LINKS graduates looking to the future

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This article was published 28/04/2023 (1291 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kessa-Rose Oberlin was in good spirits after she received her diploma from LINKS Institute on Thursday in a cosy ceremony alongside seven other graduates.

Now that she’s certified to work in the realm of mental health and harm reduction services, Oberlin told the Sun she’s already weighing a couple of job offers in the field, which was previously just a personal interest before she decided to enrol in the Brandon-based vocational school last year.

“I’ve been wanting to do something in social services and therapy for years,” she said. “And then I saw this program that’s short, simple and I can go in and help people right away rather than four years later.”

Since it began operating in the spring of 2021, LINKS Institute — which stands for Linking Integrated Networks of Knowledge Systems — has shepherded 30 graduates into the health and social services sector by offering programs that can be completed online in less than a year.

LINKS president John Jackson said the necessity for a more expedient certification process became obvious to him during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Westman communities were in desperate need of addictions, crisis intervention and family service workers.

While most post-secondary institutions provide a path to certification that takes around two to four years to complete, LINKS allows its students to pick up a diploma within six to nine months and get their foot in the door with organizations that are on the front lines of a provincewide mental health crisis.

“Because, let’s face it, the longer it takes us to do these things, the less chance we have to actually be out there, helping people with the skills and the knowledge that we have,” Jackson said at the graduation held at the Riverbank Discovery Centre.

“So I think you folks have been successful because this [program] makes sense for you and we’re going to continue to do what we do and grow with your help.”

The shortage of social services workers is especially prevalent in Indigenous communities, which is why Thursday’s grad ceremony was attended by members of Sioux Valley Dakota Nation.

In addition to conducting an opening prayer and smudging ceremony, Sioux Valley Coun. Anthony Tacan offered congratulations to graduates like his nephew Thomas Rosmus, who secured a job working at the community’s child and family services agency (Dakota Tiwahe Services Inc.) after completing his practicum with the group through LINKS.

“It’s going to be a hard battle, but I’m glad to see that more and more graduates are coming forward, more people are taking the course,” Tacan said.

“It’s going to be a struggle, but that’s what makes the struggle worth it, because you’re saving a person’s life. Saving a person from the edge of anything is still a success.”

Even though Thursday’s ceremony lacked the pomp and circumstances of other post-secondary grad events in the region, LINKS students said this more intimate environment was representative of why they signed up for the program in the first place.

For Oberlin, working in these small groups allowed her to build strong relationships and establish a good rapport with LINKS’ stable of online instructors, which set her up for greater success now that she’s graduated.

“I just was texting one of my professors yesterday about my job opportunities,” she said. “It’s not like any other school, where it’s very impersonal and you don’t really get to know your professors.”

Graduate Colin Partridge also praised the program’s welcoming and supportive online atmosphere, finding it preferable to his experience pursuing a social services worker degree at Assiniboine Community College.

“The students there were all really nice and kind, but they were all afraid of me for some reason. I’ve been told I look kind of intimidating, and I don’t mean to,” said Partridge, whose bulging arms are covered in tattoos.

“But when I came into LINKS, someone said ‘class was like therapy’ and I really felt accepted by all the other students and it was very nice.”

Looking ahead, Jackson said LINKS’ student intake is showing no signs of slowing down, since the program accepts a new group of pupils every six weeks.

Jackson said LINKS has even opened a new campus in Winnipeg and partnered with groups like Native Clan Organization to keep pace with growing demand.

Despite all these moving parts, LINKS’ mostly online curriculum will remain intact moving forward, since Jackson views this education model as the perfect way to lower barriers that have traditionally prevented adults from entering the field of social services.

“What I realized is that pandemic or no pandemic, online is the way to go for a number of reasons, since it gives students the flexibility they need, you can do it in a quality way and everyone wins,” he said.

The LINKS Institute’s head office is located at 1202 Princess Ave. in Brandon.

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