Happy New Year everyone!
This month marks the return to my field placement after a lovely winter break spent in Canada and the United States.
There are a few changes that have occurred at my field placement since last semester. One of these changes is that my task supervisor has changed, as the previous one transferred to one of the other locations at Cornerstone. So far, this has not seemed to have impacted my field placement and the tasks that I have been assigned. I will be continuing to run a cooking group and will be implementing a new group which will be surrounding the topic of healthy relationships. I am excited to start this group, as well as develop and adapt it to the individuals that attend. There are twenty women that reside at MacLaren, so learning and developing skills surrounding conflict management, boundaries, and mutual respect, as well as other traits, will be beneficial in maintaining a supportive environment.
One of the events that I have planned and participated in this month is an agency outing with all three Cornerstone locations to The Byward Market, specifically to taste BeaverTails and visit with the women from the shelter and Booth Street locations. BeaverTails are fried dough pastries that are created to look like a beavertail and can be topped with a variety of sweet condiments. There was even a BeaverTail flavor that was created in honor of Obama’s visit to Ottawa entitled the “Obama Tail.” The Byward Market area is a popular destination in downtown Ottawa, especially in the summer where there are an abundance of venders lining the streets. As a child, I would visit The Byward Market in the summer and purchase the most beautiful flowers for my grandmother as well as take in all the various items that were displayed. I had the opportunity to meet some of the other women that receive services through Cornerstone as well as some of the other interns during this outing.
One of the upcoming outings that MacLaren will be engaging in is Winterlude, an annual Ottawa event, and will have an upcoming post regarding the event.
I hope all students and facility that are reading have a wonderful start to their semester!
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Hi, Kayley,
We need more details on the Obama Tail! The photo of Beaver Tails seems heavily infused by Nutella fans…I hope that the development of the Healthy Relationships group is good for your group work-social work skills!
It’s interesting to read about your bi-national experiences – your account of the flower market and summer visits with your grandmother are lovely memories.
As an adult, working in Canada, how have your perceptions of Canada as a nation-state serving its citizens evolved? One thing you mentioned earlier in your blog posts was the tasks you were allowed to perform as an intern/social worker – dispensing medications to residents. IS this “better” than the restrictions put on interns in the U.S. do you think?
Thanks for these posts – please keep them coming!!
Pat
It’s great to hear about the wonderful work you are doing with Cornerstone, Kayley! The variety of groups you are leading is impressive – the topics suggest to me that services are designed to be holistic.
Ottawa and the Byward Market sound lovely. I’ve never been, but I hope to change that in the near future! Thank you for sharing your experience!
Laura Lewis