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<\/a>The MHA program was definitely very eye-opening in the way that it looked at some of the realities of the field, says Dalziel, adding that it gave a pretty good idea of what students should be expecting when they get into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe had a few people come in from the BC Schizophrenia Society and just talk with us,\u201d says Dalziel. \u201cIt was great to hear from people who had lived experience. They were directly impacted by what we were studying, and explaining what did and didn\u2019t work for them. They told us about the experiences they had when life was getting really bad, what support looked like for them, and what ultimately ended up working. I thought that was really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In order to get a leg up, Dalziel says that he was actively looking for work as he moved toward the completion of the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs we approached the end, I was in my practicum,\u201d says Dalziel. \u201cI spoke with my mentor, as I would call her at the time, at the housing site that I worked in at Tillicum. I asked what the feasibility of getting hired was. She recommended that I submit a resume and cover letter before I even graduate, because she wanted me to work there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With no idea what to expect, Dalziel says he was prepared to shop around if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was prepared to apply at Cool Aid, Portland [Housing Society], Pacifica, and VIHA [Island Health], depending on how it went,\u201d he says. \u201cBut because she said, \u2018Hey, apply right away and I\u2019ll give you my recommendation,\u2019 I applied with VIHA and it worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dalziel was initially hired on as a mental health worker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI had my interview before I finished my program,\u201d he says. \u201cI got a call from VIHA right around Christmas. They told me that I had the job, and I would start on January 15.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dalziel says he began as a casual and picked up whatever shifts he could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnce you\u2019re hired on with VIHA you have to build seniority before you get into a regular position,\u201d says Dalziel. \u201cPersonally, I thought that was fine. I kind of liked being in a casual role because it allowed me to see a number of different housing sites. I got hired on as a mental health worker, so my opportunities were at residential sites that VIHA operates. It gave me a better appreciation and an understanding of how things operate at different places.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dalziel said that he knew he had a passion for addictions work when he was going through school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI knew that I wanted to work in a safe injection site,\u201d says Dalziel. \u201cDuring my final English project, we had to do a business proposal of some sort. I did mine on opening a safe injection site in Victoria. My vision and the Harbour [a supervised consumption site located on Pandora Street] are very different, but that was what I wanted to get into, and I was prepared to move away to Vancouver to follow that path.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Opportunities are out there, and Dalziel says he has continued to branch out in order to find his way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter doing a bit of work here and kind of feeling the system out and figuring out how things operate under the VIHA umbrella, I heard whispers that we were going to be opening our own [safe injection site],\u201d says Dalziel. \u201cFrom there it was a matter of poking at the right people and finding out who was going to be running it, what it was going to look like, and who I needed to talk to to get in on it. I got lucky, and I guess I asked the right people at the right time, and I found out who the permanent coordinator was going to be. I found out early enough and made contact and was able to secure an interview.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While education and hard work are key, Dalziel admits that some of his success can be attributed to good luck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI would say that I was very fortunate and connected with enough people who knew what was going on, and they were able to point me in the right direction; otherwise I may have missed the posting,\u201d says Dalziel. \u201cThe window to apply was really limited. I was really adamant in spreading the word to anyone I met that I wanted to work at the safe consumption site when it opens. I think that kept it in the back of people\u2019s mind, so they let me know what was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dalziel is currently working at Tillicum Apartments three days a week, in addition to working part time at the Harbour, which led to him meeting Harbour program manager Tim Gorman, who hired him on as a casual harm reduction worker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI mean, realistically, working down there on the weekends and wanting to work more, I just started a dialogue with the Lookout coordinator,\u201d says Dalziel. \u201cHe said that he had room to hire some casuals. He didn\u2019t really interview me. He said, \u2018I know you can do this job because you do this job.\u2019 It was more of a formality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gorman hired Dalziel to work as a harm reduction worker with his organization; Gorman says that Dalziel is a great employee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe is casual staff with us, but I would give him more hours if I could,\u201d says Gorman. \u201cHe\u2019s knowledgeable and professional. He seems to be the type of person who will be a lifelong learner, and he has a desire to learn more about this subject matter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harm reduction isn\u2019t the right line of work for everyone, says Gorman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to have some sort of education that addresses the complex issues around substance use and the issues around it,\u201d says Gorman, \u201cparticularly homelessness, mental health, and trauma. People coming in here without lived experience or without education aren\u2019t going to know how to help in this field. Derek\u2019s got a leg up on people who don\u2019t have that background. It\u2019s crucial, and I see Derek doing good work well into the future because of his education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gorman says that one of the things you pick up at school is how to learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt gives you the tools to know how to get the knowledge you need,\u201d says Gorman, \u201chow to filter through what is and isn\u2019t necessary, and get to the core of the subject matter, best practices, and experts in the field. Derek is aligned to do that. This field and subject matter is changing daily. With the opioid epidemic, some of the conversations around safe supply and some of the therapies out there were unimaginable a decade ago, but they are actually happening now. Ongoing education is crucial, or else you get left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When looking at a stack of resumes, Gorman says the first thing that catches his attention is experience and education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI want some kind of related experience, even if it\u2019s volunteer experience,\u201d says Gorman. \u201cAnd then I look for some kind of education and lived experience component, and it\u2019s usually a combination of them both. As I said, to do this work, I\u2019m not willing to take huge risks on people who don\u2019t have those core educational and experience pieces. I would never throw someone who\u2019s green into this environment, because I would be setting them up to fail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harbour is one of a couple of dozen sites across the country that are Health Canada exempt sites, says Gorman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is new for all of us,\u201d Gorman says. \u201cWe are doing our best to keep up. We are right on the cutting edge, and every little decision we make has ramifications. We often have to go back and adjust to make things work. We consider ourself to be a minimal-barrier essential service. Moving forward, the knowledge-sharing, education, and researching about what best practices are are being developed as we speak, and we\u2019re a part of that. It\u2019s pretty cool. If you\u2019re going to Camosun to study addictions, it\u2019s a great field to get into.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everyone\u2019s experience is unique, and even within the same program, results vary. After completing MHA in June of 2018, Emily Welch has decided to change her educational path. She is currently preparing to enter the Community, Family and Child Studies (CFCS) program in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Welch\u2014who is also a Nexus<\/em> contributing writer\u2014says that she struggled to find work after the completion of her program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt felt like it took forever,\u201d says Welch. \u201cI tried for about four months, which isn\u2019t all that long, but I was under the impression that it would be very easy to find work. I saw that it was for some of my classmates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Welch is curious about why it didn\u2019t seem to be as easy for her as it was for some of her classmates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI went to tons of interviews,\u201d says Welch. \u201cI treated my job search like it was a job. I would sit at my computer for three or four hours a night, applying to places. I probably applied for 50 jobs. I went to many interviews and had some phone interviews. It wasn\u2019t as easy as I had hoped.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If it were up to her, Welch says, she would have found a job in the addictions field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI wanted to get into Island Health,\u201d says Welch. \u201cI really tried for places like Cool Aid and others like it that are under VIHA. I also tried places like the Sobering Centre.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After four months of toil, Welch says she actually received two job offers at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBoth jobs were with non-profits,\u201d says Welch, \u201cOur Place, and Lifetime Networks. I went on two trial runs so I could see which would suit me better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a tough choice because both jobs paid about the same, says Welch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur Place offered graveyard, three nights a week, 12 hour shifts. From 7 to 7. Some people would find that ideal, because you get a lot of downtime,\u201d says Welch. \u201cI did one shift, and the people were lovely. It was at the emergency night shelter. I saw and learned a lot of things that I won\u2019t forget. In the end, I didn\u2019t take the job because I couldn\u2019t handle the hours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately Welch chose Lifetime Networks, which allows her to work with people with developmental disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have three or four one-on-one clients,\u201d says Welch. \u201cIt allows me to work around my school hours. It is an ideal fit. It took a long time, and a lot of interviews, and a lot of frustration, and a lot of crying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Welch says she had a wonderful time doing the MHA program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere were a lot of great things about it,\u201d says Welch. \u201cThey do a wonderful job with the program, but it didn\u2019t prepare me to actually be out in the field. When I started working I was flailing. I had to really do a lot of initiation, and really throw myself out there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Welch thinks the certification carries value but says she would have preferred to have done more interview practice in the program. (She adds that MHA students would benefit from more collaborative instruction from the Co-operative Education and Career Services department.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI remember it being a short period of one day working on interviews,\u201d Welch says. \u201cI\u2019ve talked about it with other classmates and we all agreed that we would have liked to get the interviews down, because that\u2019s something we all struggled with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dalziel says that he had already interviewed with VIHA before, so the mock interview portion was just an exercise for him, but he agrees that it could have been more comprehensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was on the very last day of our program,\u201d says Dalziel. \u201cThey had a fair number of good questions, but the whole procedure was fairly casual and nonchalant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While struggling to find her footing and find a job, Welch says that she made a decision to enter the CFCS program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI wanted more options,\u201d says Welch. \u201cI don\u2019t like being idle. I wasn\u2019t in school, and I wasn\u2019t working, and I was doing all of this job hunting, and at that point it felt like I was never going to get a job, so I enrolled in school again. I still think it was a good idea, because it will take me farther in the long run. I may end up wanting to go to UVic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Welch says the CFCS program is a better long-term fit for her because she would like to work with youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI find teenagers really fascinating, and I would enjoy working with them,\u201d says Welch. \u201cThere are also a lot more options if you have this program under your belt. Apparently, you can work in schools, and the [government] ministry, and all sorts of places.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n 2018 Certified Dental Assistant (CDA) graduate Gina Nelson says that the demand for employees is so great that everyone she knows who graduated found work in the field. CDA is an intense one-year program, says Nelson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou do six classes per semester.\u201d says Nelson. \u201cWe usually started at 8, but you have to be in the lab for 7:30, and the days typically ended around 4. The classes were extremely challenging. They said we have Fridays off, but we pretty much used them to get caught up from the week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Students in the program are immersed in dentistry, says Nelson, but she adds that there is a lot of information attached to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was all dentistry, but there was some anatomy and biology, there was nutrition, there was pharmacology, and then we touched on the professionalism aspect of it and discussed the business,\u201d says Nelson. \u201cWe did some work on resume building, which was really great. We had speakers come in, and we did presentations for different schools. We went to elementary schools and talked about the benefits of clean teeth and fluoride treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then there was lab work, where students learned dental skills and techniques, says Nelson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were taught pretty much any skills you need as a dental assistant, and then we had to practice it,\u201d says Nelson. \u201cWith each skill you would be tested one-on-one with an instructor. You would be graded as satisfactory, improvement needed, or unsatisfactory. If you got an unsatisfactory\u2014and we all did at some point\u2014you had to redo the clinical assessment. You think you know a skill, and then you do it with an instructor watching every move\u2014sometimes you make a mistake that you typically wouldn\u2019t make.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nelson\u2019s plans changed early in her program because her husband was offered a great position at Smile Dentistry in Kamloops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt just so happened that a friend who was in the program with me was moving to Kamloops, too,\u201d says Nelson. \u201cShe mentioned that the dentist she was going to work for was looking for a CDA, so I applied and I got the job. I was hired before I even finished school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nelson says that she was able to bring a lot of what she learned into the workplace, but each dentist is different, so she says she had to be able to adapt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe materials that some dentists use are completely different than what is used by others, but having a basic knowledge was really helpful. My program gave me a really good base, as well as knowledge that let me know what I should expect in the dental field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nelson says she absolutely loves her job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUsually people start out in general dentistry before they get into specialty,\u201d says Nelson. \u201cI actually did very well in school, and because of my high grades I was able to get this job. It was a huge learning curve with all of the different materials, surgeries, and procedures. It was a lot to learn, and I feel like I\u2019ve barely scratched the surface, but I definitely feel like the program equipped me for that. I plan to be there for quite a while.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n For more than 10 years Camosun student employment facilitator Irene Wallace has offered what she refers to as \u201ccareer coaching.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was hired to directly lead and form the student employment side of things,\u201d says Wallace. \u201cIt was kind of an independent role, which comes around to the services I put in place for students. I\u2019m not a counsellor; I take a different approach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wallace says that students need to know what it is they want to do before they can even try to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy job as a coach is to suggest things to try, and offer encouragement,\u201d she says. \u201cIn order to advance, students need to step out and explore. I understand that they\u2019re students, and academics is key, but this is where people often make a mistake. Spending time exploring and thinking about our career and life path is just as important as what we learn in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Co-operative Education and Career Services department offers a wide range of services, says Wallace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe offer the normal pieces\u2014resume and cover-letter development\u2014as well as networking strategies, job finding, and informational interview strategies,\u201d says Wallace. \u201cOne of the things that I do, which may be a little different than the others in the department, is on the personal development side, is help students to identify barriers, asking questions like, \u2018Is fear getting in the way?\u2019 and, \u2018Are you really aware of who you really are and what matters to you?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For years, institutions have guided people into career paths, says Wallace, but she says that those institutions are realizing that careers are no longer linear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of the philosophies I use is called \u2018challenge researching,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a different approach to see what you care about and what you want to be involved with, and then looking at that to see what careers fit that mould, and then that can help to determine what to study. There are some fields where there is little doubt about it, but most programs don\u2019t necessarily correlate to your professional direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the biggest challenges is getting students to start planning their career path early on, says Wallace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA lot of students think they only need to worry about their career in their last semester, but that\u2019s too late,\u201d says Wallace. \u201cWe should be engaging together, right from their first semester, within a month of being on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wallace says that she is expecting continuing economic growth in BC, which will lead to more job growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe BC forecast for 2018 to 2028 is indicating that there will be 903,000 new job opportunities, but 77 percent will require post-secondary education,\u201d says Wallace. \u201cNot necessarily completing a degree, but education is becoming the expectation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Coming out of high school, a lot of students are deciding that they don\u2019t want to work for anyone besides themselves, says Wallace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEntrepreneurialism is becoming a topic of more interest,\u201d says Wallace. \u201cThat means that more students are choosing not to pursue a degree, which is risky because what happens down the road if they decide they need to go to work? A lot of people are doing that, and we have a lot of older people coming to Camosun as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an ever-changing world, jobs disappear as technology expands, says Wallace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs an employee you have to know that you may not be there for a lengthy time,\u201d she says. \u201cTypically, four years is what we\u2019re seeing for people staying with one employer. It doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re illoyal. Situations have changed, and more people are being hired part time or on contract work. It\u2019s a change of environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other side of the department, Wallace says that the co-op facilitators engage directly with the faculty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEmployers are looking for employees who can hit the ground running,\u201d says Wallace. \u201cCo-op certainly has gained huge clout, and you just can\u2019t argue against the value of it. But what if you\u2019re not in a co-op stream, and you don\u2019t have those opportunities? We try to help those students with other strategies, such as volunteering. The essence of applied learning is that employers are looking for people who can land with experience right away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In her experience with institutions, Wallace says she has always seen a separation between career education and counselling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCounselling was in place years back, when institutions started to realize that they needed to have a service for students to look for employment,\u201d says Wallace. \u201cWe work with counselling, but maybe not as closely as we could. There are also academic advisors. One of the things that I would really like to see is those three services working together a little bit more, but it\u2019s not happening here yet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Institutions are slow-moving ships, says Wallace, adding that Camosun needs to be light on its feet to keep up with the trends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs an example, cybersecurity currently has 300,000 open positions in the United States,\u201d says Wallace. \u201cIn Canada, 8,000 cyber experts will be hired in the next two years. By 2021, the global shortage in the area will be exceeding 3,000,000. Are we doing enough? What programs do we offer that allow people to study for that expertise?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Career paths are often as unique as the people who walk them. It\u2019s a desire for success that brought most of us to Camosun in the first place; I think Dalziel summed it up perfectly when he says that he\u2019s 100-percent certain that his education got him where he is today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy education is what helps me get my foot in the door wherever I go,\u201d says Dalziel. \u201cI think my education opens doors, and then it is on me to showcase my ability. Even if I\u2019m overstepping by saying that it\u2019s 100-percent education, I don\u2019t think I would be as competent or as confident in my ability to do this job without the education.\u201d Every day I take the number 15 bus to Lansdowne. I cross paths with, literally, hundreds of students. I overhear bits and pieces of conversations and glance at the titles of their textbooks, but my days are just as rushed as theirs are, so I rarely have the opportunity to strike up a conversation. Each […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,229],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-march-20-2019"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17425"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17426,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17425\/revisions\/17426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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