This is the third in a series of stories about a day in the life of staff at Ranch Ehrlo.
Life is very busy but rewarding for Sarah Ovens, program manager at Frank May House at the Corman Park campus just outside of Saskatoon.
“I love my job. I’m excited to come to work every day,” she said.
When she arrives at the house in the morning, she talks with the night staff and reads the daily reports.
She checks her voicemail and emails and plans for the day’s many meetings. She regularly meets with case managers from the referring agencies to discuss individual participants.
Team meetings are also a big part of her job. She meets with the house staff which consists of youth care workers, youth care leaders, and the houseparent. Another member of the house’s team she meets with regularly is the caseworker. The caseworker is a registered therapist that is responsible for the clinical treatment of the participants.
Sarah oversees a 10-bed group home of young people, so a large majority of her job revolves around ensuring the youth have everything they need to be successful in treatment. She ensures their daily calendars have all their appointments and activities scheduled and she sets aside time each day to spend with them between school and their various activities.
Sarah thinks there is an advantage to working at the Corman Park campus. “It’s a small campus, so we all know each other. I am secure in the knowledge that all our staff is top-notch,” she said.
She said she really likes working at Corman Park because she thinks it’s a great place to work. She explained there are a lot of really fun and positive people.
“It’s beautiful here. I look out my window and I can see fields for days. I like that because I’m a prairie girl at heart,” she smiled.
“You can plan a pretty picnic, but you can’t predict the weather,” Sarah added with a laugh.
Working in direct care means that every day is different. She said that she would tell a new program manager to not get too attached to their schedule because things can change very quickly. That’s the exciting nature of direct care work.
Sarah said, “I think a really important part of it is regardless of what position you’re in you can be a leader, and that comes from having a positive attitude and working at being consistent and reliable. Great things can happen if you do those things.”
She went from a part-time youth care worker to a program manager just by contributing to her program and being a leader.
To learn how you can build a career at the Ranch like Sarah, see our careers page.
