PAR stands for Partner Assault Response. I am a PAR referral counsellor with the John Howard Society of Toronto. Our team completes onsite intakes at five Domestic Violence Courts in Toronto, completes all administration tasks for referrals coming from Probation and Domestic Violence Courts and then all clients are referred to PAR Programs in Toronto. As a referral team working for the John Howard Society of Toronto we always strive to provide a client centred approach that supports the rehabilitation and reintegration of those who have been in conflict with the law.”
My interest in social work comes from the way I was brought up. My parents tried to instill in us empathy and compassion for others. They are both in the social work field: my dad is the founder of an organization that works with orphans, and my mom works with children with special needs.
After high school I went to Wilfrid Laurier University and graduated with an honours psychology degree. I went back to school at Humber College for its social service worker program. After I finished university, I didn’t have a lot of practical experience. I did volunteer work but needed more hands-on experience in my field, which is really important. The social service worker program was a good way to do that.
It offered two placements, one that I did for a full academic year. I have my job now because I did my placement at the John Howard Society.
I really liked that Humber’s instructors were so involved and genuinely invested in the students. If you made an effort, they gave an education, not only classroom-wise, but also via life experiences. My instructors were more like mentors and gave me a lot of advice on what I should be doing. Classes are small so you have the opportunity to build relationships with professors.
Humber reinforced the importance of getting practical experience. We didn’t necessarily have to go out and seek our own opportunities they brought us a list we could choose from, and we were able to narrow it down to a few options. I did two placements in the course of two years.
Humber allows you to start a full-time job while you’re in school. The whole point of the program is to get work experience, so they don’t want to hinder you getting a job. I started training for my job in March of my last year, and in April I started my full-time position even though I had just graduated.
Through my placement I learned about the John Howard Society. I started in the pardons department – which is now called record suspension – and I was then trained in a diversion program, another court-related program. While I was enrolled in school, the Society offered me a full-time position in the domestic violence area in the PAR program doing referrals. It wasn’t an area I’d worked in before, but I was trained through the John Howard Society and now really, really love my job.
Social work can be challenging. You have to make sure you’re taking care of yourself and keeping up your self-care. If you aren’t doing well yourself, you can’t help anybody else. Self-care is the most challenging part. I’ve never heard it talked about more than at Humber. It was something that was addressed in all my classes.
