Hello Weston Park,
Sending you hugs, high fives and all the things we have missed due to COVID. Work for me was and is different, but still busy in its own way.
During COVID my life has changed quite a bit. I have moved, yes again. This time I moved in with a roommate who is a long-time client of mine, Emily. I am not only her roommate but also her live-in caregiver. This means I support her in all her daily needs and personal care when she is at home.
Why this big move? I am not sure. Her dad asked me, and I said “yes!” I have been a Developmental Services Worker for 28 years and have had three different cohorts of clients. I start to support them when they are young kids and continue working with them as they become teens. When they become then adults I leave them and find young kids to begin again.
This time, I have decided to grow with and alongside my adult clients. Most of my clients right now are 19 or 20 and will finish school in a year or two. That means they will join a day program or start some sort of post-secondary education and possibly be looking for living arrangements as they get older.
Emily’s parents and I have created a model that we would like to see grow; buying a condo, finding a live-in caregiver, with parents in control of the process. We want to try it to see if it is a sustainable model that might be replicated with more clients that I will manage and supervise.
I am working for SB Care, which is the name of the not-for-profit agency that Emily’s parents have established, and it is a growing business. Over the next year, we are excited to see where this venture takes us. Like any other venture in my life, I am supporting someone and creating a life for them. Emily and I are great! We laugh a lot, cook, go for long walks, play video games and have an all around good time.
If you’d like to know more about my new life, feel free to email me at Marjorie.rwtk@gmail.com