Healing hands On the front lines of despair, volunteers and agency workers provide everything

It takes a special kind of person to work on the front lines for a social agency.

They are the foot soldiers in the trenches, fighting an ageless but ever-evolving war against poverty, addiction, mental health issues and social disintegration.

Day after day, front line workers reach out and touch people who are sick, hurt or haven’t showered in ages. They wipe up vomit, and worse. They hold the broken, calm the enraged, encourage the addicted. They work with people few in society seems to care about.

It can be difficult, frustrating work, but more often it’s a deeply satisfying, even joyous, vocation.

Ronni Abraham, director of services for Boys&Girls Clubs of Calgary [Alberta, Canada], says her organization is careful to look for “core qualities” rather than specific backgrounds when it recruits front-line workers for its many child and youth programs.

The qualities that make for a good front-line worker? According to Abraham, it’s about having a good head on one’s shoulders, being non-judgmental, accepting, compassionate and energetic and able to think on one’s feet, multi-task and problem-solve under fire.

Essentially, she says, “we’re looking for superheroes.” Read Article

By Valerie Berenyi