Lara is one of the newest additions to the GenNext Cabinet joining in October 2018! Although new to the cabinet, Lara has jumped in fully and is a very active Cabinet member.
Lara decided to join GenNext as someone who has experience working for one of the agencies funded by the United Way. Although Lara provides support and counselling services to members in the community on a daily basis, she wanted to increase her support and joined the GenNext Cabinet to bring her experience and insights to help create opportunities for people to give back directly to the community through direct volunteer experience or through donation contributions.
Currently Lara is a school social worker with the Children’s Centre Thunder Bay (CCTB). There she provides mental health counselling services to students within the school environment. Lara provides support which in turns helps students achieve their education goals while they are managing different challenges, struggles, and barriers.
Lara loves the variety that exists within her position with CCTB. She’s able to travel to different schools within the public school board; she’s able to use different therapeutic techniques that meet the goals of students; Lara gets to work with youth of all ages – as young as five years old up to fourteen years old; and she gets to spend her days working with children and youth which is her passion in life. Lara sees and experiences the resilience of the youth and children she works with, learning from them every day.
A fun fact about Lara is that she moved from Thunder Bay in August 2018 from her home town of Winnipeg. A bonus fun fact is that Lara always has candy on her! Either in her purse, car, pockets, or somewhere in near reach. One day Lara has dreams of opening her own candy shop!
We’re so pleased to have Lara join our team both as a volunteer and as a support to the community through our funded programs. She is a great example of how together, we are making our community united, vibrant and strong!
