Applied Human Sciences student Valérie Villeneuve says her courses at Concordia have made her more self-aware and a better listener.
‘A breath of fresh air’
Villeneuve gets to help seniors with a variety of daily chores. Her work tasks include light house cleaning, gardening, shoveling in the winter, putting out the recycling bin and washing windows. Additionally, Villeneuve organizes activities for the seniors at a day centre and numerous social events throughout the year.
She praises the program’s ability to create connections between young workers and their older clients. “The intergenerational component of this program is what makes the experience so rich,” she says.
Denise Vandenbemden is one of the clients Valérie works with. “The Aid for Seniors program is ideal for aging people who want to live independently as long as possible,” she says. “Valerie is a breath of fresh air, bubbly, spontaneous, always in a good mood, and a hard worker. I am very grateful to her.”
At this point, Villeneuve says it doesn’t even feel like a job anymore. “My clients are literally an extension of my own family and I treat them as such. As I clean, we talk about life, success, failures, worries, and we share stories. I constantly learn something new from them, and they learn from me too!”
Villeneuve is quick to credit her experience in AHSC’s Human Relations program for her success in the job. “My studies in Applied Human Sciences have helped me become a better listener and definitely raised my level of self-awareness,” she says.
“After having taken key classes such as interpersonal communication, lifespan and development, diversity, working in task groups, leadership in small groups, older adulthood, human systems intervention and community development, I feel even more confident in the work that I do.”
