My humanistic background: the experiences that shaped me

A natural ability I learned to recognise over time

I have always felt that I had a particular ability to connect with people with disabilities. As a child I did not yet have words for the vulnerabilities I noticed in people's expressions, but I instinctively wanted to understand the person in front of me and find a way to build a relationship.

As I grew older, I thought this inclination could become my profession. That is why I enrolled in Primary Education, with the aim of becoming a special educational needs teacher.

When I was very close to graduating, life took me in a different direction. I do not see those studies as wasted time or an unfinished parenthesis: they gave names, context and practical tools to something I had previously understood mainly through intuition.

I became the person I am also because of the experiences that path brought into my life.

Seeing school from another point of view

University, years of placements in schools and my experience as a substitute teacher allowed me to return to the school environment as an adult involved in educational work, rather than only as a student.

I experienced classroom teaching, learning support, relationships with children and the everyday workings of school from different perspectives.

That broader view is still useful in my private life today. It helps me look at school more consciously, recognising both its strengths and its difficulties and understanding the different roles of the people who are part of it.

More than twenty years of continuity and responsibility

My educational background led me to become a daytime foster carer. For more than twenty years I have continuously supported a young woman with a disability.

It is an experience that requires listening, responsibility and adaptability, and above all the willingness to build a long-term relationship centred on the individual, her abilities and her real needs.

For me it has always provided an important balance: alongside office life, it has kept alive the part of me that naturally leans towards social and educational work.

Today this experience also helps me better understand the context of the cooperative where I work. Knowing some educational and social dynamics from the inside gives me a broader view of an organisation that I encounter professionally from an administrative and accounting perspective.

ABIO Torino: learning to be present in difficult situations

Another experience that helped me grow, both personally and professionally, is volunteering with ABIO Torino ODV at the Regina Margherita Children's Hospital in Turin.

I started almost by chance, after completing a placement in the hospital school. It was an environment where I felt surprisingly at ease despite the difficulty of facing some of the greatest suffering life can show us.

Little by little, the enthusiasm and commitment I brought to the role led me to take on greater responsibilities, until I became the volunteer lead for a particularly delicate paediatric ward.

This role taught me to manage people, shifts and unexpected situations, and to work closely with nursing coordination, doctors and hospital representatives. Above all, it pushed me beyond my shyness in a positive way: speaking in front of people, making decisions, coordinating a group and dealing with situations that were not always simple became part of the experience.

It was a school of relationships and responsibility that I could never have learned from books alone.

My “dual” identity is an advantage

All of this has made me more confident in my professional life as well. It has taught me to deal with colleagues, managers, clients and suppliers respectfully, but also with greater calm and self-assurance.

I have always thought that my apparent “dual” identity is actually an advantage.

My main work is about accounting, documents, numbers and deadlines. But the people around those numbers are human beings, each with their own knowledge, abilities, weaknesses and uncertainties.

Recognising this does not mean confusing personal and professional boundaries. It means remembering that listening, clarity and respect can improve even highly technical work.

Vulnerabilities are not only limitations: when they are understood and approached in the right way, they can also become resources.

Numbers are part of my work. People are part of how I choose to do it.