Volunteer Week Feature: Sonya!

Meet one of our Child Advocate volunteers, Sonya!

Not only has Sonya been an incredible advocate and volunteer for the Zebra Centre, but she was also a National Philanthropy Day 2020 nominee. 

Sonya told us all about what her experience with the Zebra Centre has been like over the last two years and much more!

1. Tell us about your role and how you would describe a typical shift or day? 

Sonya: I’m a child advocate and that means that most days when I’m in the Centre, I will come in and do phone calls. This means that when I come in, I will grab files where families need to be called. Either it's a check-in, offering support, or doing a follow up from when they were at the Zebra Centre. Phone calls are one side of my role. The other side is first contacts. That is when a family first comes to Zebra, I'm an advocate that will host them while their child or youth goes in for their interview. I haven't been doing as many first contacts since COVID and I actually really prefer the phone calls. I love the phone calls so much. Before COVID, I was only doing first contacts and I love that too, because you get to play with the kids and talk to the parents. But when COVID came, I switched to phone calls and I realized I love that because you get to spend more time with the parents and they've had a chance to step back. They are in a different mind frame on the phone as now they've stepped back from the first visit and they're so willing and open to talk about things and so many different aspects of their life. You get to really know the family a lot more and the child or youth is not present, so it's also a different conversation. 

2. When did you start at the Centre?

Sonya: Two years in February. 

3. What drew you to the Zebra Centre?

Sonya: Before I came to Zebra, I had been a stay-at-home mom for 12 years. My youngest child was just going into grade one, so I was like, “Okay, now I'm going to figure out what my third career will be.” I was kind of exploring to go back to school for social work. I wasn't 100% sure and so I decided I would just do some volunteering first to kind of see where I wanted to land. I knew I wanted to work with children, because I love children and it’s familiar to me. Children, families and for some reason, I really wanted to work in child abuse. I literally didn't know much about anything because I had been a stay-at-home mom for 12 years. I hadn't been in the workforce. I literally did a Google search like, “child abuse Edmonton organizations” and the Zebra Centre came up. I did a lot of research because I wanted to make sure that this would be a good experience for me, that I would learn a lot, and that they had a good reputation. I did lots of research and I learned that they're very well known in the community, they're doing great work, they have a good reputation, and they offered 40 hours of training. They also offered a volunteer role that was pretty much frontline work, which offers you a really good experience. It all kind of came together. I was just so impressed with the work that Zebra is doing and how important everything that they're doing is in the community. I thought, “Well, this sounds perfect!” and I applied right away and got in.

4. Do you have any memorable moments or stories that have stuck with you throughout your time at Zebra? 

Sonya: I really can't pick out one. I feel every family that I interact with at Zebra is so unique and so different that they all kind of leave an impression on me in different ways. I just always have such huge gratitude that families are willing to trust me and let me be a part of their journey. I have so much gratitude for this and it's so memorable with every family. It's just so different. I have lots of memorable moments so I just couldn't pick out one to tell you. 

5. What would you say you've learned about yourself from being a volunteer?

Sonya: On a bigger scale I’ve learned, I love this area of work. This has solidified that for me. I did apply for a social work program and I'm following that, so I realized that I like this and I can actually come and make a difference in families’ lives. Something else I was thinking about that I've learned is, when I first started, I had this kind of mindset like “Okay, I'm going to come in, we're going to fix their problem, we're going to make them feel good.” I came in with a motherly instinct, “I just want to fix this for the child and make it better,” but I learned that's not really what Zebra’s there for and that's not what the families need. They need someone to be with their family and support and empower them through this process. To be present and listen to their story. That's more of what helping is about. It's not about fixing things; It's about being with that family and empowering them through this process, through the darkest times. That's what I learned about myself… I don't have to fix things. You can help in different ways.

6. Given the nature of the work, how do you make sure that you take care of yourself as well? 

Sonya: For me, it's a lot of self awareness for myself, because I can make a lot of self care goals, but life gets busy and then I just never follow through. I've relied on a lot of self awareness to know when you've been affected, or you're off balance and do a lot of check ins. I also have small goals, like I try to, for example, take a walk after being at the Centre a lot of times. While I'm walking, I'm debriefing, talking through things that have happened with myself and I know if things are still lingering in my mind, I know that I can reach out to people like Zebra’s Volunteer Coordinator.  It's important to talk and to realize when things are affecting you, so I think I rely a lot on self awareness. Of course, I mean, my dream is to exercise every day… that's my best self care that keeps me really balanced, but that doesn't always happen and life gets busy.  

Another thing is, I find when I come to Zebra is you have to get into this mindset, because if you step back and start thinking about all the hard things that these families are going through, you can get really mad at the world, you can get really upset. It really gets you down. So when I come to Zebra, I always reframe my thoughts like, “Okay, the family is now at Zebra, they're going to get help, we're going to change, hopefully, stop the abuse, we're going to change the trajectory for this child.” I always have to be very positive and think that way, and not dwell on what's happened. Just like “Now's your chance to make a difference, and we're going to help this child.” I think that really makes a huge difference.

7. What would you say is the most fulfilling part of your role?

Sonya: There’s so much in this question for me!I think sharing in every families’ journey. It feels like such an honour, because it's such a private and difficult time in a lot of these families’ journeys. I always feel so privileged to be a part of that and to be able to help them in whatever way I can. 

Also, the amount of learning I do at Zebra. I learn so much from every family and I learn a lot of practical stuff at Zebra as well, like the judicial system. Every time I come to Zebra, I'm learning and I think that's such an amazing thing. It's so important to me to learn from the families and just from the practical things of Zebra about what supports are out there and how I can help people. Every time I come, I'm surprised what I learn. It's fulfilling in so many ways, but I'd say those are the two big ones.

8. What advice would you give for others wanting to volunteer?

Sonya: Even before I started, I was amazed at how much responsibility this role really brings. I would tell future volunteers that this is a position that holds a lot of responsibility, and is so important and so impactful. I think every volunteer should be aware of that and be mindful of that it's a huge role. Also, know that Zebra itself is very supportive. By being a volunteer here, you definitely will be supported and appreciated in so many different ways. Although it holds a lot of responsibility, it's a tough job, but you are very well supported here. I would say, have your self care ready, know what you need and know that you can reach out. They call everyone that works here part of the herd and it's quite true that it's okay to reach out and everyone's there to support you. 

9. What makes a great volunteer?

Sonya: I think just somebody being very open and wanting to learn, because, like I said before, every family is so different and what you apply to one family doesn't apply to the other family. You just really have to be super open and ready to learn and ready to just be that support for every family.

10. Any parts of the role or the experience of being a volunteer that I missed that you would like to share?

Sonya: I just have so much gratitude actually for this role and this position because you don't find many volunteer positions that give you the trust to be a frontline worker. They place a lot of trust in us volunteers and that makes you feel really, really good that they trust you. You receive a lot of training and I'm just always amazed at this role in how great it is. In general, I think Zebra is just such an amazing place. I've had just a great experience.