How a career change led John to volunteer at CASA

John Birkhead is a lifelong learner.

Even with a career as an Air Force Navigator, Air Force Academy professorship, and PhD from Stanford all under his belt – he discovered a new calling when he started volunteering with kids.  Upon retirement from the Air Force, Birkhead volunteered with a county-run program where he played with children while their parents attended educational courses on parenting.

“One of the therapists working there asked me if I had ever thought about becoming a therapist,” he recalls. “So I enrolled in the UCCS counseling program, became a therapist, and worked in several different settings.”

John spent 20 years as a licensed therapist working with organizations like Rocky Mountain PACE, Southern Colorado AIDS Project, and Pikes Peak Hospice & Palliative Care. When he retired from his second career, he knew he wanted to give back to kids and because of CASA’s good reputation, that is where he turned.

“It’s a good continuation of where my heart was when I started with that volunteer program back in the 90s,” he says.

So now, Birkhead is a Volunteer Facilitator in CASA’s Supervised Exchange & Parenting Time (SEPT) Program. After completing CASA’s 15 hours of training, he began supervising visits between children and their non-custodial parents in CASA’s Family Visitation Center.

“A lot of the training focused on things I had already been practicing as a therapist. It was consistent with my personality. It fits with my approach to dealing with difficult, damaged people,” he says. “This is part of therapy’s effectiveness. It’s showing the person that you’re on his or her side and that I’m not here to judge you. I’m very much here to help. I never want to approach anyone in a disdainful or dismissive way.”

Birkhead says he has a great deal of empathy for the parents in the SEPT program. He knows they’re struggling mentally, emotionally, and financially and he makes a point to always greet the parent in a friendly manner.

“There was a woman I’ve seen a couple different days. She had worked until 4 in the morning the night before and she’s kind of a mess and not happy to see me. I want to be the one person they run across in the system when I introduce myself, I say ‘It’s really good to meet you’.”

He wants to treat the parents with respect.

When he’s not helping others through challenging situations, Birkhead spends time with his two sons who seem to have taken after him a bit.  One of his sons teaches in the business school at Oregon’s Willamette University and the other teaches political science at Kansas State University. Birkhead also enjoys traveling with his husband, Richard, and reading about history, political philosophy, physics, and murder mysteries.

The staff at CASA certainly hopes Birkhead stays on board in the SEPT program for many years to come!