An amazing part of Ranch Ehrlo is that everyone is invested in the mission - to provide quality preventative and restorative services to, and advocacy for, vulnerable individuals and families through highly engaged and professional employees.

One way we ensure that everyone stays connected, from caregivers to IT support, is to have all employees take CARE training.

We are guided by the CARE model, which is a multi-level program aimed at improving services for participants in care. Based on six guiding principles (developmentally focused, family involved, relationship based, trauma informed, competence centred, and ecologically oriented) the CARE model is designed to significantly influence the way we work and interact with our participants.

The benefits of this training can easily be seen in our programs and schools but can also be seen in unexpected places.

Tracy Johnson, a payroll accountant at the Ranch, recently shared how she used relationship based principles in her daily interactions with a participant in a vocational program who stopped by her office daily to deliver inter-office mail.

“We would chat frequently and developed a friendship. I look forward to his visits whenever he is here and enjoyed getting to know him,” Tracy explained.

Their brief daily conversations were important to the participant, and he let everyone in his life know about it and about Tracy.

One day a casual staff accompanied the participant instead of his regular vocational worker.

“The staff came up to me and said, ‘I’m glad to finally meet you. I have heard so much about this Tracy!’,” he said.

Tracy added, "There are quite a few of us in the office who have very similar experiences too and we enjoy learning more about the people we serve even though we don’t work directly with them."

Every interaction we have with youth, adults, and families work towards helping participants and understanding the reasons that brought them to Ranch Ehrlo.