When Wakulla County education professional Vicki Johnson celebrates success at work, more than likely her achievement has improved the quality of life for everyone in the community, specifically a child who was headed in a dead-end direction.

Johnson is the Exceptional Student Education specialist for the behavioral unit of Sopchoppy Second Chance, a Wakulla County school for middle school and high school students who need a more supervised learning environment.

Second Chance “is not where bad kids are,” Johnson said. “It’s where students are who made bad choices and are trying to get back to school.” Johnson says that her approach with the children is based on mutual respect. “I’m going to respect you no matter what,” she said she tells them when they arrive at Second Chance, typically after continued disruptive behavior.

But in order to reach the children, Johnson said, she must look beyond the “bad” behavior to identify its root causes. In her seven years of work with exceptional children (five at Wakulla High School and two at Sopchoppy Second Chance), Johnson has concluded that more than 60 percent of the children require medication for physiological conditions that influence the children’s physical and mental behavior.

“I try to separate the child from the illness,” Johnson said. Johnson’s work has produced positive results. One of her former students is now a professional working with troubled children, and, she said, it is common for her to be greeted in public by former students who have made a U-turn in their lives.

Her successes translate into a better community. Without Second Chance, children would be expelled from school, or schooled at home, conditions that increase the likelihood of children entering the criminal justice system.

Johnson will talk about working with children with behavioral problems at the Sept. 28 meeting of NAMI Wakulla, an affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The program begins at 6:30 at the Tallahassee Community College Center on Crawfordville Highway, about a mile south of the Wakulla County Courthouse. Everyone is welcome. Johnson’s presentation is part of a monthly program series sponsored by NAMI Wakulla.

Next month, NAMI Wakulla will present on Oct. 26, a panel of Wakulla County medical and education professionals to speak after a requested rerun of the PBS documentary: “Depression: Out of the Shadows.”