MNO citizen Trisha Dupuis.Submitted by Jade Bourbonnière, MNO Education and Training Operations Coordinator
While attending Fanshawe College, Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) citizen Trisha Dupuis realized she had a passion for working with and helping women and girls who were victims of violence.
When she graduated from Fanshawe with a diploma in Child and Youth Work (CYW), Trisha enrolled in the social work program at Ryerson University in Toronto to gain a Bachelor in Social Work. The program also had an emphasis on Aboriginal social work, which she was interested in pursuing.
Trisha was able to take a course that included travel to a remote First Nations community. She travelled there with a team of students to support the residents in achieving self-defined goals they had prepared.
The team organized a youth and elder retreat to foster youth engagement and cultural identity as well as a Women’s Empowerment Group, and conducted interviews with community members to capture their lived experiences. Trisha believes that this experience was paramount to her education, her desire to continue to pursue her path as a social worker, and her identity as a Métis woman.
During the four-year program, Trisha found that her heavy workload made having a part-time job impossible. She worked hard and received bursaries during the first few years of her program.
As Trisha was nearing the end of her studies, she contacted the MNO and received funding to complete the remainder of her program. She is now employed at a Toronto-based Aboriginal agency where she helps Toronto’s Aboriginal children and families with support services and is involved with child protection and safety concerns.
Trisha finds her life improved immensely with opportunities to flourish personally and grow professionally in a job where she contributes to the health and well-being of Aboriginal children and families.
Published on: November 19, 2015