You know what I mean: some people just light up the world. Not just the room, but the hearts and faces and lives of everyone she encounters. Tori is one of those people. The last time I saw her, she arrived on my doorstep with a delightful squeal, an armful of flowers, and a story about the new friend she made in line while waiting to purchase them. People flit to Tori like hummingbirds to sugar-water, displaying in bright bursts their truest beauty.
Which is why I am so excited for you to read the story of her dream come true. As a gifted People Person, Tori was already successful, professionally and personally, at helping people into their best version of themselves. And yet she had a bigger, God-given vision. I first heard about what would become WIT years ago as we traveled to and from an evening event. Earlier that day she’d had an important business meeting to flesh out some of the hard and necessary details to turn this vision into reality. I was so impressed at how BIG she was dreaming and how HARD she was willing to work to make it happen.
Your story isn’t hers, but I wonder… What are your unique gifts? What path have you uniquely walked? And what bigger creative vision might God call you to?
Create Challenge #17: Tori Dabasinskas
A glimpse into the story of creating WIT Professionals
Have you had ‘life happen’ and wondered, “Who in the world do I call?”
As someone who gets A LOT of these calls, I created WIT Professionals (Wellness Integrated Team) to honor my passion for connecting people with the right people.
WIT is my way of being creative! I am excited about WIT. I am excited to see how WIT is developing and growing. I am excited it is creatively doing the job it was set in motion to do: connecting people with great people when life happens and seeing individuals, families and businesses achieve positive change as a result of creative connection!
But first, let’s glance at the relationship story that under girds the business story.
A Glimpse of My Story
As a therapist/pastor’s wife, my experiences in social settings are funny. People either run and hide from me while holding their glass of wine behind their back or engage me in some incredible story while offering to buy me a drink! People either freak out or cannot wait to talk! Trust me, no event is ever the same.
I have walked intimately with relationship dynamics throughout my life. I am a daughter of a mayor and a teacher; a sister to a commercial developer and a politician; a mother of two beautiful teenagers; and a wife of a pastor deeply involved in local and international communities. In my professional world, I am a licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice, and founder of WIT Professionals.
Personally and professionally I am deeply aware of the significance of relationships. My heart is full of stories of the rich value of people being connected to the right people when ‘life happens.’ When I say intimate dynamics, I mean it. My conversations over the years have rarely focused on surface issues.
As a daughter: My parents were entrenched in community development. I had a front row seat to the value of connected relationships as well as to the destructive nature of painful ones.
As a mom: I was rooted in a community of school children and families. Moms were all in it together: scheduling, parenting, doing marriage, listening and participating in adult community gossip and story telling. At times it’s junior high all over, the issues just ‘more adult.’
As a wife: Marriage is as beautiful as it is challenging. Thanks to our faith in Jesus, the love of an amazing husband, our education and intentionality, we work hard to make something full of weakness as strong as we can. We deeply value our covenant to one another, trust God’s strength, and know what struggles and successes in connection feel like.
As a pastor’s family: When do people call a pastor? I will promise you, those calls aren’t about the weather or the stock market…well, sometimes the market, depending on their anxiety level. We are often invited into the messy and the magnificent. Whether I am invited into the specifics or not, I feel ‘the weather’ of my husband’s daily journey with people and organizations.
As a therapist: The ethically-bound and confidential office setting offers the safety for truths in personal dynamics and relationships that are at times precious and at other times almost unfathomable… The ground is sacred, a privilege, a place I consider it an honor to be present.
People’s stories all have a common thread: “Life is happening.” Leader or follower. Rich or poor. Life happens to all of us. I have counseled CEO’s and orphaned teenagers in Third World countries. All of us need connection. Personal or professional. I live in both camps, personal and professional, and almost always hear the same questions:
Who do I call?
How much does this cost?
Where do I go?
What in the heck do I do next?
Will you pray for me?
At the core of my being, I believe in the value and significance of connection. I feel a sense of richest joy and calling when I am at work connecting people with one another.
How does a Wellness Integrated Team of Professionals, contracted by a family or company, support connection? Like a pit crew gets a race car driver back on track, a medical crew cares for a mother giving birth, a legal team toils in tandem to support a signed contract, a city council partners to support a proposition, WIT’s network supports a caller, appropriately connecting them with the best person for them when ‘life happens.’
Yet, how do people connect to WIT? Several ways, yet we’ll focus on one: The Employee Effectiveness Program Model. This is where a Business Owner knocks it out of the park on employee care.
- Invite WIT
- Connect WIT Professionals & Staff Face-to-Face
- Give a Gift Card
INVITE: A benevolent owner who wants their employees to feel well cared for and honored contracts with WIT.
CONNECT: The WIT Network of Professionals (1-3 of them) come to the business setting in person for a company coffee and a face-to-face introduction. Everyone connects. The professional is no longer a name on a website, but a safe new contact in person. WIT provides a tailor-made training/workshop as requested by the company (i.e.: managing stress for the holidays, conflict resolution, etc). This gives staff a feel for the professional’s heart and knowledge.
GIVE: In support of the employees, the company gives ‘WIT cards’ (like a gift card) loaded with a company-selected amount of professional consultations with WIT professionals: a licensed counselor, an executive coach, a nutritionist, a mediator, a financial planner, and others. Through a short-term contract, every staff person and owner who faces a ‘life happens’ moment now has a confidential professional consultant in their pocket to contact ‘as needed.’
FROM ANXIOUS QUESTIONS TO CONFIDENT ANSWERS
I know who to call.
The cost to me is $0. (Thank you, caring owner!)
I can do this on the phone or in person.
I can call right now.
After a WIT connection, you will know exactly what to do next. Phew! Anxiety and distraction decrease; focus and productivity increase.
And that’s just the business side of WIT. Can you imagine what we can offer a family?
Connecting people with the right people takes creativity. It is as complicated as it is fun. In my professional, pro-bono, and personal arenas of life, I am deeply intertwined in personal dynamics with people. I live a deeply connected life. Connecting people with the right people when our ‘Lives are happening’ is simply awesome, complicated, and a place I feel called to serve others. It is my passion. I cannot help myself but, by God’s grace and through lots of prayer, be as creative as possible in hope to make those connections happen!
Tori lives in the Seattle area with her husband and two teenagers. She finds pleasure in anything outdoorsy—including hiking in the beauty of the Northwest, along the waterside or in the mountains—and especially, as life permits, horseback riding and playing tennis. One of her happy places is coffee and conversation with good friends; another is hot tubbing with her family and eating really great authentic taco truck-style Mexican food. She likes yummy wine, and also spinach in her smoothies. Connect with Tori through her website: www.witprofessionals.com
