Feature Photo By: Dominique Harlan – Social worker Deb Mastin poses for a picture while working on assessments.
Antonio Brown once said, “The journey is never ending. There’s always gonna be growth, improvement, adversity; you just gotta take it all in and do what’s right, continue to grow, continue to live in the moment.”
Social worker Mrs. Mastin is said to embody the idea of growth. She plans to retire this school year and end her journey at Rangeview after contributing 13 years.
Mastin stated, “I’m sad about leaving Rangeview. I think Rangeview is a great school and I’ve enjoyed working here. I think we have awesome students and awesome staff. I’m gonna miss Rangeview, both the students and the staff.”
Mastin is a part of the Exceptional Student Services Department (EES). She spends some of her days doing assessments, while also working with students around skills and what they need to be successful in school. This can range anywhere from managing emotion to being able to advocate for themselves.
Ultimately, she works closely with a caseload of students who have an individualized education program (IEP) and receive mental health support as a part of their IEP.
Mastin explained, “I haven’t created any miracles, I haven’t fixed anything, I think I’ve given some kids tools to be able to navigate through the rest of what they need to do to have a successful life.”
Prior to working at Rangeview, Mastin spent 14 years working at a different job where she was also a social worker, working with teens. Summing up to 27 years total, Mastin noted that she has enjoyed every year.
Throughout her years working in and outside of Rangeview, Mastin was able to reflect on her experience, recognizing that everyone has a story.
Mastin said, “I think [working at Rangeview] just further reinforced what I already knew, which is just to not a judge a book by its cover, to really take the time to get to know what’s going on with somebody before determining what you think about why there’s a problem, or even what the problem is.”
Not only has Mastin impacted the students that she works with, but her personality has also impacted co-worker Katia Duncan, a Rangeview social worker as well.
Duncan stated, “She has a great ability to find joy in things that might seem difficult and to just kind of work through some of those struggles that come with our job that can be really heavy with a sense of levity. I think that only comes with a lot of wisdom and a lot of experience.”
After retirement, Mastin hopes to join a private practice to keep working with teenagers and families. She also hopes to ski more.
Mastin concluded, “I don’t want to stay here until I’m not 100%, and because I have worked so long in this system, I’m able to retire from that system and I’m still young enough to keep working. Thank you for everyone’s hard work with our students, and this building for being such a great place to come for the last 13 years.”
