Daniel Harris: Celebrating Ten Years Of Service At LiveWorkPlay!
The secret to quality human services is no secret at all – you need quality humans to deliver them! For LiveWorkPlay this means finding, training, and supporting a great staff, both as individuals, and as a team. Starting in January 2018, we will be featuring each staff member and their work anniversary with a brief profile, plus a question and answer.
To get us started, Daniel Harris is celebrating a big milestone on January 15, 2018: ten years!
In fact, Daniel’s history with the organization dates back even further, having spent time as a volunteer and as a summer staff.
Daniel is a part of our Community Connector and Life Coach team. Although he supports members throughout the community and in a variety of ways, he is known for helping people in their own homes with everything from budgeting to meal planning to organizing a house party!
We asked him three questions to learn a bit more about his experiences.
Daniel, what is a favourite memory from the past year?
One of my favourite memories of this year was seeing a member I have known for many years get a job and excel in his work. While it’s not unusual to see our members getting jobs, in this case he’d received the message in school and other places that he was “unemployable.” I saw the appreciation of his co-workers and also that he was a valued asset to the company, and it was a joyful moment.
How about a memory from previous years?
A lot of my favourite memories revolve around the Make A Buzz Ottawa annual recognition banquet. It is easy to get lost in the struggles of day to day life, but the banquet really gives you a chance to reflect on the amazing work LiveWorkPlay does with our entire community.
You see how many people got jobs, made friends, and started the hobbies or sports they have always wanted to do. My favourite experience of all was our 20th anniversary event in 2015, where I dressed up as the town crier, and injected a bit of levity by improvising several lines that went with the moment.
What are you looking forward to at LiveWorkPlay?
I’m always looking forward to seeing how we will all change together. What I love most about LiveWorkPlay is that we never stop looking for new ways to get our members out of systemic lifestyles, and more included in the community and making important contributions.
I look back at important changes that I’ve been a part of, like the shift from having programs to offering individualized support, and it certainly wasn’t easy at the time, but I feel we have always moved in the right direction and that we’ll continue getting better.
Last but not least, what do Daniel’s colleagues have to say about him?
Daniel is great because of his thoughtfulness and genuine caring for others.
People he supports talk about how “patient” he is, which is true, but really it goes beyond patience. It’s about being there with people, in the moment, and being focused on what is important to them.
If you think you have some answers to the “What year?” questions in our captions, join us on our Facebook page where you will see a share of this post – we welcome your comments!