Recently I watched a TED talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian author. In it, she spoke of the danger of telling a single story about a person, place, or people. (You can watch it all here if you’re interested.) What Chimamanda talked about is how, if we allow ourselves to only learn one thing about someone or something, that becomes our singular narrative about that person, place, or…
What happens when you don’t feel safe to express who you truly are? Many of us are fortunate and will never know. But Casey*, one of Ranch Ehrlo’s longstanding clients in our Programs for Persons with Developmental Disabilities, has recently helped us to understand just a little bit of what goes on when you finally feel safe enough to be who you are. Having an ecologically orientated…
Ranch Ehrlo administrative float Maureen Jory feels a deep connection to Ranch Ehrlo Society’s new mandate, and she sat down with us to talk about it. For the past year, we have been training staff across our agency in CARE – Children And Residential Experience, created by Cornell University. One of the goals of CARE is to bring all employees of our vast agency together, to ensure that no…
Mitchell House unit manager Josh Miller is a familiar face around our Regina and Corman Park campuses, but soon he’ll be getting recognized even more. Josh: Source MasterChef Canada/CTV Josh will be appearing on the upcoming season of MasterChef Canada, a reality television show that pits amateur and home chefs against one another to earn a grand prize of $100,000 and the title of…
Our employees are the heartbeat of our agency. In an organization as large as ours, our employees are as diverse as the positions they occupy. We recently reached out to some of our direct care workers – those who work directly with our clients – to learn more about them. We wanted to get a sense of what their day-to-day work lives are like, but also ask a few more personal questions to get…
Even when our youth are no longer living at Ranch Ehrlo, they know they always have a place to return to. No story illustrates the bond between youth and staff better than that of Becki*, who spent five and a half years at Ranch Ehrlo Society in Prince Albert; beginning at Alex Guy House and transitioning to Matheson House where she lived until last month. “Becki is still very much a part…
We are a year into training staff across the agency in CARE- Children And Residential Experience, developed by Cornell University. One of the goals of CARE is to develop congruency across our vast agency, so that everyone from direct care workers, to accountants, to senior leadership, is applying the same principles to their work in our organization and working together for a common goal of…
Our 4th annual powwow will take place August 27th on the Pilot Butte campus. It is a place to join in celebration through dancing, singing, visiting, renewing old friendships, and making new ones while honour the culture of our Indigenous clientele, staff, and community partners. Once again, our powwow will be competitive style – cash prizes will be given out to the top dancers in each age…
For the past seven years, Ranch Ehrlo has been part of the International Volunteer Exchange Program, administered by the Mennonite Central Committee. They connect us with volunteers from around the world, who stay with host families and work at Ranch Ehrlo as educational assistants for a year. They receive all the same training as a regular employee of Ranch Ehrlo would receive. Our latest blog…
Not many people can predict the future - even if you are the CEO. This week’s blog, guest written by Ranch Ehrlo CEO herself, Andrea Brittin, looks at what she envisions for the agency over the next five years. Looking into the future, I don’t see our organization changing a lot in terms of the types of services that we offer. There will always be a need for residential treatment for some…
From January 31 to February 4th five residents and two staff from Ranch Ehrlo’s Programs for People with Developmental Disabilities (PDD) visited the Yukon to participate in an invitational Special Olympic soccer tournament, where they took home both the gold medal and memories of a lifetime. Unit manager Shaun Silzer and personal support leader Cam Huberdeau travelled with the residents for…
Two, four, six, eight – this designation means we’re really great (to work for)! For the eighth consecutive year, Ranch Ehrlo has been named one of Saskatchewan’s Top Employers! This special designation recognizes the Saskatchewan employers that lead their industries in offering exceptional places to work. We are proud to have received this honour and will continue to strive to offer our…
If you are like me, over the years you have received many pieces of advice. Some good, some bad, most of it was in one ear and out the other. Our direct support workers have many hats –teammates, referees, cheerleaders, chauffeurs, sounding boards, or anything in between. Whatever our clients need, our staff is up to the task of providing it. I thought I would share with them a few pieces…
The best place for a family to heal is at home. With that in mind, Ranch Ehrlo’s Family Treatment Program (FTP) has expanded outside the city of Regina. The unique, innovative, and nationally recognized program was created in 2006 to address the need for intensive in-home service provision to families in need of clinical treatment. The program expanded several times over the years to allow…
Close to 80 percent of people hired as direct care workers come to the agency through one manager. So I sat down to talk with him about what it takes to work here and what someone might expect when they pick a career at Ranch Ehrlo. *side note* In 2016 Ranch Ehrlo changed its staffing model to reduce the over reliance on casual staff who fill in for staff vacation. They moved to using permanent…
