BELLEVILLE – Jerrica Gallinger, 19, of Belleville, is in the Social Service Worker program at Loyalist College and has begun helping the less fortunate in the community by means of her new placement at the Salvation Army.
Gallinger explains that the program has taught her what to expect and what to do when caring for a variety of individuals. She explained that she's always had a passion for helping others.
She began her placement at the Salvation Army two weeks ago.
Brenda Post, Volunteer Coordinator for the Salvation Army and Gallingers supervisor, explained how Gallinger has already showed her flexibility and outside the box thinking when dealing with unforeseen situations.
"I had a lad just have an anxiety attack, a little one, but hey, he needed somebody to walk with him... She’s an SSW student, she was just able to jump in," said Post.
Gallinger said she was pleased with the outcome, "I think I handled it well, he was calm after and he was able to continue his job."
She explained how her training helped her succeed in calming the man. "They teach you a lot about how to deal with people and how to help people help themselves... You get them to talk, you don’t want to antagonize them and stuff, and then you let them talk when they're ready."
Post says that she's seen a lot of students come through the Salvation Army doors and she believes that Gallinger is on her way to becoming a success within the Salvation Army ranks.
"This is all preliminary right now, but I would say she is a very active lady that wants to get ahead. And I would say from what I’ve seen of her work and from whats she’s done for me the one night, she’s a good worker, she’s flexible which is a big plus for us and for any company."
Gallinger says that Belleville does a lot for people in the community. "I think Belleville does a really good job, theres lot’s of volunteer work available for people and there's a lot of good agencies and not for profit agencies. There could be more people to help obviously, every bit helps. There’s never going to be enough."