This is Michael Singer. This is his WHY!
Creative Options Regina has over 220 employees, all with different stories. This blog series will highlight some of the amazing people that work at COR and what fuels their passion and purpose.
This is Michael Singer. Michael is a Support and has worked at COR for a year and a half. This is his WHY!
What brought you to COR?
After roughly ten years working in various trades jobs, I was ready for a change. While I was lucky to meet a lot of amazing and hardworking people in that time, I never felt like my personality really fit in to that environment. At the time I was thinking about pursuing a career in nursing. A family member told me that I should look into COR, as it might be good experience for me if I did end up working in the health care field. I spent some time on the COR website, watching some of the videos and reading what they were all about. Their values matched up so well with my own, and I knew right then that COR was where I needed to be. You are always happy when you get the call finding out you got the job, but I have never been as excited as I was the day I got that call from COR.
Why do you stay?
I love working at COR because I finally feel like I’m living with a sense of purpose, doing what I do. I know that the level of effort I put into my work makes a direct impact on the quality of life for the amazing people that I care so much about. Bringing value to their lives makes me feel good about what I do.
What’s the best thing about your job?
The best thing about my job is how amazing and close this community of people are. Over time I have formed so many great friendships with people who both live, and work at COR. I can go to any COR event and there is always people there that I am excited to see. The people I support are not just, ”clients” or, ”participants.” They have honestly become part of my family and are involved in my life outside of work. I have had people that I support come cheer for me at my recreational hockey games, make birthday cards for my fiancé, send happy birthday videos to my brother, come to my house for bon fires, and I’ve taken them to my dad’s farm to visit with him and walk his dogs. One guy even joined my family for Christmas last year! I think it’s really special that the people I support have become such a big part of my life outside of work.
What’s been the most impactful or meaningful experience you’ve had?
I haven’t had one specific moment that I consider the most impactful, but I think the thing that has stood out to me has been the level of respect that exists between myself and the people that I have supported. I work so hard to bring value to their life as much as possible, but they are also very quick to return the favour when an opportunity presents itself. Recently I wasn’t feeling well while I was supporting and had a bad headache. One of the guys offered to make me a tea, and the other guy said, “Let’s just watch a movie together so you can relax.” The whole time we watched the movie he asked me multiple times how I was feeling and said he felt bad I wasn’t feeling well. Another time I was supporting and my fiancé called me, which was unusual when she knew that I was at work. I excused myself and took the call. I found out that she had been in a car accident, she was physically ok, but quite upset. When I returned after the call, the girl I was supporting could see that I was quite concerned and asked what was wrong. She hadn’t been having a great day herself, but after I told her what happened she got up and gave me a hug and asked if I was ok. For the rest of the day she kept asking how I was doing and saying she was really worried about my fiancé and hoped that she was ok. I’ve always considered my job to be the caregiver, but when I was the one in need they took care of me.
What do you wish others knew about supporting at COR?
There’s a place for everyone, which is the beautiful thing about COR. I have met so many amazing people from different backgrounds, with a wide variety of interests and skills. Everyone brings something different to the table which gives you endless possibilities for creativity and growth. I feel completely comfortable just being myself, because whatever you are into is encouraged and celebrated.
