Kim Carmelite Metcalfe, PhD
Dr. Kim is a passionate expert, and instructor on the impact of parent’s and teacher’s principles and practices on youth intellectual, creative, emotional, social, and physical development. In her work as a tenured college associate professor of Early Childhood Education and Psychology Dr. Kim has prepared over 8,000 professionals.
Currently Dr. Kim holds the title Professor Emeritus at Moreno Valley College of Riverside Community College District, Riverside, California. During her 15 years before retirement Dr. Kim always showed her dedication to young adults. She served as an advisor for Future Teachers of America and the Moreno Valley Dance club. Her professional roles at the college included serving on the District Academic Standards Committee, Academic Senator, Faculty Development, Assistant Chair for the Department of Health, Human, and Public Services, Governance, Administrator of California’s Welfare to Work Program, and represented her college at the Great American Teachers Conference of California.
In retirement, Dr. Kim’s goals include delivering programs that support youth to discover their identity, purpose, and sense of belonging. These programs are critical because too many of today’s youth are experiencing adversity and trauma in their homes and communities— leaving them mentally and emotionally scared and impeding them from reaching their goals and dreams during adulthood. There is also a huge cost to society, because these youth self-harm, harm others, and also have health care costs far greater than youth who do not experience adversity and trauma.
Read this ACE study to discover the astonishing statistics about the almost 50% of youth living in the U.S. who live in traumatic stressful environments (which includes youth of divorce, and middle class Caucasian youth). You might be surprised as to the factors that cause stressful traumatic households for youth. This John’s Hopkins study on Family situations including but not limited to the following are considered traumatizing:
- living with a parent who is depressed, abuses alcohol, prescription or illicit drugs, as well as
- divorcing argumentative parents,
- parents who can’t spend quality time with children,
- parents who bully their children,
- parents with mental or emotional instability
Dr. Kim earned a baccalaureate and master’s degree in Psychology and Child Development from California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB), and a PhD in Educational Psychology, with an emphasis on Human Development Across the Lifespan from Capella University, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Publications, Honors & Programs
Dr. Kim’s excellence in high academic achievement earned her a lifetime membership in Phi Kappa Phi. Her cutting edge methodological approach, using beepers to explore the various types if interactions mothers and fathers have with their children is found in her scientific study Measuring Parental Involvement Using the Experience Sampling Methodology— published in 2002. Her work earned several honors of recognition for Scholarly Research; and a Certification of Prestigious Research for Ethnic Studies from the Social and School of Behavioral Sciences at CSUSB.
Her research was viewed as worthy of presentation at the Western Region American Psychology Convention. Dr. Kim’s contributions to the field of Early Childhood Education earned her a place at Oxford Universities Round Table in England. As a leader, trainer, and advocate for children she continues to be invited to participate as a symposium member of Oxford University. Additional research contributions by Dr. Kim include Assessing a Feasible Effective Critical Thinking Protocol for Community Colleges published in ProQuest 2007.
Dr. Kim is a member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), California Association for the Education of Young Children (CAEYC), and The American Psychological Association.
Currently Dr. Kim is working to release her book, Let’s Build Extraordinary Youth Together and her four proprietary programs:
- CORE T.H.I.N.K.ing,
- The Positive Youth Guidance System,
- The Identity Platform, and
- The CORE T.H.I.N.K.ing Identity Platform.
This work is paramount to both organizations founded by Dr. Kim, Abbey’s Purple Winged Angel’s Foundation and XtraOrdinary Youth. Dr. Kim’s background, passion for supporting youth, belief that we can only develop a better world by developing better youth, and personal tragedy were the catalyst for these organizations.
The Catalyst For Dr. Kim’s Work
On March 15th in the year 2012 Dr. Kim’s beautiful daughter Abbey chose to leave this world. In one moment, when her thinking was unhealthy, irrational, and impulsive, Abbey chose to open the door of the pickup truck, where she sat as a passenger, and throw herself onto a freeway as the truck traveled 60 mph. Yes, alcohol was a factor—but emotionally healthy people do not engage in these types of behaviors. Abbey, lay in a coma for a week, and died in her mother’s arms 14 hours after life support was removed.
Since the death of her daughter, Dr. Kim has dedicated her life to helping young people like her daughter by developing programs that support them in gaining skills needed to cope when they are in crisis. “We need to raise awareness about the critical impact that a young person’s mental and emotional health, self-image, self-regulation, self-control, self-assertion skills, and confidence have on their thinking and therefore decisions during crises.” Dr. Kim reminds us that, as in the case of her own daughter, parents could easily miss, or not recognize signs that indicate that their youth is in crisis and needs an intervention. For parents who do recognize a young person in crisis it is critical to have access to tools that really help immediately and long-term.
Dr. Kim is a widow living on the Oregon coast. She has two living children, eight “heart” children and nine “heart” grandchildren. Heart children are those children who were not legally adopted but refer to Dr. Kim as mom and she considers them her chosen children and their children her chosen grandchildren—love doesn’t always require paperwork and legalities, it just is.