Abby Matchette

A little about myself I live in Burlington Vermont but I am from the Midwest originally.  I was raised in a program Quaker church and when I was a young friend we had a young friends group that had a strong impact on me, it was an autonomous group that also did a lot of work with the young children in our Church.  This experiences solidified for me how even as a young age our spiritual lives can be formed and fostered.  The experience in Young Friends also helped me develop many leadership skills and even fostered a path to me working more and more with children.  I went onto to study Social Work and most of my career has been working with adolescents, parents, and families in finding healing with each other.  

Currently I am a licensed clinical social worker who primarily does individual therapy with adolescents and parent support work with parents.  I am not married nor do I have kids.  I do have a strong Aunt role in most of my friendships and with my own nieces / nephew.  I am the clerk of our Children’s Religious Education committee and really feel this is my leading to foster the spiritual lives of the children and support the families in parenting and engagement in their own spiritual lives.  With not having my own children I often spend time with the families, take children on various adventures/excursions to give parents some time to do what they need, and overall really feel the leading to provide pastoral care to families.    Just this past weekend I took three of the children from meeting (two 8yo and a 3 yo) canoeing down a river in Vermont.  We were on the river for a good 4 hours, playing in the water, going down little rapids, and marveling at the natural world around us.  It was a glorious time of being in nature and with each other.   

I am excited about supporting QPI in being a sustainable and vibrant ministry.