Christy Castleberry doesn’t know how many offices she’s occupied at Glenwood. After 28 years, it is easy to lose track. But she does remember her first job title: administrative assistant.
When she started in that role nearly three decades ago, she wasn’t focused on one day becoming the CEO of the organization. “I just wanted to know I was doing something good,” she said.
The desks and job titles have changed since then, but what has stayed consistent is the answer she gave in her initial interview when asked how she would treat the individuals Glenwood serves. “I would treat them like anyone else — with respect.” It was the answer that got her hired, and it would be the philosophy that would eventually shape a long career at Glenwood.
Christy went from administrative assistant into a special projects role, then to a program leadership position, before moving into Human Resources as Vice President. Her path reflects something Glenwood has long invested in, giving employees opportunities to build careers without having to leave the organization. Each job taught Christy something different about the organization, but none more than HR, where she stayed for over 15 years.
“I was challenged in new ways by the role,” she shared. “I really had to think about how to best relate to the people that were working here.”
She came to see HR as a unique vantage point within the organization. It afforded her a unique view into the challenges that staff and the broader organization faced, while showing her how dedicated Glenwood’s team truly is. “That insight was just invaluable,” she said. She saw firsthand that everyone, whether working directly with individuals or supporting from behind the scenes, plays an essential role at Glenwood.
Her time in HR also taught her something about respecting differences.
“When you’re willing to embrace the fact that not everyone thinks the way you do, I think you really begin to grow respect with the people around you. Everybody has purpose. Everybody has opportunity. Everybody has a story,” she said.
That same respect shows up in how Christy sees the individuals Glenwood serves. She doesn’t see them through what might set them apart, but instead through the milestones that can be reached when they are given the right support.
Few places made that clearer to her than Harper Chapel, located on Glenwood at Sicard Hollow. She was working at Glenwood when the chapel first opened.
“It is the absolute purest form of worship that I’ve ever experienced,” she shared.
One Sunday stands out. A young woman who was echolalic — meaning she typically repeated what she heard rather than forming her own words — was in the pews with her roommates. When the minister asked if anyone wanted to close the service in prayer, her hand went up. “I will,” she said. Christy wondered if she might need help finding her way through it. She didn’t. “She was perfectly fine,” Christy said. The young woman stood, put her hands together, and said five words: “Jesus, we love you. Amen.”
“It was the most beautiful prayer I’ve ever heard,” Christy said.
Moments like that are why Christy is so careful with language when it comes to talking about what the individuals served by Glenwood need. “I think sometimes when we talk about someone’s complexity, it diminishes the person,” she said. “It puts more emphasis on what their needs are than who they are and what they’re capable of.”
Over the last three decades, she’s seen a broader change in how people beyond Glenwood meet those differences.
“The advocacy piece for the individuals definitely has moved in a positive direction,” she said.
During Christy’s decades at Glenwood, the organization has recruited board-certified behavior analysts, reshaped how staff are trained and reimagined how they respond to individual needs day-to-day. According to Christy, these shifts have “made a significant difference in our approach.” But much of it, she believes, has come from outside Glenwood’s walls entirely.
“I think society has embraced the fact that people’s needs are not all the same,” she said.
Ultimately, Christy sees every life Glenwood touches rippling outward — from a parent who can keep a job to a sibling who can build a life of their own, because they know Glenwood is there to care for their loved ones.
“It doesn’t stop with serving one person. It has a waterfall effect on our community.”
Unsurprisingly, Christy doesn’t want credit for any of it. “None of this is a reflection of me,” she said. “We have fabulous people who do that work, and they literally change lives.”
It’s the kind of answer that comes from someone who never really saw this as a job to begin with. “It’s a calling,” Christy said.
Over the years, her responsibilities have grown, her title has changed and the decisions resting on her desk have more weight to them. But, the reason Christy first walked through Glenwood’s doors has stayed the same.
On the day of her interview, she met a Glenwood parent who shared how difficult it could be to care for her child and navigate the challenges her family faced. For Christy, that conversation put a face to the work before she had even officially begun.
“Nearly thirty years later, families are still fighting the same battle, and I want to be here for them.”
The needs may look different from family to family, but the answer Christy gave in that first interview has never changed: treat people with respect.
It is more than the answer that got her hired. It is the standard that defines the organization she now leads.
