Dennis Woodcock When Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) citizen Dennis Woodcock found himself out of a job after 25 years working in factories and warehouses, he approached the MNO office in Toronto to see if he could get assistance securing employment. Now Dennis is a recent graduate of Humber College in the Social Service Worker program where he received his Honours Diploma and he works as a Client Support Worker (CSW) Trainee at the Native Men’s Residence’s Sagatay Transitional Housing Unit.
Dennis recounts that when he first visited the MNO office, he was surprised at how enthusiastic and helpful the staff were. “I was concerned that all the education and retraining courses would be geared towards more youthful applicants exclusively, but nothing could have been further from the truth. Between the MNO, my family, my friends and the Aboriginal Resources Centre at Humber College, I had all the support a person could hope for.”
In his role as a CSW at Sagatay, Dennis is a member of a care team that works with Aboriginal men to help them reach their goals in education, employment and housing. On a daily basis, Dennis deals with everything from in-take of new clients, providing clients with a friendly face to come to when they need to talk and helping direct clients to resources on any number of issues. “I very much enjoy the work I am doing and the co-workers and clients at Sagatay, Dennis explained, “It is very rewarding to be able to help people on many levels and the reason I am able to do this now is because the MNO helped me to achieve my goals through education. It took a lot of hard work to get this far, and my journey is far from over, but I am grateful to be [here] at this point in my life.”