{"id":15,"date":"2019-06-04T21:43:18","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T21:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/?post_type=stories&p=15"},"modified":"2019-11-13T17:09:47","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T17:09:47","slug":"breaking-through","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/news\/breaking-through\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking Through"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chris Patterson wasn’t supposed to survive the streets of Spokane. Now he’s helping others stay off them.<\/h3>\n

By Dave Meany<\/strong><\/p>\n

The words left quite an impression on the young Chris Patterson. They stand out as one of those pivotal life moments many of us look back on as a possible turning point. Only this wasn\u2019t a motivational speech. Things hadn\u2019t really turned. Yet. But the words have stuck with him all these years: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be too concerned, because Chris isn\u2019t going to live to see 18.\u201d<\/p>\n

The year was 1984. The words came from a state social worker tasked with delivering a 13-year-old Patterson to a new foster home in Spokane.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the lowest point is when you start to realize, it\u2019s just you\u2026 and you\u2019ve got to figure it out,\u201d Patterson says quietly. \u201cAnd there is really nobody else there to do the work, and so you\u2019ve really got to get up off your backside and do what you\u2019re supposed to do. Or you\u2019re going to sink.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On that day Patterson, a self-described \u201crunner,\u201d a street-wise kid who was proud that he never stayed put in a foster home, was doing nothing but sinking: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be too concerned, Chris isn\u2019t going to live to see 18.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sort of hits you,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI knew that I was hanging around with a lot of the tougher crowd, getting in fights almost every day.\u201d He knew, in short, that the social worker had it right.<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

Patterson still doesn\u2019t look like the type of guy you\u2019d want to pick a fight with. A full framed, 6-feet, 5-inches tall, he cuts an imposing figure. His office wall is adorned with the mounted head of a wild boar that he shot in California. Dozens of hunting photos and souvenirs add to the tough-guy aura.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not the whole picture. His workspace also includes a framed drawing from his young daughter, along with a set of her sweetly smiling class photos. There are awards from Leadership Spokane and Rotary International, both signifying Patterson\u2019s deep involvement in the community. There is an image of Patterson standing alongside U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a testament to the broad reach and wide recognition his work has gained. And there is a bright red banner from EWU, a prominent reminder of the place that helped him to become the man he is today; a person who is, in fact, deeply concerned about each and every youth who may not live to see 18.<\/p>\n

Patterson, who recently turned 50, owns BreakThrough, Inc., a state-supported agency that operates 10 residential service homes for children who resemble his former self, at-risk youth from here in the state of Washington, most of them living in the Spokane and Tri-Cities areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe deal with the most intense population that there is in the state,\u201d he says. \u201cA lot of those kids that come to us can\u2019t be returned to a foster home at the time, they have to actually work with their behavior management. Some of these kids can be pretty destructive to their own path, their own future and to themselves as well as maybe other people. They are really, really challenging to work with until you can figure them out, get them stable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think his past experiences definitely have a huge factor in how he operates the business,\u201d says Marcus Kelsey, BreakThrough\u2019s quality-assurance manager who oversees the Spokane-area programs. \u201cThat\u2019s the reason I came to this company. I was drawn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelsey\u2019s own life experiences are another reason he was likely drawn to BreakThrough. He also grew up in foster care, living in California and Montana before coming to Spokane. And, like Patterson, he also earned a degree from Eastern, studying visual arts. Kelsey\u2019s path took a turn after he befriended a classmate with multiple sclerosis during his freshman year, helping to care for him during their time on campus. This eventually led Kelsey toward helping at-risk populations. \u201cThis is kind of natural to me,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a natural fit for Patterson as well, who says he loves every minute of his challenging vocation. He knows the road these children have traveled. And he believes he knows how to get them on the right path, even if it means working on seemingly small things like table manners and proper hygiene.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a one size fits all,\u201d Patterson says. \u201cEvery client has his or her own unique way or specific needs, so we develop a plan for each one.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Patterson had his revelatory moment at age 13, he gradually began to develop a plan for his own success. College was a big part of that plan. After graduating from Riverside High School north of Spokane, he entered the Job Corps\u2019 forestry program outside Curlew, Washington \u2014 a gig that helped him save tuition money by spending long hours working the fire lines at places like Yellowstone National Park.<\/p>\n

His first stop after returning home was Spokane Community College, where he earned multiple associate\u2019s degrees while studying fire science, administration of justice and liberal arts. At the urging of a friend, Patterson decided to try a four-year institution. Being from Spokane, he says Eastern was an obvious, and fortuitous, choice. \u201cIt definitely opened up other doors that I didn\u2019t have before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although at one time he thought he might try law enforcement, by the time he enrolled at EWU Patterson knew he wanted to pursue a career that was closer to his heart \u2014 social services. He quickly immersed himself in special education classes and still remembers some of the EWU instructors who pushed him to succeed, especially Ron Martella, then a professor of education, and Martella\u2019s wife, Nancy Marchand-Martella, a professor in the departments of applied psychology and counseling, educational, and developmental psychology.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember him because of his motivation,\u201d says Martella, now a faculty member at Purdue University, where his wife is the Suzi and Dale Gallagher Dean of Education and a professor of special education. During a recent phone conversation, Martella instantly recalled Patterson\u2019s enthusiasm and commitment to learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was incredibly inquisitive,\u201d Martella says. \u201cHe would be one that would come into the office quite a bit to talk about the material and how you apply it. And so he was always wanting to know more than what was going on in the class.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martella spent more than 20 years at Eastern teaching special education and behavior management classes, and still takes pride in the program he left behind. He believes proper training is the key to running successful behavior programs like BreakThrough. Martella thinks Patterson learned critical behavior analysis methods at EWU that are even more relevant to the occupation today.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to have those skills in order to deal with those issues, and he gained those skills in the program,\u201d says Martella.<\/p>\n

During the course of the conversation, Martella spoke glowingly of the many former EWU students, like Patterson, who are making differences in their communities. He says he has kept in touch with Patterson over the years, even doing consulting work for him on a few cases when he first started his work.<\/p>\n

Patterson is thankful for what Martella and his wife did for him at Eastern. \u201cI always respected them,\u201d he says. \u201cThey were straightforward, to the point. They taught you, they wanted you to learn, and they wanted you to be successful. And it wasn\u2019t just \u2018here read the book and have a test.\u2019 We went over laws, we went over WAC\u2019s, we went over RCW\u2019s, we went over everything there was to know about special education law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patterson graduated from EWU in 2011 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in interdisciplinary studies and a minor in childhood educational psychology. The expertise he acquired led to jobs in private group homes for children, as well as work involving special programs for developmentally disabled adults.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more severe the client was, the more I enjoyed the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

With his EWU degree in hand, Patterson worked in the industry until he was ready to start his own business helping troubled kids and their families. \u201cI love it,” he says. “I think the biggest challenge, it\u2019s not the kids. We know why the kids are here and we know why we\u2019re supposed to be working with them. It\u2019s just getting the rest of the adults in the room and the professionals and legislators and everyone else to figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martella seems certain Patterson had things sort of figured out during his Eastern days when he talked about running his own program. \u201cThis goes back to when he was a student and that\u2019s one of the reasons why he was driven to learn the material so well because he already had a goal, I believe, of doing something like this when he was a student,\u201d Martella says. \u201cSo it doesn\u2019t surprise me at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe always showed a lot of tenacity in classes and when he started his business.\u201d<\/p>\n

BreakThrough now holds two contracts with the state. One, for the residential homes, was developed with the Division of Developmental Administration. The other involves work with the Department of Children, Youth and Families. The business employs more than 100 people, including Kelsey, the quality assurance manager.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Chris) has an unorthodox approach, but I think it\u2019s very fitting. He cares about the kids,\u201d Kelsey says. \u201cI\u2019ve worked with other companies, and I think with him there is a little more empathy, compassion, just because he can relate. He\u2019s been on both sides of the fence, if you will.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With its low youth-to-staff ratio, BreakThrough aims to help their young clients develop critical social skills such as personal accountability, workplace responsibility and appropriate family communications. Many of the children have learning disabilities or serious behavioral issues, so individualized treatment is supplemented with special programs at school and at home. Patterson must also navigate complicated state regulations and codes to ensure it all runs smoothly.<\/p>\n

The name BreakThrough came from Patterson\u2019s wife, Dalene, who noticed her husband would come home and talk about how much of his work involved developing the right program to help troubled youth break through barriers.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of barriers to break. According to the policy and advocacy group Partners for Our Children, more than 9,200 children in the state of Washington need some type of care \u2014from foster care to group care. In Spokane County, 9.1 children per thousand are in need of care, the highest rate in the state.<\/p>\n

These daunting numbers are no deterrent to Patterson, who nevertheless acknowledges his efforts are typically just a first step in a process where success is hard to measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuccess is measured for each kid. And it could be an hour at a time, a day at a time or a month at a time,\u201d he says. On a personal level, success can also come from a simple phone call that reminds Patterson he\u2019s giving back to a system he himself was able to navigate and survive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got kids that I worked with 20 years ago that will find a way and they will call me. They call to say \u2018hello,\u2019 to see how things are going. And then they say, \u2018I\u2019m sorry.\u2019 Their consistent answer is that they\u2019re sorry they didn\u2019t listen. And they appreciate the fact that someone was there to go toe to toe with them at that worst moment \u2014 that moment when they were being the worst possible kid \u2014 and I didn\u2019t back down and give up on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Maybe that\u2019s why the tattoo on Patterson\u2019s right forearm is so meaningful. It reads \u201cnever quit.\u201d It\u2019s one of his favorite sayings, a \u201clife rule\u201d for both for him and the youth he serves. It\u2019s also a reminder that he didn\u2019t quit on himself after hearing those words so many years ago: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be too concerned, because Chris isn\u2019t going to live to see 18.\u201d<\/p>\n

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