Working with at risk adults and youth as a outreach community support worker allowed me to see humans at their most vulnerable state. As I worked each day to help find my clients their basic needs, shelter, food, water and clothing, they shared their stories about childhood trauma, post traumatic stress disorder all the while they faced every day with genuine greetings and willingness to survive and strive to understand the complexities of life. In each of my clients that I had the privilege to work with, I saw an inner child looking for connection.
I will hold all of these moments of working with this vulnerable population close to my heart as it is with these kind humans that I saw the most genuine souls. Even without nothing they seemed to hold onto connections with their friends and community as their most prized possessions. It made me think about how society today values materialistic objects as their most prized possession. Spending time with homeless adults, I experienced genuine concern, love and resiliency in battling addiction, mental health trauma and dealing with a broken justice system.
There were times when my one client was having a breakdown and I chose to accompany her for longer than my given hours with her. It’s those times I found I had to reassess my boundaries and be flexible. All the while, beings mindful of not overstepping those boundaries on the regular because clients could easily expect me to have more time available on the regular. For me, it was trial and error. I made mistakes on the job and I learned quickly on how to manage behavior’s of certain clients. Although, a year into the job, I started working with this one client for a little over a year and in that time I got to witness this girl survive being homeless, cold nights on the streets, give birth, prove to everyone around her that she was deserving to be a mother and ultimately fight to keep custody of her child. It was a real struggle to balance my role as a outreach worker and maintain my professional boundaries. I struggled with detaching my work life from my personal life. After work hours, I would constantly think about my clients who were out in the streets struggling. It was not until looking back at my two years on the job, that I realized how my own mental health had started to become affected.
I would say that I witnessed a lot of resilience on the streets and with clients who are on disabilities as they continue to try and survive another day. Society writes them off in an instant yet those struggling keep on striving until their next payday. I saw many vulnerable humans sharing their blankets and food with one another. I think it takes a lot of immense strength for humans to get up the next morning when they are trying to solely survive.
Working at Claro Learning Centre, I saw students being resilient every day. Neurotypical students striving to work on their regulating skills while there being triggers all around.
I am proud of my own powerful journey in resiliency. Experiencing the shock of my brothers passing and shortly after my grandpa. A lot changed dynamic wise in my household within 6 months. I am still processing everything and I think that I will continue to as days, months and years go by; I believe my feelings will continue to evolve and change into many perspectives.
