ABN Member Spotlight: Stepping Out, Inc.

Stepping Out, Inc., a 501(c )(3) organization based in Morristown, Tennessee, describes their daily work and organizational mission as “Guiding people to a better life by providing people with the skills necessary to overcome difficulties that are negatively impacting lives and improve overall levels of functioning in such a way that enhances community, family, and individual life.”

For nearly 27 years, Stepping Out has been helping the surrounding East Tennessee region grow and flourish through their courses, teaching skills on personal development, time management, financial planning, parenting, anger management, domestic abuse prevention, and healthy family life choices. Stepping Out is a nonprofit organization that seeks to assist the individuals they serve to take ownership of their own futures by rising above adversity and passing their wisdom and patterns of positive behavior on to the next generation.

Stepping Out serves a wide array of clients. They serve people from all walks of life (ages 18 to 90!) and are interested in helping anyone with the desire to better their lives and create patterns of positive behavior. They encourage anyone wanting to improve their lives and habits to stop and talk with them about the services and courses they offer. Stepping Out is a group that is convinced that people truly want to live better lives through improving their emotional intelligence and spiritual maturity, and they want to help you achieve your personal mission.

Patrice Puglise, the founder of Stepping Out, sought to enrich her community by helping to provide the tools necessary to live good lives, to help each and every person who came through their doors, and to share her passion for their mission of guiding people to living better lives through creating patterns of positive behavior. Unfortunately, Patrice passed away recently after a long battle with cancer, but she left a legacy behind that will live on through Stepping Out’s mission. The staff and volunteers of Stepping Out describe her as a woman of honesty and true empathy, with a heart for her community.

In the last month, Stepping Out has recently become accredited by the Standards for Excellence Institute®, a national initiative established to promote the highest standards of ethics, effectiveness, and accountability in nonprofit governance, management, and operations. The accreditation process took almost three years and was a project that Patrice was incredibly passionate about, and worked on tirelessly. Stepping Out has been an ABN member since ABN’s inception in 2015, and now they are officially ABN’s first Standards for Excellence® accredited member! With this new accreditation, Stepping Out has shown that they meet the highest standards for organizational effectiveness, financial preparedness, management, accountability in nonprofit governance, and rigor in their various training courses. This accreditation is well deserved. Congratulations, Stepping Out!

To learn more about Stepping Out, Inc. you can visit their website or their Facebook page.