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At WJS, the business is all about the people
Patrick Keller
Lakeside Leader
William J. Stelmaschuk and Associates, or WJS as is it more commonly known, just celebrated 25 years of service in Canada. WJS designs and delivers social service programs under contract to governments across Canada. In Slave Lake, the birthday coincided with a move to new digs on 2nd Ave N.E.
The new offices are located in a home which was previously a hair salon. As such, it has a cozy feeling that lends itself well to the nature of the work which can best be summed up as helping adults with developmental disabilities.
Tara Maitland and Chelsea Dahlgren are both employment councilors at WJS, where they help to gain and maintain employment for about seven clients.
“From little things like helping put together resumes, to talking with employers, problem solving and opening the channels of communication,” said Dahlgren. “Basically, we provide training. Sometimes, for a few months or even a year, we will shadow them and do what they do, to help them better understand the job. A lot of our input will depend on how high functioning the person is.”
What they are doing appears to be working, too. Currently, all seven clients at WJS are employed, and each of them has more than one job. But, it’s not always easy to bridge the divide in the workplace. Maitland says that sometimes employers may expect too much or too little, and finding a good balance can be tricky.
“Employers may not always understand the disability in full,” said Maitland, which can cause some headaches trying to get clients staffed.
Aside from employment issues, Maitland and Dahlgren also help with lifeskills.
“Scheduling doctors appointments, bill payments, grocery shopping. A lot of these things that might come easy to you or I may not be so easy for our people to visualize.”
The business of WJS, said both Maitland and Dahlgren, is about people first. Just getting through the stigma of dealing with adults with disabilities can be a job in itself, but the two Slave Lake workers are beyond that. Their goal is to put people first, and they leave the fussing to others. Both say their job is “very rewarding.”
In Slave Lake, you can reach the WJS offices at 780-849-5111. For more information on the WJS group, visit their website at www.wjsgroup.com.
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