Maple Counseling

Volunteer: Diana Sabin

Maple Counseling's mission is to provide low-cost comprehensive mental health services to individuals of all ages, couples, and families, and training of graduates and postgraduates for licensure in the mental health field.

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Diana Sabin began her work at Maple Counseling when her friend had started volunteering at Maple Counseling in 2006. This great friend then introduced Diana to Community Circle, their evidence-based social-emotional learning (SEL) course for kids.  For 17 years, Diana Sabin, or Ms. Diana as her students call her, has been transforming the lives of her second and third-grade students at Castle Heights elementary school in Los Angeles. Her effective teachings on resilience, bullying, self-respect, respect for others, responsible decision-making, coping skills, relationships, communication, self-awareness, and more bring children practical SEL skills they can use in everyday conflicts and situations with one another, teachers, and caretakers. These are often the “untaught” skills that make a huge impact on one’s life and help to build resiliency, self-esteem, and confidence. Diana had a unique ability to bond with her students, and it’s obvious when you see her teach. Diana serves for around 25 minutes a week and up to 8 classes, per year directly with the children. Not only does she teach lessons in English and Spanish, but she also helps other volunteers structure their lessons and respond to traumatic incidents in their students’ lives. She is like a celebrity at the school and maintains close fruitful relationships with parents, administrators, and her fellow volunteers.  Additionally, she leads and supervises the entire team of school-based SEL leaders for a total of 200 hours annually. Her patience, devotion, and empathy and combined with her whole-hearted approach leadership and supervision of other volunteers makes her an outstanding volunteer at Maple Counseling and member of the broader community.