‘Just getting out there’ helps build citizenship, says counsellor
Monday July 19, 2010 -- Michelle Strutzenberger The best outcome: everyone has an active, fulfilling and rewarding day
There’s a lot that can be done to boost citizenship, says community participation counsellor Chris Bennett.
Everyone can benefit from more awareness and understanding that “we are all unique and can offer different gifts,” as well as more education around rights and responsibilities and access to relevant services.
But another important strategy, and something that anyone can undertake anytime, is “just getting out there,” she says.
As people volunteer, attend sporting events, join clubs and get involved at community centres, they have opportunities for making connections around common interests and goals. Those connections in themselves can help enhance citizenship, as can the opportunities for boosting awareness that come with them.
This in turn has great potential for helping everyone realize what Bennett sees as a best outcome of enhanced citizenship: having an active, fulfilling and rewarding day.
A counsellor for the Foundations program at Community Living Ajax-Pickering and Whitby, Bennett is taking her own wisdom to heart and has seen first-hand what it can do.
Her role as counsellor entails working with individuals to determine what they’d like to do in the community and then helping to make that happen, whether it’s roller skating at a local arena or taking part in the activities at the community centre across the road.
“We want (them) to have a fulfilling day and that means getting up in the morning and wanting to go out and do your job or your activity, whatever that is, that is important to you and makes you have a fulfilling day,” says Bennett, noting a bonus to her work is that as she sees people finding fulfillment she herself is rewarded with a deep sense of satisfaction and purpose.
Bennett also volunteers with a community service group and she’s been part of many group activities where she’s experienced first-hand the joy and bonding that can come from a group working together for a common, humanitarian cause.
She recalls a large food drive that involved children, teenagers, adults, people who have a disability and seniors collecting goods for the disadvantaged.
“Despite all of our differences, we all worked together. No one was excluded no matter how much or how little you did. Everyone contributed in their own way, we all worked as a team and all of us had a hand in a great accomplishment,” says Bennett, noting it was exhilarating to participate in this collaborative effort.
“It’s a wonderful feeling because you see so many different groups working together. It’s amazing how you can get children, teenagers, everybody, working on the same goal.”
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