Today we’d like to introduce you to Ricki London.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My story starts when I was a child, feeling an overwhelming desire to help others. I couldn’t understand my pull towards those in need, but it was present since the age of 7. I also learned what it felt like to try as hard as I could and yet not succeed. Still, I just kept pushing. As I matured and began to find my voice. I thought I’d go into education to help the most important people, those who would shape the future or our world, but found classroom teaching to be too limiting for me. Too many rules and not enough action. I found the system asked teachers to conform and treat all kids as if they all learned the same way, when in fact, each child, each brain, is so very different. So although my undergraduate degree is in Special Education, after just a couple of years in teaching, I then decide to go into the helping professional where I could work with children and families, hoping to give a voice to those who are so often unheard. I earned my master’s in social work and become an LCSW with a focus on family psychiatry. I LOVED it! I felt empowered and impactful. I ended up working mostly with adults, and really connected to the idea of offering support and an emotional platform to the mentally ill.
I began as a psychiatric social worker and worked my way up to the director of an inpatient psychiatric department as a hospital in Miami. It was one of the best experiences of my life. Still, after being there for 8 years, I was missing the joy I felt working with kids. I decided to make another change and go back into education, but wanted to find something where I could marry education and psychology. And there it was, working with kids who were struggling to meet their full potential. This would afford me the opportunity to help children feel encouraged and successful, help parents learn to support and empower themselves as well as their children and educate systems to not only listen to these amazing kids, but offer an opportunity to heal the emotional bruises that so many feel when struggling with learning differences. So much anxiety and feelings of inadequacy, not only for the kids, but the parents as well. This is where my perspective can really shine, having the understanding the people learn more efficiently when they feel confident and valid. And finally, this is where I belong. I partnered with others and learned as much as I could about different programs, different modalities, and settled on the idea of 1:1 interventions where I would work with a team of professionals to address the various issues families deal with when loving a child with learning struggles.
I opened my company, London Achievement Processes in 2007, and never looked back. We now see people, ages 5 and up, including adults, who are not meeting their potential in the areas related to learning. We remediate where skills are deficient and teach coping strategies to deal with the negative feelings so many try to hide. All of our work is individualized and differentiated, ensuring we are working on the specific needs of each person. Because we are afforded the gift of 1:1 modalities, we can see as much as 3 years of academic improvement in as little as 8-12 weeks of intensive intervention. But first, in almost every instance, we see an improvement in confidence and self-esteem. We do not only work on the academics, we work on the whole person, which is why we also have a climbing wall where students, young and old, can climb to see how far he or she can go, knowing no matter how high they got today, they can try again tomorrow and go further. We are here to support them, empower them, honor them, and teach them. I am blessed beyond belief to get to work with the families I do. I get beautiful letters of gratitude, but in reality, it is I who feel the most grateful and owe my success to each family who has believed in me and what we can achieve together.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I believe the greatest obstacles were coming from within. I know the world needs services like what I offer, but sometimes, when not everyone is welcoming right away, I may question if this is the right path. Most tutoring centers offer sessions once or twice per week and may do 1:1 but also offer group instruction. My platform is always 1:1 and always intensive, meaning Monday through Friday, 2-4 hours per day, when remediation is needed. We do offer less intensive options but only for enrichment, not remediation. So when a parent or school does not understand this process, that the research supports this level of intensity for the brain to change how it processes information, they balk at my recommendation. Sometimes they will go to a less intensive approach, and then have to come back to me another time, having wasted time and their money. Still, I believe everything happens as it should and know patience is necessary for success. COVID-19 also posed a great challenge for me, as it did for so many. Had always shied away from virtual options, believing they would not be as effective. Once COVID-19 hit the scene, I had to make a choice, get on board and try virtual sessions or close. It was a humbling experience and one that I can now say was another blessing for me. Seeing students on zoom has proven to be AMAZING, when done 1;1. I can now work with people at any time from any place and we are finding it to be extremely productive for most clients.
Another silver lining of the pandemic is that it forced me to look at other forms of intervention. I never would have thought we would offer homeschooling options, and now we do. I home-schooled my own son using a virtual format last year, and again, found it to be very positive. Not easy, at all, but well worth it.
In reality, every challenge or obstacle is really a metaphor for what my clients, my students, go through all of the time. They are up against challenges daily and we get to work through them together. A challenge is learning process and at London Achievement Processes, we work together to beat obstacles every day.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
London Achievement Processes was started in 2007, and predicated on the idea that all individuals have the right to meet their full potential. We work 1:1 with individuals ages 5 and up, to address areas that are holding them back academically, and possibly socially and emotionally. Each client goes through an assessment to determine where the weakness lies and how what type of intervention would be necessary.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I define success in many ways. Most importantly, success is a feeling I get to hold onto in my heart, knowing I am helping so many people feel confident and seeing them achieve their goals. Success is even further solidified when I have a student who I worked with 12 years ago, who is now a successful lawyer, tell me how I changed her life. Or a parent sending me a video of her son, who almost failed third grade before working with my company, and is now on the honor role in 9th grade, and having both the mother and student tell me the impact I had on his life, their lives. True success, for me, is being a part of a team that helps others feel success-changing lives and helping kids-that is success.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.londonachievementprocesses.com
