麻豆视频

Back in 2003, she was a mom with a new baby daughter in Meadow Lake. She had just moved there with her husband and three children, and she didn鈥檛 know anyone in town.

For Jenny McKay, it was a lonely time, compounded by post-partum depression.

And then she discovered the Kids First program. At the time, it was one of eight in the province, and It provided her with home visits and counselling, respite day care, and fresh fruit and milk.

鈥淏eing able to talk with my home visitors and having the other resources available helped me understand where I was at with being a new mom again,鈥� Jenny recalls.

Today, her youngest daughter is in high school. In the intervening years Jenny went back to school in Winnipeg and graduated from Red River College in Family Support with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder certification.

She is now a Community Outreach Education Worker with Kids First in Yorkton, which is located at the North Street offices of the Society for the Involvement of Good Neighbours (SIGN). Employed by the Saskatchewan Health Authority, she visits mothers and their kids in their homes, but also often at the Family Resource Centre at SIGN on Broadway, in a truly co-operative effort to assist moms and families.

Does she feel like she鈥檚 come full circle, from someone needing support to someone offering support, in the past 18 years?

鈥淚 have. Yes. It makes me feel really good. It makes me feel like I'm on the right path, for me and for my own kids. It鈥檚 been a personal journey.鈥�

It wasn鈥檛 an easy journey. After a year in Meadow Lake, she was a single mom with four girls. Born and raised in Pine River, MB where her parents still lived, she wanted to be closer to home, and asked where there were other Kids First programs.

She chose Yorkton, closer to her family but far enough to get by on her own as a 30-something single mom.

It was also the start of reconnecting with her Indigenous culture.

鈥淚 had not grown up with my culture. I remember as a young child asking my dad to teach me the Saulteaux language. He would not. He didn't want me being made fun of at school. I actually grew up in a Ukrainian community.鈥�

She found administrative work in Yorkton with Indian Child and Family Services, an organization she related to because 鈥渕y grandmother was a foster parent during my entire childhood that I can remember. She was always helping and supporting families.

鈥淢y grandma's big heart maybe kind of trickled down to my own.鈥�

A short-lived reconciliation with her husband took her to Winnipeg, where she pursued further education as a family support worker. Red River College offers courses with a strong Indigenous component, which Jenny enthusiastically embraced. She was tempted to quit several times, 鈥渂ut the cultural piece -- I owe it to that to have stayed with it.鈥�

After graduating 鈥� and being elected by her classmates as the valedictorian 鈥� Jenny worked in Winnipeg. Again a single mom, she spent some time back home in Pine River, and then decided to come back to Yorkton, a place she knew, and a place she felt her daughters could get a good education.

She worked several jobs in the retail business, until she spotted a job opening as a youth care worker in the SIGN Adolescent Group Home. She started as a casual employee, but soon became permanent. Following that, she was offered the job she has now, Community Outreach Education Worker for Kids First, the same program that helped her in Meadow Lake.

Jenny鈥檚 job as an outreach education worker is new, but Kids First has been operating in Yorkton since 2002, now providing support for prenatal moms, to moms and children up to age 3.

While she found pride in her culture later in life, in her work she reaches out to both non-Indigenous and indigenous people. She feels that everyone can benefit from an understanding of Indigenous culture, and from addressing common stigmas.

鈥淚'm educating but I'm also learning. We're all learning together about our kids, and our culture. I鈥檓 not higher than anyone, I鈥檓 not lower than anyone. I want to teach if you want to learn.鈥�

For more information about Kids First, call 306-783-0383. For information about the Family Resource Centre, call 306-782-8171. For information about all SIGN programs, visit www.signyorkton.ca.

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