Today we’d like to introduce you to Claudine Miles.
Claudine , can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
It was the Spring of 2017, I was working full time as an Assistant Principal of a well known Charter Network, and “tired” would’ve been an understatement. I was in year 9 of my career, and wanted to be the forever educator that former students could come back and see decades later. However, with another school year on the horizon, and no summer break in sight, I recall feeling depleted, overwhelmed, and weary. It got so bad that the stress began to take a physical hold on my body that summer. I dropped weight, fell into a depression, and began to suffer from anxiety, which was totally foreign to me. As most people do in dark times, I went home to visit my Mom.
After some nerves, many tears, and lots of hugs, I confessed to my mom, “I don’t think I can do this anymore.” I felt I was letting her down. As a single mom, she worked to put me through college, and here I was leaving a 10-year career that I worked tirelessly for– what would I do next? My mother stopped my thoughts and spoke over me, “Baby, working that hard, and missing out on your life is never worth any price. You’ll figure it out, I support you.”
With encouragement in tow, I left Rhode Island that November confident that leaving was right for me, my family, and my mental health. Keeping my secret was agonizing, and I wondered if leaving was the right thing too many times to count. Luckily, my inner voice continued to narrate that I needed to leap out on faith.
I spoke to my Principal in January of 2018, and though the conversation was a tough one, it was a necessary step. From that point on, I decided to focus on closing out my 10-year journey on a high-note, prioritizing my mental health, and loving on myself and family more. May 26th, 2018 was my last day of a decade long journey and it was bittersweet, but what happened after has been nothing short of amazing.
Fast forward a year or so later, and I am now the Co-Founder of my own educational consulting firm, Restore More. We help schools enhance the Social-Emotional Development of students. My business partner, Kimberlie Milton, and I do this in three ways– through professional development for teachers, at-home sessions with parents & students, and in after school workshops for parents and their children. It is our hope to bridge the gap between schools and home, and through these wrap-around services be an additional layer of support.
We are so passionate about this work because as former educators & leaders we’ve seen this problem up close & personal. We’ve seen the impact of kids being over suspended, the impact of harm not being repaired, & the impact of a lack of social-emotional health on academics. When I was a student, I experienced a social-emotional health crisis, & unfortunately had no one to turn to. At home, my drug-addicted father was doling out abuse on all levels. Sadly, I never had a relationship deep enough with a teacher to actually tell one & get support. Instead, I kept the secret until I was 18 and away in college detached from it all. Delayed healing is still healing, and I am proof of that, but our goal is to help kids heal sooner because we truly understand that impact these issues can have on one’s mental health & life outcomes.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We’ve been in business for a little over a year, and none of the roads has been smooth. All business has its ups and downs and we’ve had many highs and lows like the rest. Some of the successes have been having our first event, getting hired by our first school, presenting at our first conference, being interviewed on a podcast, and winning our very first pitch competition. Some of our setbacks have been adjusting to entrepreneurial life, getting out in that ecosystem, and learning all the business aspects we need to flourish. One struggle is adjusting to the number of times you are going to hear no. Luckily, my faith keeps me grounded and reminds me that not every job is for us, but others will come.
Please tell us about Restore More.
Restore More exists to share proven restorative practice strategies with schools and their stakeholders to equip students with lifelong social-emotional skills to lead choice filled lives. We do this by empowering people, by giving voice to the tough stuff to be their healthiest selves! We provide the community at large with education, training, tools, resources, services, and the occasional event to enhance their social-emotional skills. One of the things that makes us unique is that we are two female founders of color and we’ve been in the educational field for over 25 years. Finally, we only make products that reflect the cultural richness of our clients.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
When I was in middle school, I was frustrated about the lack of safe places for kids my age to hang out. As a result, I ended up partnering with a local church and their community outreach team. We wrote a grant and ended up securing $50,000 to run and operate a youth drop-in center we called Youth Place. Even at a young age, I had a knack for seeing a problem, and being able to have the optimism to see a solution through. I remind myself that even as a kid I had an entrepreneurial spirit.
Pricing:
- School Training Sessions-Packages starting at $740 & Up
- Parent Training Session $740-$1500
- The Circle Kit $27.99 (for teachers to implement Restorative Practice Circles)
Contact Info:
- Website: www.werestoremore.com
- Phone: 440-549-4511
- Email: cmiles@werestoremore.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/werestoremore/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Werestoremore/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/werestoremore
Image Credit:
Headshot in Black & White Suits Photo: Vision7 Entertainment
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