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I really love building relationships with my clients.

Local 443

Justin van Oeveren is a Case Manager for Animikii Ozoson Child and Family Services and has been employed there for about four years.

As a Case Manager, Justin’s job is to ensure the safety of the children in Animikii’s care. This means regular visits to the homes of families that have open service (case) files and also visiting children that are being cared for in foster homes. Workers like Justin help some of the most vulnerable Manitobans that often don’t have a public voice – children.

Justin finds the most rewarding part of his job to be when he stops working and just lets himself “be” with his clients, be they children or adults. He finds that most people just want to be heard and empathized with.

One of the most difficult parts of being a Case Manager that Justin has to deal with is the stigma that some people attach to Child and Family Services. He feels the best way that he can deal with that is just to care about the people he works with and demonstrating that in a genuine, healthy way.

Justin has recently been elected as President of Local 443. He got involved because he wanted to improve the quality of communication that the staff have with the employer and he felt that he has a good grasp of what employees at Animikii want and need. With Justin representing their interests, his colleagues are likely to be pretty happy with communications going forward.