I was born on the west-coast, a truly free-spirit, that went wherever the wind carried me. I love camping, being outdoors, kayaking, hiking, and walking the best dog ever. After high school, my year-off-before-university, became my 8-years-off-before-university. In the first 4 years...I only remember about 3 days. And I loved it.
I had dead-end job, after dead-end job. I worked in customer service call centres. I was a 'Resolution Specialist,' meaning, I got to listen to angry customers complaints, and then tell them, as nicely as possible, that there was nothing anyone could do to help them. The sickenning part, is that I was really, really good at it. One caller stands out, from my time at a wireless customer service agency. A man called, he was distraught. He explained to me that less than two months ago, his daughter was diagnosed with luekemia. The hospital was across the bridge from their home, and they had a $1500 bill for the roaming charges of calling home. My heart broke for him, he cried and begged, and there was absolutely nothing I could do. He was also American, and now had this cell phone bill on top of the mounting medical bills. I spent hours on the phone with this man, while I tried and tried, to find any loophole in the system that would allow me to help him. I was willing to put my self at risk of disciplinary action, if I could somehow credit this mans account. I was helpless. And after hours of searching, asking managers, even going to executives, I had to tell him, that there was nothing I could do. I couldn't bring myself to tell him that if he did not remit payment soon, we would disconnect his service. It was brutal. I swore I would never be the helpless bearer of bad news for a multi-billion dollar corporation again. I left.
I found a Canadian company to do the same work for, but this time, the policy was -the customer is always right. As soon as they expressed dissatisfaction, I could send them a cheque for their money back. After the cheque was in the mail, we asked them for their suggestions to improve the product, and the customer service. It was a whole different world. Ahhh.....Canadians.
Customer service was not a life-long career, and after I had done my time, I moved on. I spent a couple of years travelling and exploring what I might want to do with my life.
Throughout those years, I followed my passions- outdoors, activism, and advocacy. I found a way to combine all three, when I discovered Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. My biological parents were foster parents, also an impromtu life change for them. They cared for three little girls, ages 1, 3, and 4. All three of the girls were affected by FASD. My parents had experience with special needs kids, but this was unlike anything they had ever experienced. There was no rhyme nor reason for the way FASD manifested in these kids. Something that was easy yesterday, could be a battle to the death today. It wasn't until we as a family, educated ourselves, that it all beame clear.
Shortly thereafter, I was offered a job as a respite/relief provider for families raising kids affected by FASD. The service helped bilogical parents, foster parents, family members raising kids- anyone who asked for it. And the service was offered at no-cost to the family. It was the best job I ever had. I could take kids to the park, play, and explore, all while educating the parents. It was amazing. And then the funding ran out.
FASD was still my passion, so I carried on providing bahvavioural consulting services to families. It was still a lot of fun, and so rewarding to actually be able to give parents strategies that made their lives easier. And this is how I met the boy that would one day become my Son.
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