Lift Me Up

Valentina
Community Parole Officer

Hi, my name is Valentina and I'm currently a community Parole Officer at Edmonton Area Parole.

I was in University, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. I was getting my Bachelor of Arts major in psychology and he was actually a friend of a friend that knew that I was really interested in crime, knew that I really liked working with people, and so they said, why don't you try and get a job with corrections?

I'm just very passionate about it. I love going to work every day. I don't look at it as dealing with these like, horrible human beings every day. I'm dealing with humans and I'm trying to contribute to public safety by setting these offenders up with the best release plans possible.

I do a lot of like one-on-one with the offenders because a lot of them don't have positive support, so a lot of them just need an outlet. So, if you're like a listening ear and you care about them doing well, they share a lot with you. And that in itself is very helpful in them being successful because as soon as they can start talking about their problems in a safe environment, they're more motivated to work on it.

In an institution you’re more so like just dealing with the offender and everything that's going on with them.

Whereas in the community, once they get out, you have all of these other moving pieces, like you're now dealing with their family, whether it's their family members or their partner or their kids. You're dealing with their employer, you're dealing with all these variables that you can't control, and it's just a whole other world.

That is what I love about my job is every day is different. I don't come to work and like sit at a desk all day, every day writing the exact same reports because each case is so different, each intervention that you're trying to create is different, and so that's what keeps you motivated.

So, if I could give someone just coming into the job advice or somebody that was interested in the job, I would say the most important things are definitely self-care, having work life balance and knowing your limits because it is a hard job and being patient, like there's so much to learn in this job and it's constantly changing and just being patient with yourself and knowing that you're not going to have all the answers, and that you have a whole team to support you no matter where you are, whether it's in the institution or the community, and using that team environment.

There are offenders that genuinely want to change, and when you can put in place those interventions or the resources or the support to help them do that, that's when you really feel like you're making a difference.

Albe
Nurse

Hello. My name is Albe McClintock. I'm a licensed practical nurse at the Edmonton Institution for Women. My path to CSC was actually through a co-worker, and it's been a completely new and different experience, which actually has a lot more engaging challenges than any of the other nursing that I've done so far.

What's nice for me about working with the inmates, especially in a correctional environment, is we're aiming for them to go out into the community, to be self-sufficient, to know what their own health concerns are and how to deal with those in the community. And it's really rewarding when I have patients come back to me a couple of weeks later and say, I tried these interventions that you suggested, this is what worked for me, this is what didn't, this is what I can continue to do in the future. So having people come back to me and say, I took that learning to heart, I know how to manage this portion of my health care aspect is uplifting. It means people are actually paying attention.

The staff here are wonderful to each other, from my experience. The first time I had to deal with a trauma here at the facility, I actually had a lot of people come up to me afterwards, in the next couple of days, asking me if I'm coping okay, if there's someone that I would like to talk to, if I would like to take the time to talk to them. So, it's very much not just touching base with our patients, but touching base with each other. We have a fantastic nursing staff here that are really good at stepping up and stepping in when they see that someone is struggling. And it's a very encouraging environment, it's very engaging. Everyone is encouraged to grow as much as they can.

The thing that I enjoy most about working with CSC as a nurse is I genuinely get to make a difference for people. When they come up to health care, they're happy to see me because I treat them with the same respect that I would want someone to treat me with. I get to put a smile on someone's face and my whole reason for going into nursing is if I can make one person smile per day, I know that I've made a difference.

Ronda
Correctional Officer

My name is Ronda Canfield, and I am a CX-1 (Correctional Officer) at Dorchester Institution

I am on my way to work and I have my uniform on, and people see you with your uniform on, there's a sense of pride that comes from that. They recognize you as somebody that helps to keep them safe. You feel that when you're out in to public and then you come in here and the inmates can be having a horrible day and you can say something to them that may change how their day goes.

I find the job challenging but rewarding. I enjoy working with the offenders because they come from all walks of life, all cultures. They teach me something almost every day that I'm at work.

I feel like I do change lives, some. I think everybody is changing lives just by being here. When I come to work, I'm not here to pass judgment on the inmates that have been incarcerated in the federal system, that has been done by the courts. My job is to make sure that they’re aware that they can live a life outside of here, that they can choose to see a different way to live. It’s not easy and it’s a long road to come back from. But they need to know that, that we believe that they can do it.

If you can get up every day and come to work and feel like you can make a difference, that’s enough, at the end of the day.

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A poster with vibrant shades of blue and purple features two hands supporting each other and lifting one another up.

The campaign title “Lift Me Up” appears on the top right corner with CSC’s mission of “Changing Lives. Protecting Canadians.”

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A graphic with vibrant shades of blue and purple features two hands supporting each other and lifting one another up.

The campaign title “Lift Me Up” appears in the center with CSC’s mission of “Changing Lives. Protecting Canadians.”

A graphic with vibrant shades of blue and purple features two hands supporting each other and lifting one another up.

The campaign title “Lift Me Up” appears with CSC’s mission of “Changing Lives. Protecting Canadians.”
In the bottom right-hand corner is the Canada wordmark.

A graphic with vibrant shades of blue and purple features two hands supporting each other and lifting one another up.

The campaign title “Lift Me Up” appears with CSC’s mission of “Changing Lives. Protecting Canadians.”
In the bottom right-hand corner is the Canada wordmark.

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A graphic with vibrant shades of blue and purple features two hands supporting each other and lifting one another up.
The campaign title “Lift Me Up” appears with CSC’s mission of “Changing Lives. Protecting Canadians.”

A graphic with vibrant shades of blue and purple features two hands supporting each other and lifting one another up.
The campaign title “Lift Me Up” appears with CSC’s mission of “Changing Lives. Protecting Canadians.”

A graphic with vibrant shades of blue and purple features two hands supporting each other and lifting one another up.
The campaign title “Lift Me Up” appears with CSC’s mission of “Changing Lives. Protecting Canadians.”