By Loretta Fulton

Being nimble on your feet is a must for anyone leading a major institution, and nobody came better equipped than Erin Seabourne to lead Hendrick Home for Children.

Erin joined the staff at the Home in 2013 as a caseworker and trained so that she could eventually replace her boss and mentor, David Perkins, who was Executive Vice President. She made that transition and several others before being named President and CEO of the Home this past summer.

But before Erin joined the staff, she already was quite familiar with the Home, particularly its annual fundraiser, Dancing With the Abilene Stars. She was teaching ballet at the time and was asked to be one of the professional dancers. 

“The night of the event, I literally ran into Dr. David Miller on the dance floor,” she said.

Miller was President and CEO of the Home at the time. He retired in December 2021 and was replaced by Robert Marshall, who left earlier this year. Erin nimbly stepped into the President’s office as the first woman to lead the Home. She took over as President during an especially busy time, with the Home celebrating its 85th anniversary in June. 

“I decided to adopt a ‘keep calm and carry on’ motto to ensure the transition was seamless and that the staff felt secure,” she said.

Erin Seabourne at Hendrick Home for Children’s 85th anniversary celebration. Photos courtesy Hendrick Home for Chileren

Following is a Q&A with Erin:

BIO
Current position: President & CEO
Previous experience at Hendrick Home: In 2013 I was hired as a caseworker and trained so that I could eventually replace my then boss and mentor, David Perkins, who was Executive Vice President. I was promoted as clinical director in 2016, and then to Vice President of Clinical Services in 2018, and to Executive Vice President in 2019. 
Family: I am happily married to Grant, we have two young children, Graham and Grey. My family of origin is very important to me and are an integral part of my support system: my mom and dad, Kelly and Sandy Utley, and my sister, Lindsay and brother-in-law, Chad, nephews, Jack and Jet, and my sister, Laura. 
Hometown: Abilene
Education: Abilene High School, 2006; Hardin-Simmons University, Bachelor of Behavioral Science in Psychology, 2010; HSU, Master of Arts in Family Psychology, 2012

• Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
• Licensed Child Care Administrator (LCCA)
• Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP) 
• Certified in Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 

Previous relevant experience: I performed an internship at Acadia Healthcare which is now Oceans Behavioral Hospital in the Inpatient, Partial Hospitalization, and Outpatient mental health care units for a year. During my time at Acadia, I rotated between the adolescent, child, adult, geriatric, and partial hospitalization units. I also carried a caseload of community clients at the Hardin-Simmons University Psychology Clinic during my final year in graduate school. 

Current community involvement: 

• Abilene Ballet Theatre (ABT) board member (May 2017-present)
• Board member of the Abilene Preservation League (May 2017-May 2019)
  • Executive Committee member of the Abilene Preservation League (May 2018-May 2019)
• Member of Abilene Young Professionals (AYP) February of 2016-August 2024
• Board member of the Association of Christian Childcare Administrators (March 2015-Present)
  • Served as the workshop chair, workshop chair elect, President Elect, and President
• Selected as a recipient of Abilene’s 20 under 40 (January 2020)

Erin Seabourne with her husband, Grant, and sons, Graham and Grey

Q Your promotion to President/CEO was rather sudden. Did you feel prepared or were you caught off guard? 
A It was rather sudden. However, I think typically in the position I was in as Executive Vice President, you are naturally thinking about what comes next. Though I was always content as Executive Vice President, when the CEO position presented itself as an opportunity, I knew it was one that I wanted to explore. Because of my position as Executive Vice President, I already had a great amount of influence over policies, culture, employee population, and of course, my favorite, programming; so, my position as EVP prepared me well for the CEO role. A large part of my job as EVP was to make decisions based on what was best for the entire campus, or an entire program (e.g. Basic Care or Family Care) so my thought processes were already geared toward making significant decisions and carrying a large amount of responsibility which thankfully paved the way for my current role. 

Q You are the first woman to lead the Home in its history. Do you feel any extra pressure because of that?
A I do not necessarily feel extra pressure, but I do feel extra proud. I have been very emotional about this promotion because of the sacred honor I have been given but also because I am the first woman to lead the Home. That fact can be overwhelming to me sometimes because it is significant to The Home’s history and legacy, very meaningful to me, and something that is important for our children and families to witness. 
I do feel that my leadership is notably different because I am a woman and because I am a young(ish) woman. Different in the sense that it is not right, nor wrong, just different. I am a mother, which carries a different weight and meaning than a man or a father, and my age as a woman is also a unique factor that makes my leadership of The Home unprecedented. Those two things have created a major shift in the leadership pattern of The Home as I navigate new responsibilities, work-life balance, and engaging with staff. 
I see those qualities as an advantage in most ways and as a challenge in others but part of my journey that I really feel is a privilege. I do know that I could not do this well without the support of my husband, my family, the Board, the staff, and our children and families. 

Q You have worked at Hendrick Home for Children for some time, alongside other employees. What was it like to all of a sudden be everyone’s boss?
A When I started as a caseworker in 2013, I immediately was a supervisor of house parents for Basic Care children. So, from very early on, I have always managed a team of people. As the programs grew and therefore the staff grew, I began to manage the entire programs’ staff. As the Executive Vice President, I was already managing 3/4^ths of the staff, so it was a not a huge leap managing the rest of the staff when I became President and CEO. 
The other Vice Presidents that I have worked very closely with and had not managed until this point, have been incredibly supportive and have made that step even more natural. 

Q Was the change in leadership seamless? How were the children notified?
A I would say the change in leadership was as seamless as a change in leadership can be. With transition there is always fear of the unknown and processes that need immediate attention; I worked hard to make sure the staff knew that I was available to them at (almost) any time. We had a very busy summer especially with the Association of Christian Childcare National Training Conference and our 85^th Celebration in June so when I was appointed as President and CEO, I decided to adopt a “keep calm and carry on” motto to ensure the transition was seamless and that the staff felt secure. Security is essential on our campus; if the staff feels secure, our children feel secure. This meant that I would continue to perform both the Executive Vice President role and the CEO role until I was ready to make permanent changes to the employee structure, no big decisions or changes would be made immediately and that we would continue to do what we do really well: take care of children and families. The staff have made the transition pleasant and fun; they are an exceptional group of people that I feel lucky to get to work with. 
On a residential campus, word travels quickly, especially during the summer when everyone is home, so children knew as quickly as the staff knew that I was appointed as President and CEO. Originally, my plan was to sit down with them and to talk with them about it but before I was able to do so, they were coming up to me and giving me hugs and high fives which was really special to me.

Q Do you have any ideas yet for changes you want to make at the Home? New programs? Tweaking existing programs? 
A My current goal is to ensure the quality of all our programs, and all of our departments, remains of the highest quality. We will always continue to tweak existing programs because we will continue to evolve as our population’s needs evolve. Our Hendrick Home team is poised to consider current needs, current culture, and to stay committed to state-of-the-art training and thinking progressively about what Hendrick Home can do better and how we can serve more efficiently. 

Q You previously served as president of the Association of Christian Childcare Administrators. Are you still involved with that organization?
A I still serve on the Board of the Association of Christian Childcare Administrators (ACCA). This year I served as the workshop chair which meant that we hosted a national training conference on Hendrick Home’s campus in June for direct care staff, programming staff, therapists, case managers, and administrators from across the country.  Hendrick Home was one of the founding organizations of the ACCA, formerly the Southwest Association of Children’s Homes (SWA) and ACCA has played a significant part in our history. Aside from providing essential and excellent training every year for administration and staff and a youth leadership camp for our children, ACCA provides life-long relationships and support, which is crucial in a field that can be difficult to navigate. We have established a network of organizations rooted in faith, committed to serving children and families, which provides personal and professional growth. 

Q The Home recently celebrated its 85th anniversary. What are some of the major changes the Home has gone through in that time? (I’m not thinking about obvious changes like technology and other upgrades, but rather changes such as the emphasis on family care. You might also mention the new building.)
A Tom and Ida Hendrick’s dream was to open The Home to care for children. It opened in 1939 and was an answer to many families’ despairs of the great depression. Our children and families have always come from many different walks of life, but we have always wanted to make sure that Hendrick Home provided two things for them: a place they felt loved and a place they felt safe. During the last 85 years, many things have changed but those two things have not.
Two significant shifts that have occurred culturally in the last several years are that we have attempted to focus more on preventative care and that unfortunately, trauma has taken center stage in many, many people’s lives.
Therefore, at Hendrick Home, we have attempted to provide services on the front end to prevent trauma as much as possible, and then help people heal from compounded trauma on the back end. 
The Family Care program is a preventative program in nature: keeping families together and giving them a safe space to parent and heal so they are eventually able to autonomously thrive. Our Family Care program, and many others like it across the state, has grown and continued to fill a gap in care.
Our solutions to an inundation of trauma have been to hire more therapists that are committed to focusing on and obtaining certifications in trauma treatment, providing more trauma related training to our staff to better equip them for the population we are working with, more support for our direct care staff, and ensuring our programs are not merely addressing behavior modification but are addressing unmet emotional needs that drive behavior.  

Erin Seabourne, second from left, helps with a ribbon cutting at Hendrick Home for Children in June 2024. Erin recently was named President and CEO for the Home.

Loretta Fulton is creator and editor of Spirit of Abilene