By Julia Magsombol
Local Journalism Initiative
Carrier Sekani Family Services (CSFS) presents “Practice Differently,” a new recruitment campaign that focuses on representing the meaningful work that CSFS does. This is supported by a short story advertisement video that was released on Sept. 13.
“Our services are holistic, and they are meaningful. And so we wanted this video to portray that to potential applicants,” said Marlaena Mann, the executive director of Communications and Technology at CSFS.
CSFS is an organization that offers different services to First Nations people. These include health, child, family, legal and research services, which they have been offering for the past 30 years. Many of these services, which had been taking place naturally in the community, were negatively impacted by colonization.
The end goal is to empower Indigenous Peoples and First Nations to thrive.
Mann explained that the idea of producing a video came from CSFS leaders.
“We are growing, and we need more nurses, doctors, social workers, lawyers – all of the supporting professions. We need more people to help from our communities, as well as allies to help us to do the good work we do,” she said.
The video, entitled “Sarah’s Story,” is three minutes long. It follows a young Carrier girl from her birth until her growth into adulthood — but it also follows her grandmother, who was there for her from the beginning.
While the story evolves around them, various interactions with CSFS staff, their nurses, social workers, and legal services are helping the young girl and providing for her needs.
The video portrays the significance of CSFS to those who access their services. It also shows how the workers themselves are impacted successfully and meaningfully.
“The storyline touches on different points in a person’s life because our services go from cradle to grave throughout the lifecycle. We wanted to highlight different touch points as to where our services might impact someone throughout their life during their journey,” Mann noted.
The video took two years of planning, which included working with 6ix Sigma Productions. The story arc came from Mary Teegee, the executive director of CSFS Child and Family Services.
“We’re currently going through a project to re-assume the legal jurisdiction over Child and Family Services,” Mann said, adding how proud she feels about this meaningful project. “A lot of people worked hard to make it happen; the goal of our organization is to empower our 11 member nations. Through this campaign, we hope to attract the right talent to help us realize that goal.”
For more information about the campaign, visit https://www.csfs.org/practice-differently.