They say if you do what you love, you’ll never have to work a day in your life. For many, a career is more than just making a living – people pursue careers based on their interests and passions.
As for many of our students and graduates, this remains the case. Working in community support may be tough and challenging, but the role is very rewarding. Taking a community support worker program has been a life-changing experience for our students, and we’ll share some of their stories below.
A Mother Wanting to Make a Difference for Her Daughter
Before attending Sprott Shaw, Sarah McNeil was working a dead-end job. As a mother of a three-year-old at the time, she found herself struggling so she decided to make a change not only for herself, but for her daughter as well. She set out to enroll at Sprott Shaw College for the Community Support Worker – Social Services Program.
The first initial meeting she had with her advisor at the Abbotsford campus was “absolutely uplifting.”
She says that, “My advisor was there to assist with all of my questions and concerns that I had about starting school. I never knew what I wanted to be in my adult life; I had no career path in mind. I reflected a little bit on how my life played out and I decided to do my research about working as a Community Support Worker. I grew up in the system so I had a strong understanding of how my social worker was supposed to help me. I thought to myself that being a Community Support Worker would be my way of giving back to the community.”
In her career as a community support worker, she’ll be able to “assist everyone that [she works] with in the community. Being able to advocate for someone who might not be able to advocate for themselves is very rewarding,” as she says.
From High School Dropout to Doing What He Loves for a Living
Before taking Sprott Shaw’s Community Support Worker – Social Services Program, Alex Bellavance was struggling with unemployment since he couldn’t find work that he loved as a high school dropout. As he says, “I felt very lost and frustrated with myself.”
Since starting his program at Sprott Shaw’s Abbotsford campus, he “looks forward to attending class every morning, which is a feeling [he’s] never felt before.”
Alex mentions that, “I chose Community Support Worker – Social Services because I have always wanted to help people. Growing up as a transgender child, I had received a lot of help from people and I wanted to give back to the community. There have also been many instances of a lack of support so I’d like to be the change too. I often found myself being a strong support system for my friends and always try to help those who need it so I thought; let’s do what I love for a living.”
Taking the First Step Towards a Career that Makes a Difference
For 17 years, Amy Ducsay was working in a job that she wasn’t passionate about – it wasn’t rewarding and she felt as though as she wasn’t contributing. She knew she had to make a change.
This change was going back to school and taking the Community Support Worker – Social Services Program at Sprott Shaw College. As she says, “I want to be able to make a difference in someone’s life – to help contribute to the community.”
For Amy, the learning environment at Sprott Shaw was warm and welcoming, she had “consistent support from the instructors, and the entire faculty team. [She] felt very comfortable and felt as though [Sprott Shaw] really cared about [her] and [her] success.” To date, going back to school was “one of the best investments [she’s] ever [made] in [her] life.”
To read more testimonials and success stories from our students, click here.
