I was born in Northwestern Ontario at the height of the baby boom, the second of six
children in a working (poor) family. I spent my formative years in Saskatchewan (ages 2 thru 6) in the custody of my grandparents, living as an only child in an Ozzy & Harriet type household. After my Grandpa Bill’s death on my sixth (6) birthday I was returned to the custody of my parents in Thunder Bay. Following a challenging childhood and a mis-spent youth, I married a lovely young man from the neighbourhood. A decade later (as with many young marriages) we had grown up and grown apart. It was only a few months later that
I started dating the man who would become my second husband. With him, my daughter and I spent a summer backpacking through Europe and Britain. We moved to Calgary for several years and when we moved back to southern Ontario, Georgina stayed behind to build a life of her own. The thing I missed the most in those early days of separation was the laughter; George and I share a quirky sense of humour and when we are together it seems like we are always laughing about something. In southern Ontario my husband went to law school and we had our two babies… now wonderful young adults. After 13 years together that marriage ended. I was devastated it took years and two bouts of clinical depression to completely recover.
I have always loved learning and since I was 19, I have pretty much always been in at least one continuing-ed class or another. After my second divorce I went back to university to get my degree. First I took a degree in psychology, which I thought would land me a job in human services and make use of my gift for helping troubled people. Because I attended school year round I finished that degree in only 3 years, so I went back to finish a degree in philosophy which I had started in my 20s. Focusing on ethics and contemporary moral issues, it satisfied a personal goal, with little marketable value. I encourage young people to go to college and get job specific training… it is the way of today’s world the degrees can come later after you have better career focus.
Due to government funding cutbacks in Ontario, there were no jobs in the social service sector, so I spent the next decade as a single mom, on and off assistance, working whatever minimum wage job I could land. During that time I attempted starting a couple of businesses (divorce management counseling & designing stylish clothing for handicapped ladies), both of which failed because I was more interested in helping people then in making a profit, lol.
Then, in 2005 when my youngest went away to school… I returned to Alberta to live with my oldest girl and find work in social services. This was the beginning of a new life. I volunteered at the DI (Calgary Drop-In and Rehab Centre) which I loved so much that I begged them into giving me a job less then a year later. After 3 years I created Angels of the
Road… which I guess could be described as extreme outreach. I wanted to understand what it would take to better help my clients move forward with their lives. Living among the street people, homeless and poorest of Canadians has given me an opportunity to practice freestyle social work, which is marked by a lack of script or agenda. Freestyle social work involves being present in the moment and in the client’s life as needed, listening to the other person (without judgment) and doing what you can, when you can to, help them move forward, even if it is only in baby steps. Now that I have spent 2 years practicing like this I doubt that I could work any other way. As for the future I will continue to use my gifts to help anyone who needs me. My dream is to open a spiritual healing where everyone can come together to share their energetic gifts as equals. So I guess I’m not planning to retire anytime soon.
Thank you for your interest in my biography. That is my life ‘til now, but there is much left to be written.
children in a working (poor) family. I spent my formative years in Saskatchewan (ages 2 thru 6) in the custody of my grandparents, living as an only child in an Ozzy & Harriet type household. After my Grandpa Bill’s death on my sixth (6) birthday I was returned to the custody of my parents in Thunder Bay. Following a challenging childhood and a mis-spent youth, I married a lovely young man from the neighbourhood. A decade later (as with many young marriages) we had grown up and grown apart. It was only a few months later that
I started dating the man who would become my second husband. With him, my daughter and I spent a summer backpacking through Europe and Britain. We moved to Calgary for several years and when we moved back to southern Ontario, Georgina stayed behind to build a life of her own. The thing I missed the most in those early days of separation was the laughter; George and I share a quirky sense of humour and when we are together it seems like we are always laughing about something. In southern Ontario my husband went to law school and we had our two babies… now wonderful young adults. After 13 years together that marriage ended. I was devastated it took years and two bouts of clinical depression to completely recover.
I have always loved learning and since I was 19, I have pretty much always been in at least one continuing-ed class or another. After my second divorce I went back to university to get my degree. First I took a degree in psychology, which I thought would land me a job in human services and make use of my gift for helping troubled people. Because I attended school year round I finished that degree in only 3 years, so I went back to finish a degree in philosophy which I had started in my 20s. Focusing on ethics and contemporary moral issues, it satisfied a personal goal, with little marketable value. I encourage young people to go to college and get job specific training… it is the way of today’s world the degrees can come later after you have better career focus.
Due to government funding cutbacks in Ontario, there were no jobs in the social service sector, so I spent the next decade as a single mom, on and off assistance, working whatever minimum wage job I could land. During that time I attempted starting a couple of businesses (divorce management counseling & designing stylish clothing for handicapped ladies), both of which failed because I was more interested in helping people then in making a profit, lol.
Then, in 2005 when my youngest went away to school… I returned to Alberta to live with my oldest girl and find work in social services. This was the beginning of a new life. I volunteered at the DI (Calgary Drop-In and Rehab Centre) which I loved so much that I begged them into giving me a job less then a year later. After 3 years I created Angels of the
Road… which I guess could be described as extreme outreach. I wanted to understand what it would take to better help my clients move forward with their lives. Living among the street people, homeless and poorest of Canadians has given me an opportunity to practice freestyle social work, which is marked by a lack of script or agenda. Freestyle social work involves being present in the moment and in the client’s life as needed, listening to the other person (without judgment) and doing what you can, when you can to, help them move forward, even if it is only in baby steps. Now that I have spent 2 years practicing like this I doubt that I could work any other way. As for the future I will continue to use my gifts to help anyone who needs me. My dream is to open a spiritual healing where everyone can come together to share their energetic gifts as equals. So I guess I’m not planning to retire anytime soon.
Thank you for your interest in my biography. That is my life ‘til now, but there is much left to be written.
