Meet Our Team Leaders: Cassandra Therens

The DDRC’s Career and Leisure Services (CLS) program provides part-time and full-time support to adults with developmental disabilities in their home communities. Each CLS client belongs to a community team, determined the area of the city that they live in. Clients are paired up with a Community Resource Worker who assists them to reach their goals and live inclusively in a number of ways:

• teaching them how to find and apply for the jobs they want,
• supporting them during paid or unpaid work experiences and during paid employment when required,
• assisting them to find and access inclusive educational courses in the community,
• assisting with volunteer opportunities to contribute to their communities, or
• supporting clients to attend inclusive leisure activities in their communities to build relationships with community members and neighbours, maintaining or increasing a healthy, happy lifestyle.

Currently, there are 4 community teams stationed in different parts of the city: Northwest, Northeast, Central, and South. Behind each of these teams is a Team Leader: a DDRC employee who is responsible for overseeing client safety, ensuring that client goals are met, and managing the team of front-line staff who work one-on-one with our clients.

We thought it was time that you get to know the individuals behind the teams; here’s a short Q&A with Northeast Team Leader, Cassandra Therens.

How long have you been with the DDRC?
One year and eight months.

What made you want to work here?
Well, when I decided that I was going to look for new employment, I knew I didn’t want to work just anywhere. I did my research on the agencies here in Calgary, and the DDRC’s core values are similar to my own so it seemed like a great fit, and it has been!

What is the best part of being a Team Leader?
The best part is definitely being able to watch our clients succeed and reach their goals.

Can you share a recent client success story for the Northeast Team?
We’ve recently had 2 clients obtain volunteer placements at Funny Fest!

If you won the lottery tomorrow, what’s the first thing you would do?
Buy a house in the country.