what is ending up happening is kids

Sarah Cavallaro:

So if,

Stephan Abrams:

if we took preventative measures in action earlier, Yes.

Stephan Abrams:

not looking at it from a, I mean, it is finances.

Stephan Abrams:

I mean, it comes down to that.

Stephan Abrams:

It is, it's still the human, the the, the human integrity completely.

Stephan Abrams:

If we make the right investment now versus waiting to see, you know, that it's extreme and irre irreparable.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Well, and I think it goes back to you can't just serve the highest level need.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Like then you're just gonna create a whole lot of high level need.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

. So prevention.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Like prevention.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I feel like TFS and all of our programs are prevention, even though we have residential treatment.

Sarah Cavallaro:

What I, 85% of the kids we serve in our residential programs don't go into higher levels of care, meaning they're not going to detention, they're not going to psychiatric residential treatment.

Sarah Cavallaro:

We're keeping them from, we're preventing them from going to these levels of care that are extremely costly and extremely.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Invasive to the family and like as part of my spec application, I had to do an avoided cost study and I estimated very, very conservatively.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I think this number could probably be doubled, but very conservatively.

Sarah Cavallaro:

We're saving about 4.3 million a year in avoided costs by providing the services through T Y Fs.

Stephan Abrams:

Well thank you to you and the board.

Stephan Abrams:

And all the staff who put forth that hard work every day.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Yeah.

Sarah Cavallaro:

No, I'm, I am the lucky one.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I get to have the stream job of working with people that, you know, I, I stopped doing direct care because I was realizing I was starting to lose faith in humanity.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And these people keep faith in humanity and are able to work in probably some of the toughest things you've ever seen.

Sarah Cavallaro:

and maintain a sense of humor and a life and a balance.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And that's a real gift.

Stephan Abrams:

Yes, it is , because life definitely happens.

Stephan Abrams:

It does.

Stephan Abrams:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah Cavallaro:

and dunno what it's gonna be.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Sometimes it's super fun and exciting.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Sometimes it's the opposite.

Sarah Cavallaro:

. Stephan Abrams: That's right.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Yeah.

Sarah Cavallaro:

That's so true.

Sarah Cavallaro:

So Sarah, I so appreciate your courage and you sharing.

Sarah Cavallaro:

The, the road that you've been through and, and what you do for our community.

Sarah Cavallaro:

If people wanted to reach out and connect with you, what is a great way for them to do that?

Sarah Cavallaro:

They can email me, or they're, feel free to give me a call too.

Sarah Cavallaro:

my, I pretty much just run on a cell phone, so my, and I don't really care.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I mean, as long as you're not calling me to sell me something.

Stephan Abrams:

what is your email?

Stephan Abrams:

Let's start

Sarah Cavallaro:

there.

Sarah Cavallaro:

S Cavalero, c a v as in Victor, a l l a r o@tyfs.org.

Stephan Abrams:

So that was s cavalero t y fs.org.

Stephan Abrams:

Yep.

Stephan Abrams:

Okay.

Stephan Abrams:

Thank you Sarah.

Stephan Abrams:

Well, I know that you have some important work to go finish up to get your day going, and I so appreciate you taking the time to share Yeah.

Stephan Abrams:

Your journey, your

Sarah Cavallaro:

email, and reach out.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I appreciate that.

Sarah Cavallaro:

That's, I feel honored,

Sarah Cavallaro:

, Stephan Abrams: you're You're very welcome.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Well, I feel honored.

Sarah Cavallaro:

We got to speak today.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Yeah, and you share your story.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Well, thank you.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Have a good, great day, Sarah.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Enjoy weekend and enjoy this freshly falling snow with the family.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Thanks.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Warming up, . Yeah.

Sarah Cavallaro:

All right.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Take care Sarah.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Good to see you today.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Okay.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Bye-Bye.

Sarah Cavallaro:

To learn more about Sarah Cavalero and Teton Youth and Family Services, visit the Jackson hole connection.com, episode number 221.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Please get out there and share this podcast.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Easy to do.

Sarah Cavallaro:

You need help to figure out how to share podcasts?

Sarah Cavallaro:

Reach out to us on Facebook, Instagram, or send us an email to connect at the jackson hole connection.com.

Sarah Cavallaro:

My wife, Laura.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Love to you sweetie, and my boys, Lewis and William, you bring joy to us every day.

Sarah Cavallaro:

And to me, thank you Michael for editing all these podcasts.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Folks, if you wanna start your own podcast, get in touch with Michael Moeri.

Sarah Cavallaro:

He can help you out.

Sarah Cavallaro:

His contact information is in the show notes.

Sarah Cavallaro:

I appreciate you sharing your time with me today.

Sarah Cavallaro:

Cheers till next week.

Posted by, Michael Moeri

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