ST. PAUL – The new director of the St. Paul Regional Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) is someone deeply embedded in the community – someone who is familiar with the challenges in the region.
FCSS is a non-profit society with the primary mandate of enhancing the lives of Albertans.
This mandate involves helping people adopt healthy lifestyles, helping improve individuals’ quality of life, and helping “build capacity to . . . deal with crisis situations should they arise,” according to information from the Government of Alberta.
Other FCSS programs include providing information and helping people access social supports in a community, skills development programs, and senior supports. They also help people with their taxes.
In St. Paul, Lynn Smid served as the FCSS’ director for many years. She stepped down last year to move closer to family. Stepping in to fill her shoes is Brenda Billo, who had worked alongside Smid since 2018.
“I think she’ll be successful in this new role,” said Smid. She said Billo has been in the community for so many years. “She has the understanding of what the community needs and what the community may need in the future.”
The most important thing about working in a social services profession, including being in a leadership position, is the ability to build relationships with others, according to Smid.
Genuine relationships allow a person to ascertain the true needs of another, even if the other person may not be aware of what they truly need, explains Smid.
“It's only through relationship and building those connections that you further that understanding."
Lucked out
Billo, asked how she felt being the new director, says she’s grateful to be in a position to help others.
She admits there is a learning curve compared to her previous role as a programmer.
“There’s a lot more administrative decisions to be made,” explains Billo, but she’s trying to “take it all in” and learn as she goes.
She’s also confident in her new role, stating, “I lucked out.”
Recalling her journey, Billo said she started working as a receptionist at the FCSS office, then stepped into the role of programmer. At the time, there was an FCSS office operated through the Town of St. Paul, and another with the County of St. Paul.
“It was just me and Lynn [Smid],” back then as the Town of St. Paul FCSS’ official staff, she recalls. Together, they ran over 50 FCSS programs. It was tough, she acknowledged.
FCSS worked closely with staff from the Lakeland Family Resource Network (LFRN), with both organizations even sharing the same office in St. Paul.
“So, we were a very efficient, tight-run ship . . . we [had] to be, because there were only the two of us,” adds Billo, but FCSS grew and was able to hire a new receptionist, enabling Smid and Billo to be out in the community.
The FCSS offices also regionalized in 2023 under Smid’s leadership, now taking in the Town of St. Paul, County of St. Paul and Town of Elk Point regions.
Billo says she lucked out because throughout the years she worked with Smid, she was given the opportunity to learn and grow.
Bubble world
“My mentor, [Lynn Smid], she was transparent. She was open to conversations and open to me asking questions,” she says. “I was definitely in a bubble world . . . my own little world. I didn’t know that people struggled so much.”
Billo says while she has her own struggles, she grew up comfortable.
“I come from a healthy, family background,” she says. “We didn’t have a ton of finance but we’re a modest family. We never wanted for nothing.”
She knew a world where there was always food on the table. She moved through life doing “all the regular steps without too much trouble.”
But eventually, she realized others were not always as fortunate. It was a realization that pushed her to continue working in the social services profession.
Struggles
People seek services through FCSS for a variety of reasons, she says, pointing to the free tax service that is offered as a practical example.
Some people who use the free service have disabilities or can’t work, and some have fixed incomes.
If they don’t complete their taxes on time, their subsidies may get cut off, she explains, which can mean the difference of being able to pay rent or not.
Billo also acknowledges that FCSS may not always be able to provide the help individuals require.
“Everybody is on a different journey and needs help at different points in their lives and different types of help,” she says.
“Some things we can help and some things, we can’t. So, it can be really hard on your heart when you can’t help,” says Billo, adding this doesn’t mean the FCSS will leave someone out to hang dry.
Asking for help
Billo encourages people to “ask for help when [you] need it, because we can’t do this alone.”
She adds, “We have to live life the best that we can with people that bring us joy.”
She also acknowledges that life is also not always fair, and it can be confusing. This means that sometimes, unfortunate circumstances may also lead individuals to believe the world is devoid of good - a reality that pains her.
“But, if somebody helps, maybe that reminds them that there’s still good in the world,” she says, with a hopeful smile on her face.
