This year, The Winnipeg Boldness Project was able to take on several practicum students thanks to a new student supervisor position that was developed through a partnership with the University of Manitoba. The students have been a huge help with research activities and have learned many new skills along the way.

One of our students, Sarah Cummings, has written a blog post to share a bit about her self, what she has learned here at Boldness, and why it’s important to her:
My name is Sarah Cummings, I am a University of Manitoba Social Work student, in my second year of the concentrated program. I am doing my practicum at The Winnipeg Boldness Project, where I work a lot on researching and reporting for the Boldness team.
My interest in The Winnipeg Boldness Project stemmed from my previous research knowledge. I wanted a practicum that would be able to further strengthen these skills, and this placement was one of the only organizations that was presented as a research placement. As I learned more about The Project, I become interested in the work they were doing and the values they operated from. They operate from a child-centered model, which places the child at the center of the system, surrounded by other systems that impact the child, such as the parents and caregivers, extended family, communities, elders, infrastructures, and the environment. The child-centered model and community-driven approach resonated with me and my values and presented an opportunity to gain knowledge from a community-focused research lens. Learning about a community, from the community, outside of an institutional setting, allows better access to develop insight into the deep wisdoms and strengths present within. It allows me to take a step back and view the community outside systems that can often view the community only in terms of the policies the organizations operate under.
During my time here I’ve developed skills including research skills and interpersonal skills, making sure I am working for the community, and helping co-create initiatives and projects for the community. Research skills include things such as report writing, learning interviewing skills, and learning how to develop research questions. Although these skills are not directly used in the typical social work career, they are extremely transferable. For instance, report writing often needs to be short and without judgement, which looks similar to much of the case writing social workers would do. Additionally, interviewing skills in a research setting will transfer to activities such as case meetings, where social workers need to interview their client, and even their general ability to hold a conversation and come across as involved in the other.
Due to The Winnipeg Boldness Project’s research-focused nature, social work theories are integrated into the everyday work that I do. The child-centered model operates on a similar level to ecological theory, which places the individual at the center, surrounded by the systems that effect it. Ecological theory has been a leading theory in social work for many years and looks at the individual’s circumstances as a result of the environment and systems surrounding it. Theories often blame the individual for deficits and do not take into account larger environmental and historical factors. In essence, they blame the individual for their circumstances. Ecological theory moves away from victim-blaming, and shows the effect larger barriers have on the individual.

The child-centered model that The Winnipeg Boldness Project operates from replicates this belief and looks at the individuals in the North End, as well as the problems present in the community, and instead of blaming the individual or their parents, it looks at their circumstances, the histories of Indigenous peoples in Canada, the continuation of colonization, the everyday racism and discrimination they face, etc., and attempts to remove the barriers by asking the community what they need and want.
This practicum is a unique practicum that provides me with a lot of training that is highly transferable to my future social work career and allows me the insight that other placements would likely not offer.