Meet Sister Pat McKeon, CSJ London
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Dear Pat,
I don't like to go to school. It boring.
My thought kept on herting when ever I breathe
in and out.
Love,
Candace
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This note, decorated by butterflies and a heart, was left
on a whiteboard in the play therapy room for me to read after
the eight year old writer left our counselling office. I had
seen her in counselling several times before she was able
to communicate such a message, and then only in written form.
This young Inuk did not speak to me or look at me during the
first few counselling sessions. On one occasion she silently
barricaded herself in the play therapy room and then trashed
it. On another, she destroyed small gifts which someone had
left for me to give to her. Progress for her was slow but
deeply satisfying.
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Sister Pat McKeon
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In the mid 1980's, our Community was in the midst of change.
We were conflicted by the needs of traditional ministries
and the pull to search out new opportunities for serving the
dear neighbour. Conversations evolved into action and I left
the challenges of hospital ministry to search out a role among
aboriginal people in the north of Canada. I moved to a tiny
village on the MacKenzie River to able to be present and learn
from the Dene rather than to occupy a position which would
give me status which would separate me from my neighbours.
The Dene in Wrigley, Deline, and Fort Good Hope taught me
that money and position are irrelevant. It is who one is as
a human being which matters to them. I served in these northern
communities as a pastoral agent, nurse, and addictions worker
before the emotional pain burdening so many of my neighbours
and the lack of resources for them led me to return to school
for two years in order to become a professional counsellor.
Since then I have worked in a small community just south of
the Arctic Circle for six years as the community mental health
worker and four years in Yellowknife as a family counsellor.
Many of the clients I see have no religious affiliation and
some are hostile towards God, churches, and formal religion.
I work in a publically funded agency where I am known to clients
as Pat, not Sister Pat. My employment here enables me to reach
for the best in people -- the spiritual core they may have
lost touch with and which is the place where healing occurs.
A large proportion of the children, youth, adults, individuals,
couples, and families with whom I work have been deeply traumatized
and their needs constantly force me to grow spiritually and
professionally. My Community has been totally supportive in
helping me to engage in continuing education opportunities
so that I have the knowledge and skills I need for my work.
I am not always successful in preventing the breakdown of
a marriage or helping a client who learned long ago to dull
pain through drugs or alcohol and yet the joy of seeing someone
emerge from despair and being part of his or her journey outweighs
any cost to me. The butterflies drawn by my eight year old
client are indeed symbolic.
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