Life Redesign can be as rewarding for employees as it is for residents, says Life Redesign Coach Sandy Grewal, who works at CONNECT in Langley.

“I hope in the future there are more CONNECT location or places like CONNECT,” says employee Sandy. “It’s so encouraging for the residents to spend time here and redesign their lives, but it’s also incredibly fulfilling for the staff here to help with that process.”

Right after graduation, Sandy had several different jobs, including one involving her passion for working with makeup. She spent some time working with a psychiatric doctor and was able to interact with many patients – many of them suicidal.

“It was an amazing experience, but very emotional,” says Grewal. “I thought about becoming a psych nurse, but I couldn’t have stayed in that field because of its emotional toll. I loved the aspect of helping people. I wanted to learn more about dementia and Alzheimer’s too, because my mom’s mom has Alzheimer’s. I wanted to go back to school to learn more about how I could help people.”

She took her schooling as a health care assistant and completed her practicum for the course at CONNECT in Langley. She has now worked at CONNECT for just over a year.

“CONNECT is the first place where I saw how person-centred care works. I love that residents at CONNECT have freedom to wake up when they want, eat when they want and plan out their days themselves. They are not told how to live.”

She says everyone laughs and is social and she gets to witness residents making progress and striving for their goals.

“It’s very rewarding to see a person who can’t do much for themselves starting to get out of bed, make themselves breakfast, gain independence.

“A typical day at CONNECT is busy for me with resident appointments and schedules. When I have downtime I am slightly OCD and like to organize and clean. It’s definitely never boring around here.”

A recent highlight for Sandy was attending a brain injury conference in Victoria, where she learned about the various brain injury resources in the province and where CONNECT fits in.

In her spare time, Sandy loved to sleep in, spend time with her two best friends and her family, including her mother’s mother, who has Alzheimer’s  and, because she loves make-up, practices applying makeup on face charts.

“It’s really relaxing. It’s my creative outlet.”

As for the future, Sandy is considering pursuing social work and focusing on helping youth with alcohol and substance abuse struggles.

In the meantime, she is happy to spend her working hours making lives better after brain injury and stroke.