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| Karen Hall. |
The right connection can make all the difference. Karen Hall is a case in point. Ms. Hall, originally from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, is graduating with her degree in health promotions.
“I’ve connected with my professors and established strong bonds,” she says. “I learned I am extremely capable doing whatever I want, I found my confidence and now things are falling into place perfectly.”
One of these ‘professor connections’ was with Susan Tirone, Ms. Hall’s cultural research supervisor. Dr. Tirone was incredibly supportive, understood the importance of work-life balance and trusted her students. That support was very important to Hall who was juggling school commitments while raising her newborn.
Another ‘professor connection’ was with Charlotte Loppie, a former professor with the department now at the University of Victoria, who made a lasting impression on Ms. Hall. Dr. Loppie told her early in her first year that she’d go on to do her doctorate degree and Ms. Hall reflects,“ I didn’t know if I’d even complete the year.” However, “she trusted me and connected me to the aboriginal community. She treated me like I was her daughter.”
Ms. Hall came to Dalhousie in part because her father and stepmother relocated to the area.
“Dal connected me back to my culture, my history and showed me where I came from. I always pushed culture away but being here changed me,” she says. During her degree, Ms. Hall did an internship with Healing Our Nations, an organization that provides resources and support to First Nations communities dealing with HIV, AIDS, sexually transmitted infections and substance abuse and provides cross cultural training. As part of her internship, she had the opportunity to travel across the Atlantic provinces and investigate her research area – aboriginal health focusing on providing traditional healing services that connect the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.
This spring, Ms. Hall is moving to Victoria with her fiance and their three-year-old son. She’ll begin her master’s degree at the University of Victoria and has her sights on that PhD program. She will continue to study policy and practice in health and social services and, in an interesting turn of fate, her supervisor will be Dr. Loppie.