Werklund School graduate students connect with community

At the first annual Community Service Providers Fair, Werklund School of Education students met with representatives from 12 non-profit agencies that provide educational and psychological support for children and families in the Calgary area.

Developed by graduate students Laura Purdon, Laura Flanigan and Laura Berlanda, in collaboration with the Graduate Programs in Education Student Association (GPESA), the event was held to create links between students and these local organizations.

“We believe that the University of Calgary can serve as a community hub where we offer knowledge, insight and services to the community, and the community is able to provide the same in return,” says Berlanda, who was recently elected GPESA president. “It can be daunting for students to venture out to community organizations, and organizations might not know how to connect with the university, so events such as this help create relationships.”

Developing strong relationships with service providers is valuable for Educational Psychology students as they refer families to external support agencies as part of their program work. 

“In the School & Applied Child Psychology specialization, we conduct psychoeducational assessments and make recommendations for various programming that may benefit the client and their family,” explains Purdon.  “This event was designed to inform our recommendations and referrals to best support the families we work with.”

New to the city, first year masters student Tasmia Hai found the experience quite informative.  “Being from Ontario, I was not aware of the many different services available in Calgary,” she says. “I was able to meet new organizations that provide services specifically to parents and the LGBTQ community.”

Initially, the fair was intended solely for Werkund School psychology students but word of mouth quickly spread, so the coordinators opened the event to all who were interested.  “While we were planning and organizing the event, we received so much interest from other programs, we decided that all Werklund graduate students could benefit,” says Purdon.

Agencies that participated in the one-hour fair were asked to provide students with information about the services they offer and the populations they serve.

Alysha Krassilowsky, Family Worker/Coordinator with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Calgary, says the fair was a great opportunity to meet the students and share information about the work being carried out by the charity.  “It was encouraging to see how eager the students were to learn about the services, and rewarding to know that they will be better equipped with knowledge of BGCC and potentially more confident to reach out to our staff at any time!”

The coordinators have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from students and agencies alike, with several citing both the connections they made and the conversations they had as among the top payoffs.

“Some students were offered volunteer positions. Many others were given contact information for potential job or internship opportunities. It was hugely successful for so many reasons,” says Flanigan.

Berlanda says an unexpected reward was the agency to agency contacts that were made.  “I enjoyed hearing that the community service providers themselves were able to connect with other service providers. Thus, the event is not just helping students make connections, but also helping community service providers make new connections and grow their organizations!”

Plans are already underway for the next fair and the coordinators say that they intend to invite more community service-providers to participate and open the event to other faculties on campus.

The organizations that attended this year’s fair were: Alberta Health Services’ Access Mental Health, Alberta Health Services’ Child & Adolescent Mental Health, Autism Aspergers Friendship Society of Calgary, Boys & Girls Club of Calgary, Calgary Outlink, CanLearn Society, Families Matter, Foothills Academy Society: Estelle Siebens Community Services, Mount Royal University’s Transitional Vocational Program, Renfrew Educational Services, Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre and Wood’s Homes.