MentorAbility Experience: Erin

“I believe inspiration and encouragement go a long way for every person, it only takes one person who believes in you to change a life,” said Erin (an awesome mentor from Saskatchewan!). Erin chooses to volunteer as a mentor to be that one person — the person who changes someone’s life for the better.

As an Indigenous Resource Officer with the local police, Erin is an advocate for Indigenous Protocols, accessibility, equality and equity; and, as such, she works hard to change the historically troubled relationship between police (simâkansuk) and Indigenous People into something more positive.

MentorAbility Experience: Brandon and Tyler

As a massive sports fan, Brandon loves his current role as a back shop merchandiser for a sporting goods store in Calgary; and, he’s been commended on his excellent work ethic many times over the years. Despite loving his job, however, Brandon wanted to further challenge himself by moving into more of a customer service role but there were no openings at his current location.

MentorAbility Experience: Ian and James

MentorAbility is all about making connections — links between mentors and proteges, people and organizations, and turning dreams into reality. So, when Ian came to us and said he wanted to be a professional wrestler, we got to work immediately on connecting him with someone with real, in-ring wrestling experience.

MentorAbility Experience: Brian and Mica

When Brian first heard about MentorAbility – and the idea he could gain a valuable mentoring experience in a desired field – he immediately wanted to do something with cars. As a fan of cars, Brian thought a good entry point into this industry would be cleaning and washing vehicles for a dealership. Thankfully, MentorAbility was able to connect Brian with Chilliwack Ford in B.C.

MentorAbility Experience: Sara and Kyla-Lorraine

For Kyla-Lorraine, administrative officer at SPHERE, the primary goal of participating in the MentorAbility initiative as a mentor was to help others. And she achieved her goal! In fact, she was able to answer all the questions asked by her mentee, Sara. Kyla-Lorraine was able to teach her the basics of her work, explain in detail her daily tasks, and paint a picture of what her job is like so that Sara could understand that profession.

MentorAbility Experience: Adam

Since Adam first connected with MentorAbility, it was clear that he loved baking and wanted to gain some hands-on experience in the baking field. He was especially keen on seeing how pretzels were made and learning how to bake those little breaded wonders! Fortunately, MentorAbility was able to connect with Lori and Sam at Southcentre Mr. Pretzel and secure Adam a mentorship making his favourite salty snack.

MentorAbility Experience: Thomas and Sébastien

It’s never easy to find a job when looking to enter the job market for the first time or even when returning to it. MentorAbility is a great way to meet an employer and provides a glimpse into the sector that a mentee wishes to enter. The following experience demonstrates a key goal of the initiative, that of inspiring a mentee and opening up his horizons.

MentorAbility Experience: Brigitte and Karolanne

Brigitte had a great MentorAbility experience. Given her search for a job in the field of emergency call dispatch, she was pleased to take part in a virtual discussion with her mentor Karolanne, from Health Emergencies, who described her work days in detail in order to give her an idea of what it’s like to work in such a role.

MentorAbility Experience: Anne-Li and Matthew

Matthew has always been interested in the world of video games. He was delighted when his employment advisor Ariane from Workforce Action suggested that he take part in the MentorHabilities project to talk about the video game tester profession with a professional in the field. When he met Anne-Li, his mentor, he learned a lot more than he thought he would about her daily work.

MentorAbility Experience: Sydney

The MentorAbility Program helps people gain employment experience they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to find on their own. And, in some special cases, it helps people become employed too!! This is exactly the case with Sydney who was mentored by staff at KOKO Patisserie in Regina and ended up being offered a job!