eLuma’s CEO & Founder Jeremy Glauser had the opportunity to join Dr. Steve Miletto, Executive Director of the Heart of Georgia RESA (Regional Educational Service Agency), on his podcast “Teaching, Learning, Leading K12”. In this episode, Jeremy discusses eLuma’s history, how online therapy works, and provides additional insight into the world of teletherapy.
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Video Transcript
Steve Miletto: [00:01:04] Hey, welcome back Steve here and today I’m talking with Jeremy Glauser. He’s the founder and CEO of eLuma the nation’s leading teletherapy solutions provider for K-12 schools and district lots to learn today.
Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to share and subscribe. Enjoy.
Narrator: [00:01:39] You are listening to Teaching, Learning, Leading K-12 a podcast for educators helping you help kids achieve their dream. Now here’s Steve with this week’s show.
Steve Miletto: [00:01:54] Jeremy Glauser is the founder and CEO of eLuma, with a background in education and entrepreneurial spirit, and a passion for helping people in need. He founded eLuma to help solve the growing shortage problem in special education. In doing so the company has become the nation’s leading teletherapy solution provider for K-12 solutions and districts. Today, the company has provided nearly 1 million hours of therapy: Speech School Psych OT, PT, and Mental Health Counseling services to over 16,000 students throughout the United States. He is experienced with high impact accessible education uses universal design for learning, UDL, in fully online environments.
On eLuma’s website, you can find a lot of different information, and one of the things that I want to start with is this. “We believe blending online and onsite can tremendously increase the quality of therapy in your special education program. Even to the tune of increasing productivity by 10 to 15%, connecting your students with specialized and credentialed therapists and staffing with great precision.
The districts we work with have realized thousands of dollars in savings, and we believe most districts have the same potential. We don’t partner with districts who we don’t know for a fact will benefit from online therapy services and our blended solutions.” eLuma was founded as VST Virtual Solutions for Therapy by a group of therapists and software engineers in September 2011.
Jeremy I’m so glad to have you here. Say hi to everyone.
Jeremy Glauser: [00:03:16] Hello everyone. It’s a pleasure. Thanks so much for having me on.
Steve Miletto: [00:03:20] Well, I’m glad you’re here. And the first thing I gotta make sure that we talk about is simply this, we’re talking about therapy delivered through an online solution. So before we get too much into it, I want you to explain a little bit about what eLuma is and what services you provide and such.
And then we’re gonna talk about how it’s, you know, where it came from and all that.
Jeremy Glauser: [00:03:43] It’s incredible. Isn’t it to think that therapy could be done online through video conferencing even a decade ago was almost unfathomable. And it’s become a lot more ubiquitous now with COVID and, and the pandemic happening, but we do Speech-Language, Occupational Therapy, Mental Health Counseling, School Psychology.
And there are a lot of assessments that we can do online as well. And we’ve worked with various publishers around the country to make that possible through a remote delivery.
Steve Miletto: [00:04:18] Excellent. So, you know, one of the things that really sparks my curiosity.
Jeremy Glauser: [00:04:25] Yeah.
Steve Miletto: [00:04:26] As we were talking and I was talking with other staff members from eLuma, one of the things that I discovered was that it’s, it’s pretty cool because at first, I have a lot of questions, which yeah, most of us do.
But before we get to those questions, you know, where did the inspiration for eLuma will come from?
I mean, it started as Virtual Solutions for Therapy in 2011. Can you talk us through its development from an idea to an actual viable company?
Jeremy Glauser: [00:05:01] That’s actually a really interesting question. And. As much as I want to give a simple answer, that’s really tough, Steve. I think it goes back to how I was raised.
My mom was an educator in the classroom and she taught kids who were underserved or underprivileged. And that instilled in me, I think, a desire to do something more than just create a widget or, serve other shareholders, but to really build something that would be mission-driven. And back in 2011, I was working and with a speech scientist, Dr. Fletcher, Sam Fletcher on a device called the Palatometer. It’s a really interesting device. And the way that it works is. You wear an Invisalign type mouthpiece that is equipped with electrodes. And as you’re speaking your tongue to palate, contact shows up on the computer screen.
And for anyone who understands or knows about speech and language issues, most of it originates from auditory issues or auditory suppression, whatever that might mean for the person. And being able to show people visually what their tongue to palate contact is doing was really helping remediate these problems a lot faster.
And as I was working on that project, I realized through the data that the number of speech and language pathologists was not keeping up with the demands. And it was quite shocking. This was about a decade ago. And you could see the signs of an epidemic on the horizon. And I thought, gosh, there’s gotta be a better way to help these kids and these, these adolescents, and even these adults figure out how to articulate themselves confidently and, and really be themselves when they’re talking with other, other folks.
And that’s when I came across some papers from ASHA, the American Speech Language Hearing Association about this concept of telehealth and teletherapy that had been under-researched at the university level for a few decades. And it was pretty rudimentary, but it was starting to become much more sophisticated with technology advancing as quickly as it was. And it was at that time where I thought, I want to bring these providers and reallocate, so to speak. If I can, the specialization that so many kids and adolescents need in schools. Yeah. So I think there’s a lot, there’s a lot more to it, but there’s a lot of people who’ve influenced me throughout my life and during that phase.
But if you want to pinpoint it was, it was when I came across those papers by ASHA and trying to solve some problems that these kids and adolescents were having, finding and remediating finding the right help and remediating those sounds.
Steve Miletto: [00:08:03] Very cool. So, I gotta ask you, have you kind of always kind of had it built into you to be a risk-taker cause that’s a lot of risk right there to say, I’m going to take this idea and go with it.
Jeremy Glauser: [00:08:13] I think so. I’ve always been that way. When I was eight years old, I started a lawnmowing business in my neighborhood and I would go knock on doors and ask them if I can mow their lawn for five bucks. And I did that until I was about 14. I think I really started to put shape to those thoughts and those desires that I didn’t know was this entrepreneurial spirit and shaped started to gather around that when I was 14 and working for a guy named Jay Rents. And down in California, where I grew up, there there were lots of opportunities to go out with him and to learn the ropes. And I realized that there were a lot of opportunities for me to use my creative restlessness.
I guess you could say, and this, this unrelenting, persistence and apply it in more of an entrepreneurial way. So I don’t know that I’m a huge risk-taker, Steve, but I definitely like calculated risks.
Steve Miletto: [00:09:17] Nice. This is definitely a calculated one because this, you know, something I’ll get into in a little bit or some of the questions I would think that people have, that you’d run into right off the bat, that would cause you some issues. So let’s kind of talk a little bit about how it works. Typically therapy and special education is provided in a one-to-one situation most times face to face, you know, in the same room, in the same setting and, and yours is done a little differently. And can you talk a little bit about the type of technology that’s required?
Jeremy Glauser: [00:09:57] Yeah, I think at first we were really trying to pave a path to connecting therapists and students through video conferencing. And we’ve learned a lot over the years. I have to sit here and say that we’re better today than we were even six months ago. And it’s going to be better in six months than it is today because technology is getting better and yeah, and really all you need is a good computer that works and you need a high-speed internet connection.
Years ago, we would even recommend or require that it be an ethernet connection so that the signal with the internet wouldn’t get dropped so easily wifi. used to be a lot less dependable. It’s getting better and better over the years. And so, as long as you have an ethernet connection and some cases, a strong wireless connection, you need a webcam. And for kids who can tolerate it, they wear a headset but even like you and I are here today, I’m using my speaker audio, my computer speakers for audio, and I’m using a desktop microphone. So I don’t have to wear anything on my head. And then of course the software is something we’ve built. We’ve got to build tools and interactive content that the therapist and the student can interact on so that they stay engaged and they progress much like a lesson plan. If the teacher and or therapist and student were sitting next to each other, might have PDFs or interactive digital games, we can share iPhone and iPad apps and interact on those kinds of activities.
And so the critical component here though is, is the live face to face interaction. It’s not asynchronous the therapist and the student are interacting in live real-time. So we’re not just putting kids in front of some program and hoping that they do well.
Steve Miletto: [00:11:57] You’re right. I’m not going to risk on that one.
Jeremy Glauser: [00:12:00] I’ll take risks, in my own life, Steve, but not on that one. And so, yeah, it’s really a therapist who’s trained and credentialed to guiding it live synchronous with the interactive video and content tools we are creating.
Steve Miletto: [00:12:15] Very cool. That concept in itself is awesome because you could see where this dream and an idea could, you know, that we could interact this way, that this would help. And cause, you know, I want to get into something in a minute. That’s just kind of dawned on me as I’m talking to you. But before I do that, you have to run into like, skeptics and pessimists and whatever is, do you run around, throw into that? And can we talk a little bit about some of those common questions that you might get in the beginning that kind of popped to mind?
Jeremy Glauser: [00:12:49] Well, I was the first skeptic because when, when you think about delivering therapy online, most people immediately assume it’s not as effective, right? Because. You have to be in person, you have to have that tactile feedback with the students. So I think that’s one main thing. That’s the concern that comes from the therapist, the more clinical side.
The other concern that we get a lot is other than ethicacy is cost, right? People wonder, well, how much is this going to cost? And one of the hurdles that many school administrators have is the need to, to facilitate. There’s gotta be an adult in the physical vicinity of the student because if intervention was required, the online therapist can’t physically come out of the computer and intervene.
And so you’ve got to have a human who is there working on other things or with other students. And I think that concept is new for a lot of administrators. And so we try our best to model that out with some simple modeling. But I think most people assume that the facilitator just increases the cost. And as a matter of fact, that’s not the case and we might get into that a little bit more. But in most cases, there’s increased productivity on the therapy side and balances out the equation with the cost of a facilitator.
Steve Miletto: [00:14:22] That’s interesting because there are lots of things that come to mind. And the first one is that I can imagine you get this question a lot, which is, how could it be as effective as sitting in a room with the kid and or the adult, whatever the therapy is. In this case, we’re talking about school settings, but it’s one of those things where I would imagine that in looking for the therapist and such that you have to find people who can connect through the computer. And this is going to sound dumb, but do you have like a test to see if you pass the personality test?
Jeremy Glauser: [00:15:03] You know, I would say just like everything on our technology is getting better. That whole process is getting better. We’re talking about a huge number of tremendously intelligent, smart, talented therapists who now are adapting. And I would say even adopting the modality of teletherapy and with that, there’s a learning curve. So what we do is we take them through a pretty rigorous hiring and vetting process. Initially, and what’s interesting is our, our situation from a recruiting standpoint is the exact opposite of a school district.
A school district might have a handful of candidates if any. Whereas we have thousands. Last time I checked, we had over 10,000 applicants who’ve literally applied to eLuma and said we are, I am interested in doing teletherapy with eLuma. And so after they are hired, there’s an orientation and there’s a training that’s pretty rigorous.
It’s getting them set up. It’s teaching them how to use our software. It’s orienting them and training them to be effective online. But one misconception, and maybe a common concern that we get a lot is that you have to relearn your pedagogy all over again. And as a matter of fact, that’s not completely true. If you’re a speech and language therapist or an occupational therapist, you’ve gone to school, you’ve learned how to provide that therapy. And it’s not so much learning relearning how to be a therapist. It’s learning how to apply the online digital tool to deliver therapy. And so that’s really, the learning curve is not how to be a therapist, but how to be the great therapist you are in a now digital online instruction setting. So there is a learning curve and we do a lot and invest a lot of time in that process. But, yeah, I think as a society, we’re going through a shift and we’re seeing, we’re seeing how online instruction can and can’t work for people.
Steve Miletto: [00:17:23] Very cool. This is just a side note and I don’t mean any of that. No offense.
Jeremy Glauser: [00:17:30] That’s okay. I’ll see what you’re going to say.
Steve Miletto: [00:17:33] All that I keep thinking about it as an episode of the Jetsons. Where if you ever saw that cartoon, Elroy is supposed to be doing his work and he gets up and he keeps going to the kitchen or doing something like that. And the computer, actually, the teacher’s telling him on, you know, cause she’s on the other side of the computer screen and she keeps telling Elroy have a seat. Eventually a robot arm comes out, grabs him and puts him in his seat.
Jeremy Glauser: Steve, that’s a great idea. We should implement it.
Steve Miletto: So you do see the level of the television watching that I do.
Jeremy Glauser: [00:18:08] I love it.
Steve Miletto: [00:18:10] So, so I gotta make sure I say this because this is, this is what really is kind of neat about the whole thing about it being an online world and, and doing the therapy is that you guys are located in Utah, right?
Jeremy Glauser: [00:18:24] I’m sitting in Salt Lake City right now.
Steve Miletto: [00:18:26] Awesome. And so you’re in Salt Lake City and that’s not like just right around the corner from Atlanta, Georgia, or it’s not quite or wherever anybody else is. So I’ve got a whole bunch of questions. Cause one of the things that this lends itself to is the idea of distance and dealing with it and especially in the state itself, I’ve only been in like one little corner of Utah and it was only so my parents wanted to be able to say that we went into Utah and came back out. Cause we were actually going someplace else.
But from what I know about it. There are long distances between some of the communities in the ruralness and where I work in South Georgia. There are large distances between the communities. Like, the closest one to me is the one I’m located in. But then after that, I got a couple of them that are 30 miles, 40 miles. And then when it’s like 55 miles away, one way. And so something like this what’s cool is that it lends itself that idea of the distance between communities and such, where, in our areas, we have a lot of people that these therapists, they drive between these communities to see the students. And yeah. So where do you, where do your therapists come from? I mean, do they come from all over? Do they just come from Utah and you just got it? And have like a hotbed of therapy going on there.
Jeremy Glauser: [00:19:54] Utah does have three really good universities with speech and language pathology programs, but you know, there are lots of great OT programs and mental health programs, school psychology programs in many areas of the country. And what’s interesting is you’ll find places like Missouri, for example, or Utah, or even areas of Pennsylvania and the Northeast where there’s a high concentration of programs. Or there’s a high concentration of therapists for any number of reasons.
They want to stay where they are from and remain where they’re from. They want to stay in a big city. And so there are places in this country that are not experiencing a shortage of therapists. But the shortage of therapists transcends rural communities.
Now, originally 10 years ago, it was really hitting the rural communities hard. And that was the low hanging fruit who we were going to go and help and we’ve have helped tremendously. But now we’re in 33 different states and we have served just over 16,000 students and we’re growing really rapidly. And part of it is the fact that, that there is this growing shortage.
So we find a lot of therapists coming out of Ohio. We find a lot of therapists coming out of California, out of New York, out of the East Coast, where there’s a high concentration of universities. And so I would say the therapist come from all over the place, but one thing is for sure, teletherapy is their new frontier and it stands for many reasons, whether it’s a lifestyle choice or they’re just, they want to work part-time, and this is the best way to do so.
There are flexibilities there. You know, and I’m not suggesting that all therapists do this, but, I know of a few therapists who want to travel a little bit. And so they, work while they travel. And so it’s a really interesting evolution that we’ve seen as teletherapy is not only solving problems, but it’s opening up new avenues that none of us could have exposed.
I’m amazed at what therapists and schools come up with as we apply this model, in these school areas and in these settings.
Steve Miletto: [00:22:19] It’s so interesting. Cause you know you touched on something just a second ago. I gotta make sure I go back to real quick. So, for the most part, is your staff, are they doing this part-time? They do this and they do something else or some of them full time.
Jeremy Glauser: [00:22:35] That’s a great question. I would say a majority of them are not full time, but yeah, there are lots who are full time and it’s really dependent on their life circumstances and their preferences and what they’re looking for. But, yeah it lends itself to all kinds, which is pretty incredible. We have a very different diverse team of clinicians.
Steve Miletto: Very cool. So do you have any areas of the country where you have more therapists than others?
Jeremy Glauser: That’s a good question. I have to go back and look that up, but as far as where they live versus where they practice. We do find a high number of therapists coming out of the coastal regions. So, you know, probably more on the East Coast than the West Coast, but the West Coast, we definitely have more there than we do in the Midwest.
Steve Miletto: [00:23:30] Gotcha. Very cool. I know on your website it says, I believe that I’m quoting it right. That it says that you’re in 33 States, correct?
Jeremy Glauser: [00:23:39] Yes.
Steve Miletto: [00:23:41] Very cool. So, neat stuff. So I do want to kind of go back to that concept though about the distance and ruralness because that’s one of the things that’s cool about this and by the way, I got to make sure that I say this, no, one’s paid me to ask these questions or to talk to Jeremy.
So this is not a paid info commercial for everyone listening. This is my curiosity and that’s talking and that’s led to this.
Jeremy Glauser: [00:24:04] I think together originally is that we’re both fans of, you know, Buzz Light Year Batman. I think I showed you my Batman wallet. We just are lovers of the arts right Steve?
Steve Miletto: [00:24:20] Very much, so. Very much so Jeremy, I like that. I like that. And it, you know, it is cool, so I had to make sure I say that before people start wondering if I’m going down this path here, that I’m going to throw in a set of Ginsu knives or something, but it’s like, you know, one of the things that’s interesting about this is helping to solve some of the rural issues. Which are distance, and not having enough people in those areas to be able to have enough therapists in a region. I guess is where I’m going with that, I know that it’s something that we have to deal with from time to time. Do you run into communities worried that you’re going to put people out of work?
Jeremy Glauser: [00:25:03] Yeah. I think that if we go back to some of the concerns that people might have, that’s one of them. But that’s not our intention at all. And even if it were our intention, that would be nearly impossible for us to do because there’s such a large need that is just unfilled, that it takes all of us.
As a matter of fact, we really believe in an integrated model where the online therapists and clinicians work in tandem and closely with the district staff because both together produce a better outcome. And, the sum of both parts is definitely greater than, the individual. And so for us, it’s really about integration, partnership, and elevating. The sad truth is most therapists around this country are dealing with caseloads and paperwork, workloads that are just extraordinarily high. And how can we expect therapists to do good things for these kids and help them gain life skills, progress, meet their goals, and exit therapy. if we’re not empowering them to do so. So I really see this as empowering the onsite district staff, if we model it. Right. And, I mean, someday, I think we’re all look back in hindsight and realize, Oh wow, we should have come together a little bit sooner.
Steve Miletto: [00:26:29] Makes sense. Yeah, definitely. So let’s talk a little bit about how a session works and kind of the role that the school plays because there’s a, there’s a whole bunch of things that go on here. I’m guessing that you partner with either a regional educational service agency or, some organization that supports the net, the school network, or you work directly with a school system at the district level. And somehow that ends up at the local school setting. And so what role does the local school setting play?
Jeremy Glauser: [00:27:05] Yeah, that’s a really good point. In Georgia we’ve got RESAs that really are a tremendous benefit to those, those local school districts and the individual school buildings in other states. They, I mean, SELPAs in California co-ops and other states, or those are not as prominent. And it’s the district who really governs the special education program centrally. And partners with those individual school buildings. So. I guess from start to finish the special education leadership and other team are building buy-in with the local buildings. And so we’ve got to work to help them understand the benefits and how this is synchronous.
It’s a live interaction with the students and those building admins. Well, help us identify a location in the building. Usually, it’s a resource room. It might be a special education teaching room. It might be an office up toward the front, near the principal’s office. But in any event, they can’t be isolated, you know, 100% and the student, I mean, and there’s a computer with the webcam headset. If, you know, optionally a headset and ethernet connection and the online therapist coordinates with the other staff in the building to create a schedule, just like a therapist would do. If they were onsite, they talked to them over the phone, they talk to them by email, they, they put together a draft and they solicit input and feedback.
And then, in lieu of sitting down next to each other at a desk, they’re sitting down, across from each other on video conferencing and talking to each other. So the therapist finalizes that schedule. And each, you know, it’s, it’s very typical for the building to have a designated facilitator or e-helper.
And this is usually an aide or a paraprofessional. It could be a number of different roles, but this individual is essentially ensuring that the student. Makes it between their general ed class and wherever we set up this speech therapy or occupational therapy station. And they just ensure that the student is getting to, and from. Usually, the change and the paradigm shift in a number of weeks at the beginning. And then there gets to be a rhythm and students understand and expect it. The online therapist might make a call down to the classroom and say, send Susan, it’s her time to work on the computer. And then they go back to their class.
So there is a learning curve. There is a process, but what we’ve found is that it usually takes a matter of weeks for that change and that shift. And afterwards, it runs incredibly smoothly and that facilitator plays an ongoing, very minor role, but as not by no means expected to sit in every session but working on other things and just facilitating those to happen.
Steve Miletto: [00:30:26] And that’s what I was curious about was how much is that facilitator expected to do? Because I think that’s an interesting aspect of it.
Jeremy Glauser: [00:30:36] I mean really when it boils down to it, it’s making sure the student gets to and from their classroom safely and then coordinating with the online therapist if there are questions or, or if there’s any coordination that needs to happen.
Now, this is just one model. There is, there are two models that don’t require a designated facilitator. The second one that doesn’t the first one, I guess, that doesn’t require a facilitator is a supervisory role model where there’s a credentialed therapist, supervising an aide who’s providing direct services.
There’s no facilitator required in that. And then the other one is more of what we call a tandem model, where you have two therapists, one on-site, and one online who divide and conquer within a building. And the onsite therapist might pull. Three kids and work with two of them. And then the third one is on a computer in the same room, working with the online therapist.
And that, again, there’s, there’s coordination there, but they’re tag teaming and they’re working in tandem without the extra necessity of a facilitator.
Steve Miletto: [00:31:42] Excellent. And so I’m guessing that in there is where some of that money savings is going to come in, correct?
Jeremy Glauser: [00:31:48] Yeah.
Steve Miletto: [00:31:49] Can you kind of just touch base with that a little bit about where, where you see the savings come from, that a system might experience or a school?
Jeremy Glauser: [00:31:55] Yeah, I think that’s a really very, that’s a very important question and I think it’s okay. I think schools should understand this. I do want to provide a caveat though, that, that this is not a sweeping claim, that every district everywhere will save thousands. It’s just something we’ve seen as, as we’ve worked in close partnership with districts.
So, many reports from professional organizations show that a therapist in a school building will spend anywhere from 60 to 65 or 67 percent of their time directly in therapy with students and, when they are in therapy with students, oftentimes those groups are fairly large, anywhere from three, four or five students at a time.
And when you divide it out, that’s really not much direct time, right for these kiddos. And I want to make that clear that I’m not saying that this is. I’m saying that this is a tough spot that these therapists are in and they’re doing the best they can. And the online setting, the way that it plays out, we recently finished up a study that shows a majority of our eLuma online therapists are spending 80% of their time directly with students in therapy, as opposed to that 60 to 67 or so. And that’s where that 10 to 15% increased productivity comes into play. And so what that results in is. It results in the therapist, being able to do more with the budgets that the districts have.
And so therapists are able to accomplish more, are able to do more with more students because their time is, is spent more directly with those kids in therapy. And that’s the main Genesis of the savings is the ability to increase productivity. And, increase the efficiencies in a lot of different areas.
Steve Miletto: [00:33:59] Gotcha. Great. Very cool. Well, thank you. Yeah, we’re getting, we’re coming close to closing out here. And one of the things that I wanted to get you to do is just say to, to kind of go with me on this and just say you know, why should a school system get in touch with eLuma and put you guys to work?
Jeremy Glauser: [00:34:17] You know, I think having a conversation is always worthwhile. And I think that there’s always value from building a relationship and having a conversation. But the main reason that I think we should talk is, is because there are ways to innovate, especially at this time where we’re in the midst of uncertainty and a pandemic let us at least consult with you and help you create some plans. The other thing is we’re really great people. And I know you’re going to like talking with us, we’re going to be honest. We’re going to be transparent and we’re going to help you out. How’s that? Steve?
Steve Miletto: That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Jeremy and I can attest, they are great people. They’re fun to talk to. So they were fun to talk to so good stuff.
Steve Miletto: [00:35:03] So I love it. Yeah. So as, as we’re coming to a close, you know, if someone wanted to connect further with you and learn more about eLuma Jeremy, where would you send them?
Jeremy Glauser: [00:35:13] You know, you can go to elumatherapy.com. That’s our website, and you can contact us through that form or you can email me directly.
I’m going to give you my email, send me a message and get in touch with JGlauser. My last name is spelled G-L-A-U-S-E-R@elumatherapy.com that’s E-L-U-M-A therapy.com. Look forward to connecting.
Steve Miletto: Excellent. And I will put the website and your email address in the show notes so that they can find it there easily. So if they’re driving or doing whatever, they don’t have to pull over or avoid that type of situation. But it will be there for them to get, so awesome. Thanks for giving them your email. That’s great I appreciate that.
Steve Miletto: [00:35:56] So, I have two questions, Jeremy, and they go like this. And the first one is when things get difficult or there are too many issues all coming at once and you kind of want to quit, how do you overcome those feelings and keep going?
Jeremy Glauser: [00:36:12] You know, Steve, this is a, I’ve been thinking about this a lot because. It’s inevitable. Life is challenging. It’s exhilarating. It’s exciting. It’s it’s joyful. But, you know, I specifically talking about eLuma it has been a roller coaster. There’s been a lot of ups and downs. We have had our own fair share of difficult situations. And I would even say many crises in and where we’ve had our backs up against the wall. We’ve got to figure it out. We got to solve problems and, and it is stressful. I’m not going to discount that it is difficult. It does keep me up at night.
It does make me sweat to face some of these difficult situations, but I’m sure like many of you and many of your listeners, we have our mindfulness and coping mechanisms and skills. So for me, I’ve developed habits over the years where I slow down, I take deep breaths, I go outside and I have these places where I can rejuvenate.
Without those, I don’t know that I would be able to, to say I can get over this, but I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the amazing people who are in my life from my wife and my kids to my colleagues and friends and family. I mean, we just, we can’t do it on our own. And I’ve turned so many times to those people who I trust and love.
And they’ve, they’ve talked to me when I can’t seem to find positive words in my own head. So, but you know, other than that, I think that that by nature, I’m an optimistic person and that served me well to practice positivity and optimism in my, my rituals, and my habits. Excellent. Thank you so much for sharing that.
And so many of us, you know, it’s something that I think sometimes just hearing other people say that you know, I have those days and this is how I get through it and does special people in our lives really help us get through.
Steve Miletto: [00:38:15] So it’s good stuff. And the last question goes like this. Do you have a teacher in your past who made a difference in your life? If so, who was it? And what would you say if given a chance to say, thank you.
Jeremy Glauser: [00:38:26] Yeah. You know, I would say my mom was an educator and she really is the internal motivator that, that just lit this fire within me. And she passed when I was 18 years old and her legacy has lived on in my heart. So I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that she is the most influential educator in my entire life.
But from more of the educational system standpoint, Mr. Berman. Oh, that guy, I love him to death. He was my AP English teacher in high school. And where so many teachers criticized my writing and nitpicked it. He saw my potential and literally changed the way I viewed myself and changed my, my self-image. And he was just, I don’t think he would know it, but he was a huge inspiration and he was very authentic and real, and that changed my life, Steve.
Steve Miletto: [00:39:23] Very cool. Very cool. That’s so neat to hear stories like that because you know, it’s sometimes the teachers don’t realize the impact they have and appreciate you sharing, that’s good stuff. So thank you so much, Jeremy, for talking with me today. I wish you the best with eLuma, you know, teletherapy is an awesome concept. I appreciate you sharing everything with us and wishing the best in all you do.
Jeremy Glauser: [00:39:49] I wish you well, and all your listeners. Thanks for having me, Steve.
Narrator: [00:39:52] Teaching, Learning, Leading K-12 is excited to be a member of voice ed radio, voice ed radio. Your voice is right here. Teaching, Learning, Leading K-12 is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network podcast for educators podcast by educators.
Opinions expressed on Teaching, Learning, Leading K-12, or those are the guests and hosts. Teaching, Learning, Leading K-12 is intended to share ideas, advice, and suggestions for classroom teachers and school administrators, Teaching Learning, Leading K-12 is produced for educational purposes. Thanks for listening.
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