Esther Daum

Hey, my name is Esther. I was born and raised in the Black Forest in Southern Germany. After graduating high school in 2008, I did a voluntary social year in a conference center. Afterwards I started nursing school and graduated in 2013 as Staatlich gepruefte Gesundheits- und Krankenpflegerin (RN). From there I pursued the opportunity to work in a psychiatric hospital. Later, I took the chance to start a bachelor’s in psychology, at George Fox University in Newberg, OR, when my husband wanted to study abroad for one year. After said year, we moved back to Germany.

In 2017 we started our journey as parents and our daughter was born and our son was born in 2018. We were excited to move back to Portland in 2019 after a job opportunity for my husband came up. During the pandemic, I found a new passion in woodworking as a therapeutic outlet of creativity. This led to many DIY projects in our house, selling hand-built, customized pieces and a whole workshop full of power tools. Since January 2023, I started volunteering at GIS, teaching to build wooden toolboxes to 5th graders and I helped set up the school's workshop area. I always loved working with teenagers throughout adulthood, by leading youth groups at church, and at international youth conferences. Focusing on building relationships, listening, helping, counseling, and teaching teenagers about life, its highs and lows, and how to keep going in all circumstances. I am very excited to help and support your teenagers through the challenges of middle school, with their social-emotional needs, as well as teach them life skills.