Coming full circle from student at CUPS to employment and a practicum supervisor, Kristin Larson credits the time spent in different service areas as what helped her focus in on her career and passion.

Now our team lead of community development & subsidy and supports, Kristin’s first practicum with CUPS was in 2014 as part of her child and youth care counselling diploma at Mount Royal University.

At that time, Kristin was paired with our now Child Development Centre (CDC), where she supported the kindergarten students and was ultimately hired as an educational assistant post work experience.

“It gave me a good sense of community,” she explained. “I met a lot of people and was able to encounter a great deal of the work CUPS does and get a feel of what other service areas did.”

Also given the chance to work with the Family Development Centre (FDC) team, Kristin led in-home discussions with parents and participated in and helped facilitate the Nurturing Parenting program.

As strong a passion as working with children was for Kristin, these moments drew her attention to a new service area, community development, and how it supports entire families, as well as single adults.

“The practicum allowed me to broaden my horizon,” she said.

Grateful to be hired at CUPS, her interactions with our work experience program did not end with employment. Kristin returned to school for a bachelor’s in social work at the University of Victoria.

“One of the biggest takeaways from all my work experiences here at CUPS, is that they’ve given me a good foot in the door,” she said. “From there I’ve been able to continue my learning and growth.”

In 2016, she was placed with our community development team, and similarly, in 2020, still in that same post secondary program, her third and final internship was with our mental health services team.

“Working here and still being able to be in different programs or learn from different supervisors, helps show all the great work that each service area brings to the table to make CUPS what it is,” Kristin said.

CUPS’ practicum program has come leaps and bounds thanks to the ongoing investment from our committed partner, the Royal Bank of Canada and their Future Launch corporate citizenship strategy.

Recent funding has enabled us to initiate practice job interviews for students to prepare them for this critical workplace skill. Kristin’s internships occurred prior to this addition, yet its importance was clear.

“Going into job interviews is terrifying,” she said. “You don’t know the questions they’re going to ask. You go prepared but they ask questions out of left field you’re not prepared for.”

“A practice interview can take a lot of that stress and anxiety away. It’s a good coaching tool.”

Now a CUPS practicum supervisor, Kristin said she, as well as other team leaders, has hired students and knows how it feels to move from career uncertainty to stability in employment.

“It’s just such an amazing feeling to be somewhere that you feel supported and you’re also able to get so much education and personal growth from it as well — it’s huge,” she said.