Civic Dispatch: A Problem in a Hard Place Meets a Veteran’s Embrace

Jean O’Connor-Snyder intern Tanner Jones describes how the passion for education in one individual can create a lasting difference for the Walker County community, especially through collaborative efforts.

Sitting across from a seasoned veteran, a parent of two, an academic, and a spouse who tamed twenty dogs for their partner—all while looking up at a wall covered with degrees—I realized I might’ve bitten off more than I could chew. To introduce myself first, I’m Tanner Jones, a Jean O’Connor Snyder Intern working with Healing and Responding to Trauma (HARTT) in a partnership with the Walker Area Community Foundation, David Mathews Center for Civic Life, and the University of Alabama’s New College. To be fair, this assignment was simple: just do one interview and write a blog. I’m supposed to tell someone’s story and how they help the community too. But how do you tell one story, when the one you’re told feels like forty-two? How do I distill the story of a life, filled with overflowing love, to what would feel to a reader like a single hug? But it’s okay if all I can report is a single narrative of an everchanging character. And in any case, my favorite way to share in kindness has always been with a heartfelt, warm embrace.

I chose to interview Romalyn Aaron, a licensed counselor working with HARTT. I only knew her as a counselor; so, I wasn’t sure what to expect while going into the interview. After it concluded, however, my biggest takeaway was her infectious resilience – she has experienced various dramatic changes throughout her life but has never let any of them define her. Things weren’t certain for her ever, but she never settled if she knew she could do better. Whenever she felt she was lost, she sat with her mistakes, and she looked in a new direction. Coming to the U.S. as a child without any English forged that resilience in fire it seems. During that transition, she says, “I was teased, and I was bullied growing up, so I dealt with it my own way. It’s either be bullied and always be the victim or come out of it. So, I turned it around and said, ‘you know what, they’re making fun of me, so I’m going to do better than they are.’” Nothing was certain for her then except for those promises she made to herself every day – along with the chances that came in their wake.

Each of Aaron’s careers in medicine, mental health, public service, education, and counseling came from her passion to educate and help others by healing their trauma and understanding their pain. She didn’t want just a single frame of reference for her interest though, and that’s what shows the value in her perspective. She was faced with multiple major life decisions even before the age of 25. She was an ESL (English as a Second Language) student in the U.S. after coming over from the Philippines at age nine. She earned her GED, multiple skill certifications, and an associate degree. She started basic training for the Army in her early twenties while raising two children and supporting a family. Continuing to her bachelor’s in psychology, twelve years of military training, four master’s degrees, and decade and a half career in the mental health field, Aaron’s heartbeat of learning is still thriving as she pursues new perspectives of her passion. In her own words, she says, “I think that if I stopped learning, then it’s the end of my time.” And that’s her truth, as her story is inherently one that shows the power a curious mind can have despite your age, background, or limitations. 

To this day Aaron applies her lifetime of learning to help children, youth, and families break through their struggles with generational trauma, substance use disorders, and their individual causes as best as she can. In spirit of her passions though, her approaches and expectations grasp at the bigger picture at the root of these problems. Through her clinical work regarding mental health and substance abuse within Walker County, she has learned that both of these problems cannot be tackled independently – it will take more than individual, uncoordinated efforts. The way she sees it is: “Which came first, the egg or the chicken. It’s the same as, which came first, mental health issues or substance abuse issues. Something led them to have mental health issues that led them to have substance abuse issues. It’s just one can’t exist without the other.” She agrees that every county is quite unique, but also notes that the biggest problem that plagues this county is substance abuse. The families and youths that she comes across go through constant cycles of counseling, rehabilitation, poverty, relapse, and the need for more counseling. Aaron works tirelessly to ameliorate the mental health challenges she sees, but the presence of substance abuse buckles the cycle down at every stop. 

Aaron shows me the necessity of the work here at HARTT by how her efforts to understand people and communities changed her own life. Her purpose, and HARTT’s, is to share that education with anyone and everyone that will listen. Aaron’s past has given her the perspective and experiences to see that too many community stakeholders try to tackle the problems their county faces separately and not wholistically. Changing the lifestyles of the community members who need this help will take more than singular, disjointed efforts. Ultimately, as Aaron notes, the communities of Walker County need proactive and early intervention. To heal generational trauma, steer youth away from substance use disorders, and consistently disrupt cycles of poverty, there needs to be a converging and all-encompassing embrace. In her own words, Aaron adds, “we need to not only focus on the affected kids and families, but what’s causing these issues.” Communities of families need to learn with fervor and hope, the possibilities of their futures and their truest potentials. The narratives of the people and families of Walker County, which have been smothered in perpetuated trauma, need to be lifted and shown the richness of their worth.

From Northport, Alabama, Tanner is a junior at the University of Alabama pursuing an interdisciplinary major with a depth study in cognitive and behavioral sciences through the New College Program.

This photo of Tanner was taken by the Walker Area Community Foundation as part of the students’ internship with them over the summer.