We believe that getting to the root or core of the issue in our lives is the only way to bring lasting change. Focusing on our behavior or symptoms can lead us to more underlying aspects of “who we are”. This doesn’t give us an excuse for what we do, but can help us understand ourselves better and then be in a position to change. Many people don’t understand why they do the things they do which often makes us feel like we must be “crazy”. We end up feeling very frustrated, confused and often hopeless.We recognize the value in people and help them to become the person they always wanted to be. Everyone has the ability to contribute to our community; everyone has a unique story. We’ve also found out that there are many similarities in our stories. We help others because we are willing to share from our own stories about our successes and failures.
Life Skills was started in Clovis by the Matt 25 Hope Center. The Executive Director had been involved with Life Skills International while in Anchorage, Alaska and had seen the positive benefits this program brought to people. His passion to help people led to the opening of the Life Skills Learning Center. Joining him in this endeavor was his wife Pauline, Brad Mahan, and Ernie Tennefos. They started by just offering the Life Skills curriculum but it grew to other services and became a full service counseling center over time. More people joined the team (see biographies) and more services were added to become the organization we have today. With our mission to help people we will continue to add services to address specific needs in our community.
