We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Seth Besse. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Seth below.
Seth, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
Resilience ultimately comes from an ingrained inability to accept a status quo that doesn’t make sense. The word resilience isn’t ever associated with something that is easy; it is something that requires persistence and time. At Undivided.io, we have sought to bring technological leverage to a fragmented maze that parents of children with intellectual or developmental disabilities are forced to navigate.
At this moment, across California alone, there are roughly 1 million families trying to get their children the support they need to thrive. Yet, to thrive, parents need to navigate antiquated (and often bureaucratic) processes splintered to a point of impossibility. The easy thing to do is to solve just one of these processes. The problem with that approach is that solving just one isn’t significant enough to warrant the requisite investment to achieve technological leverage. This means that you need to solve several of these processes simultaneously.
Resilience comes from the hundreds of stories we hear every month about how our system has changed a family’s life.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Undivided shepherds parents of neurodivergent children through the labyrinth of systems required to access care for their children. Undivided ensures that each parent can answer the following questions efficiently and effectively:
What should I do for my child?
Parents often use the words “overwhelmed,” “defeated,” and “disorganized” when they come to us. And rightly so—parents raising kids with disabilities and developmental delays need to navigate complex systems to get their children the services they need. To make matters worse, many parents miss out on crucial programs, providers, and services because they were never told about them, were inaccurately told they didn’t qualify, or weren’t given enough context upfront to be successful. Powered by a cutting-edge digital platform paired with expert and community support, we help parents learn about the programs and services they qualify for, map out next steps and deadlines, and get organized.
How do I do it?
At the heart of Undivided’s digital platform is our Roadmap—the organizational backbone to help parents learn about the programs and services they qualify for and figure out what step to tackle next. Parents tailor Roadmap Goals based on ages and milestones, which then import relevant resources and how-to’s to help parents accomplish Goals, as well as simple tasks to reduce overwhelm and increase progress within each Goal. In addition to how-to’s and and customizable checklists, the platform also includes a secure “binder” for parents to upload documents and notes and become the organizational powerhouse they never dreamed possible.
Who can help me get it done?
Undivided meets parents where they are. Whether you need dedicated, one-on-one guidance to help you take action and stay accountable to your goals, a member of our research team to guide you to the right resource, an answer to a burning advocacy or benefits question during office hours, or an introduction to a local community organization, we’ve got you covered. The reality is, parents raising children with disabilities spend an average of 14 more hours parenting each week than parents of typically developing children. We help parents find their way—and their wins—sooner than they could alone. Also amazing? Not long after parents start working with Undivided, their experiences of feeling “overwhelmed,” “defeated,” and “disorganized” change to “confident,” “hopeful,” and “empowered.”
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Following the theme of resilience, I would say three qualities that have been most impactful on my personal journey are curiosity, willingness to fail, and stubbornness. When starting anything from scratch, curiosity forces you to strive for better, faster, and smarter solutions. The willingness to fail has allowed me and the team to test what curiosity drives us toward. Many of these tests will not work and will fail, but you can’t know unless you try. With every failure, it is human nature to want to quit. That is where stubbornness kicks in, keeping your head up and pushing you to run the next experiment and make the next bit of progress.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
In this space, people often use the phrase, “It takes a village.” It does. We need partners to drive systemic change in disability care and support. Billions are spent every year in ways that do not ultimately meet families’ needs. While many people in this space understand and appreciate the need for systemic change, it takes partnership to execute and get this done. Our ideal partners are those who can’t accept the status quo of parents needing to start from scratch in accessing care for their children. We partner with hundreds of providers across California to ensure their clients can access the care their children need without bringing their families to financial ruin. Reach out to us and join the mission to ensure kids get the support they need.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://undivided.io/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/undividedapp/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/undividedapp/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/undividedapp/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@undividedapp
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
