Debbie Joseph-Hopkinson, 53, interim director of the Institute for Human Resilience, Strategic Security and the Future, University of Guyana and president of the Guyana Association of Professional Social Workers (GAPSW) has slowly but surely climbed the academic and professional ladders by following due process.
Having spent a greater part of her adult life at Love and Faith World Outreach Ministry with Apostle Claude Brooks and his wife Carol Brooks, she said in a recent interview with Stabroek Weekend, “One day, Apostle Brooks drew a step in the ground and said, ‘Debbie you cannot go from the bottom step straight to the top. You have to climb the steps one at a time.’ That stuck in my mind and I acted on it.”
She has pursued several certificate and professional courses including two diplomas and a bachelor’s degree at the University of Guyana (UG), a master’s degree at the University of the West Indies (UWI) and has her eyes on a doctorate in philosophy.