Rehabilitation Services major Kristy Durgin gives children Growing Opportunities
Before Kristy Durgin graduated from UMF with a degree in rehabilitation services, she thought she might become an occupational therapist, perhaps in a childcare center or preschool program. Less than three years later, she found herself co-owning a state-funded in-home support agency for kids in Maine.
Today, as executive director of Growing Opportunities, Durgin oversees 48 staff members and helps provide support to 46 children with mental retardation or autism spectrum disorders.
Durgin says her path to Growing Opportunities began at UMF. As a senior, she completed her program-required internship with Donegal Town, a York-based in-home support agency. The internship involved working two or three days a week in the Norway office, writing service and consumer plans, completing intakes and working with families and staff. At the end of the internship, she was offered a supervisory position.
"I was pretty excited," recalls Durgin, who, at just 22, was overseeing 15 to 20 staff members. A few months later, the program coordinator left, and Durgin was asked to take over the role. Then, a year later, the director left to start her own agency. She asked Durgin to go with her, but Durgin didn't want to leave the clients, her "kiddos," who depended on her. "I just felt I needed to stay," she says.
Soon, Donegal Town's owners decided to sell. After much consideration, Durgin and a co-worker bought the western Maine branch of Donegal Town, naming their new agency Growing Opportunities.
"We're growing opportunities for staff and children," says Durgin, who has supervised several UMF rehabilitation services majors as interns. Durgin says she and her business partner have dealt with state funding challenges and small-business growing pains, learning a lot about managing a nonprofit agency along the way.
"I think I've done a lot of growing as a professional in the field," she says. Growing Opportunities now helps clients from birth to age 21 improve social, behavioral and life skills through daily or nearly daily in-home support. With offices based in Norway and Portland, her agency serves families throughout southern and central Maine, from Sanford to Farmington.
As executive director, Durgin is responsible for the agency's day-to-day operations, regulatory compliance, budget, employees, clients and future. And she wouldn't change a thing.
"Overall, it's been a wonderful experience," she says.
-By Lindsay Tice, UMF class of 1998
