La Europa Wishes Fond Farewell to Robbi O’Kelley
La Europa Academy wishes a fond farewell to Executive Director, Robbi O’Kelley. She is moving onto her next adventure and we wish her all of the very best. Robbi has done incredible work and provided amazing service to La Europa Academy for the past ten years. During her tenure, La Europa grew from a little program with some artsy creative healers, to arguably the best Arts-Centered Residential Treatment Center for teens in the country. Robbi has not only helped develop a robust and intense clinical program that is rife with art, theater, dance, and music, and diversity, but she has also helped build our stunning campus and new facilities. Robbi took La Europa from a funny little B&B house with offices down the street to a multi-building campus with a stunning home, dance studios, art rooms, music spaces, gorgeous therapy offices, state of the art academics, and a transition program.
All of those things are impressive and important, but Robbi’s true shining contribution has been the culture of care, compassion, and connection that she has cemented in our milieu and within the teams of healers at LaEuropa. Hundreds of students and families, and even employees, have been directly blessed by who Robbi is and what she realized for us.
Announcing Amanda Kesler as Executive Director
Amanda is certainly not new to working in the treatment world, finding her way to the La Europa Clinical Team over 5 years ago. Since then Amanda has steadily shown herself to be a natural leader. She has become involved in all aspects of La Europa, including co-leading the clinical team, training staff, managing Parent Days, taking a large role in our recent Joint Commission Accreditation, implementing program improvements, helping manage our Covid pandemic responses, and working closely with students and families. Amanda’s intuitive skills as a therapist have not only served the families she has worked directly with, but also the team at La Europa. Amanda was the originator of our voluntary Employee Support Groups, helping any participant in managing the stress of a challenging job during the very challenging time of Covid and beyond. Prior to coming to La Europa, Amanda worked her way up from being a residential staff to becoming a licensed clinician and then managing two programs simultaneously. Amanda eventually left for the opportunity to join La Europa and be part of the highest level of teen treatment that can be found.
Amanda has had the fortune to work closely with Robbi O’Kelley, our departing Executive Director of 10 years. Due to this close relationship, Amanda has witnessed and been trained first-hand on effective leadership and what really makes La Europa special and unique. The entire leadership team at La Europa has been unanimously in favor of Amanda stepping into the role of Executive Director and continuing La Europa’s privileged opportunity to serve teens and families.