Meet Rana O’Connor, Recruitment Supervisor for Treatment Foster Care. Rana began working with Spurwink in November 2013 as a Resource Coordinator for Treatment Foster Care. Since then, she has become the Recruitment Supervisor and also works with A Family for ME Maine on various aspects of advertising and social media outreach.
When I’m outside of work I’m: Likely to be playing with scraps of fabric or am otherwise involved in the world of fabric art as an artist, teacher, or exhibit coordinator. The most recent exhibit I coordinated hangs at the Portland Public Library children’s room through January and continues on a statewide tour through June of 2020.
Spurwink program that I connect with most deeply: Treatment Foster Care and A Family for ME are where I spend my time and energy. I’ll try anything to spread the word about the need for foster parents in Maine and to help people make the commitment to give children a safe and stable home.
Why behavioral health matters to me: What I have learned in over 25 years of recruiting and working with foster families is children do best when they know they are part of a family. A foster home is the bridge to family—whether that is a return to birth family and relatives or an adoptive family; or the foster home becomes the child’s life-long family. We all need to belong.
My favorite ways to de-stress: Swim. Ride a roller coaster. Eat a good meal with friends. I could go on. I believe in not stressing.
Words to live by: All life at the subatomic level is interconnected and communicates. Think Quantum Physics, String Theory, The Unbearable Wholeness of Being.
Most interesting thing I’ve read recently: Tony Horwitz: Spying on the South. Subtitled “An odyssey across the American divide,” it resonates with current events and is a fun read, in inimitable Horwitz style. Sadly, he died soon after this book came out. His insightful voice will be missed.
The music I jam to alone in the car is: 60’s Rock
Favorite ice cream: Hood Chippedy Chocolate, now renamed Chocolate Chip. Seriously. Luckily, the formulation hasn’t changed.
Recent Netflix obsession: The Great British Baking Show
Sweet or salty?: Salty and very sour
Mountains or beach?: Beach, especially if the water is warm enough to swim and the waves are conducive to body surfing.
