Читать книгу Racing Toward Recovery. The Extraordinary Story of Alaska Musher Mike Williams Sr. онлайн

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It took me three years to complete that degree at the college. I spent a while washing dishes, but there was a psychiatrist in town named Verner Stillner and he took an interest in me. He was trying to get a mental health program started for kids through the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation.

He knew I was teaching karate to young people and he would see me in the kitchen. Sometimes he wanted to have lunch or dinner with me. I told him that I was studying to become a counselor and he was working at the mental health program in Bethel. He told me about the idea he had for the kids project. He wanted to help the Yup'ik people with their mental health issues and that there was a job opening on the outreach mental health staff for a counselor. Dr. Stillner was involved. Bridget Kline, a Yup'ik from Mountain Village, was involved. And so was a counselor by the name of Dana Kopunuk. He was an elderly guy that Dr. Stillner had recruited. He asked me to take the position. It was explained that I would have more educational opportunities to advance myself and that Mr. Kopunuk would be my mentor. So I took it. That fit in with my goals of being a basketball coach and helping young people. It’s not the same as becoming a physical education teacher and a coach, but it is still helping.