Wood's Homes Blog

I have had the pleasure of working at Wood’s Homes for over nine years, first as the Director of Fund Development, and then more recently as Philanthropy Advisor. And now as I retire from my career in fundraising, I have been reflecting on what I have accomplished the last 40 years. Without question, working at Wood’s Homes has been a highlight for me.

March is Social Work month in Canada.

When I left university two years ago with a political science degree, I never thought I’d find myself in the social work profession. When I discuss my educational background, people often ask what led me into this profession, but to me social work and politics are closely intertwined. However, social work and its role in the political arena is overlooked.

As someone who has been striving to better my practice as a social worker, manager and student, I was originally under the impression that discussing and defining excellence in practice would be an easy feat. While I do believe there are some skills sets that are vital to effective practice in the human service field, such as giving and receiving feedback with grace or using active listening skills, I have come to realize there is so much more to an excellent social worker or human service practitioner than the hard and fast skills taught from a textbook. 

I am the Community Engagement Coordinator at Wood’s Homes, and feel proud to reflect on the positive impact consistent corporate engagement has on our organization.

We work hard here to get the word out about Wood’s Homes and the important programs and services we provide to vulnerable children and families.  And it looks like Calgary’s corporate community has been listening more than ever these past few years. Our work depends on the generosity of the corporate community and we feel fortunate to count so many champions in the Wood’s Homes family.

As a Master’s student in the clinical social work stream looking for – yet another – practicum, I had become disenchanted with the practice of experiential learning. In previous years, I had engaged in practicums that left me feeling lackluster, frustrated and exhausted with the system. During this search for the perfect opportunity to develop and expand my clinical ‘pallet’, I feel it is also worth mentioning that I was pregnant!

Convinced that I could do it all – the Masters of Social Work program, my clinical hours and raising a baby – I set out on a mission to make this practicum count. Knowing that my daughter would be a mere 12-weeks-old when I began the journey, it became even more important that these hours counted. So, the search began… and it was short.

I was recently asked by some friends, “Why do you do what you do?”

I always find this question a difficult one to answer, especially when I’m asked by someone who isn’t from my field. I always joke that ‘I could write a book’ about the things I’ve seen, but my answer is always about how I’m passionate about helping children.

To truly share my first impression of Wood’s Homes, I have to step back ten years. In September 2008, I was 14 years old, and I tagged along with my dad for a Day of Caring at the Parkdale Campus to re-paint the rooms in the cottages. At the time, I had no concept of what Wood’s Homes was, or the work that the agency was doing, but throughout the day I learned, quite quickly, that the experiences I had growing up were very different than the experiences of the clients.

With my backpack tight and my walking shoes on…

During EXIT Outreach’s transition to its new home in Inglewood, the EXIT team has been on the streets talking with homeless and at-risk youth. Street outreach could mean many things, depending on who you ask. It could mean handing out sandwiches or coffee. It could mean speaking about available resources or providing water on a hot day. It could mean, simply, giving somebody a hug and providing a listening ear – a brief escape from the daunting reality of life on the streets. For EXIT, street outreach embodies all of these things.

In the realm of human services, we have the simultaneous challenge and benefit of working in a field in its relative infancy.  We can look back at our foundations and see (perhaps more than most other sciences) just how far we have come in the last century. Furthermore, the subject of our science and work is constantly changing — western civilization and the people who live in it are very different from how they were even a couple of decades ago.  

I am writing today to express my deepest gratitude to all those who work so diligently to make Wood’s Homes the prestigious agency that it is.