Blog Post: “Being an emerging changemaker is an ever-changing path of self-discovery”: Catamount Fellow reflects on her time with the fellowship.

April 19, 2023

By Cordelia Snowdon-Lawley

 

Salomé Faria Blanco, a MRU Psychology student and 2022-2023 Catamount Fellow, reflects on her experiences in the fellowship. 

 

 

I wanted to do everything, fix everything, help everyone… but I am only one person, with one way of being, or knowing, and of seeing. It is impossible for me to do this, and this realization is a lot harder to fully accept than you think.

 

Over the past 8 months, Catamount Fellow Salomé Faria Blanco has been working with community partner Jocelyn Adamo and Ty Conlin from Trellis and faculty mentor Ines Sametband on a complex social issue affecting Calgary. Using a systems approach, her team has been exploring the issue of how we can apply harm reduction approaches to family housing systems to reduce children’s services interventions and apprehensions.

The Catamount Fellowship is a cohort-based learning experience which connects students directly with a community partner working to address a complex social and/or environmental issue affecting Calgarians and those living in and across Treaty 7. Salo first heard about Catamount from a previous fellow, who shared that she could gain valuable research experience with a cohort of like minded and amazing individuals. When she learned that the change she would be enacting would be in conjunction with the community, she immediately wanted to be part of such an amazing journey.

 

The fellowship recently wrapped up with a closing celebration on April 6th. Salo and the other 10 student fellows participating in Catamount are in the final stages of completing their deliverables which will be shared publicly April 24th. As Salo was wrapping up, she took some time to reflect on her journey in the fellowship:

 

What does it mean to you to be an emerging changemaker?

 

Honestly, being an emerging changemaker is an ever-changing path of self-discovery and a constant decision to seek further. When I began this fellowship, I didn’t truly feel like a changemaker, I felt like someone who was on the path to creating change…eventually. I realize now that all it takes to be a changemaker is to make a decision towards it, to take action. I feel like an emerging changemaker now, the Catamount has taken me on a path of humility, recognition, and in depth learning that I had not experienced before. Through this, through learning of my own flaws, biases, limitations, and contributions towards systemic problems, I have been able to begin taking action and fill the role of an emerging changemaker. I can’t wait to continue learning and acting within this role.

 

What is one thing you wished people knew about your research topic?

There are many things about my research topic that I wish people would think about, but I’ll start with what I think is the base of a lot of problems: Our ways of thinking of families, through colonialist structures, are negatively affecting an unbelievable amount of people. Within the system of family housing instability, I have seen that a large part of the problem is that set structures created to help these families are based within colonialist ways of thinking. Because of this, there is a set image of what a family “should” look like, and what a mother or father “should” be. This is extremely problematic and harmful. There are certain things that have to be prioritized, such as safety of the individuals within the family, but ideas such as “kids have to have certain kinds of healthy foods from parents” or “families are the mom, dad, and children” inherently exclude and stigmatize not only families experiencing homelessness, but also every family which doesn’t fit this narrative in general.

Parenting and family systems are difficult enough as is, I think it is time we begin to analyze and break down these barriers to allow for these families to have better opportunities and quality of life. 

How did you navigate unpacking such a colossal system?

I personally began with the mindset of “I know nothing.” I wanted to start looking at the system with a clear mind, recognizing that I would be coming in with my own biases and ways of thinking no matter what I do. By researching this system with the “I know nothing” mindset, it was a lot easier to be curious about what I was reading and consuming. 

 

Apart from this, communication with my community partner and faculty mentor, who are in contact and deal with family housing instability frequently within their careers, was very helpful. It is important to not only look through what “academics” say, but see what people within the system are saying and identify trends there. This is important as many people forget that a lot of the time, research is created from the trends and ideas we see in society that aren’t currently documented, and therefore by looking at society you are looking at the birthplace, raising, and continuation of systems.

 

[image description: Salo and her peers learning about the Adaptive Cycle]

 

What has been the most challenging aspect of the fellowship?

As of now, I would have to say the most challenging aspect of the fellowship has been to choose a focus. When you begin exploring these systems, it is overwhelming how large and interconnected they are, and it’s hard to focus on one area to make change. I wanted to do everything, fix everything, help everyone… but I am only one person, with one way of being, or knowing, and of seeing. It is impossible for me to do this, and this realization is a lot harder to fully accept than you think. It may be logical, but when you see these wicked problems out in the world, interacting and connecting and growing, it’s hard to not want to change it all. This was a large point of growth for me, to realize that it is just as impactful to choose an area to focus on and apply your effort and skill within there. 

 

What has been the most important factor that has helped you navigate our learning environment?

 

The most important factor has been my amazing cohort, a group of people which I can say have become friends in my life. These people are going through the same experiences I am, feeling the things I am, and it is so refreshing to be able to go up to them when I am overwhelmed or stressed and having that support and understanding without really needing to explain. They are all unbelievably smart, capable, and genuinely beautiful individuals with minds and personalities that will carry them to amazing places in life. I am so glad that Catamount brought such an amazing group of people together, and their support and care has been essential to me not feeling alone and getting through the fellowship feeling genuine pride in myself and those around me.

 

What is your favourite thing about the MRU Campus and what course has been most influential in your learning?

 

The MRU campus is genuinely like a home to me. I feel safe, I feel cared for, and I feel in community. Most of the systems and programs within Mount Royal University make the student a priority. I have been in other universities, and compared to many, the support, education, and grading systems within MRU do a lot more to help the student and have a focus on community and care. I have been able to make many friends, to take care of both my mental and physical health, and grow personally and academically due to the multiple and amazing opportunities that MRU has granted me. In terms of one influential course, I have to give a shoutout to Theories of “Race” and Ethnicity (SLGY 2275) with Tracy Nielsen. Tracy has made a great effort to make her course feel as distant as possible from typical colonialist education structures. In her class we currently sit in a circle and discuss many aspects of hierarchical systems within race, ethnicities, gender, and more. Her class is life-changing. I have been forced to hold up a mirror to my being and inspect the ways I have been conditioned to contribute to many oppressive structures and allow for their continued existence, and consequently have began to examine the privilege I hold within each system, how each system lives within me, and how I can begin to enact change. 

 

What is your vision for your career 5 years from now? Where would you like to be? 

 

I am honestly not sure, and for the first time in my life, I am unbelievably at peace with that. I have always been the type of person who has everything planned, who looks not only 5 years, but 10, 15, or 20 years into the future. I am a chronic planner and crave control with everything in my life. I began this fellowship there, and with the mindset that I 100% want to be a counselling psychologist at a university like MRU. Although this is still the most likely path for me, as it is a path I truly enjoy, Catamount has thrown me for a loop. Through my experiences here, I have found that I truly enjoy being within the social justice sphere, I enjoy exploring and working on these problems. Most recently, during my community conversation, I discovered that I also really enjoy facilitating and helping to inform and bring these ideas to light to people within these systems. Because of this, I am not sure where I want to end up now, and I think that's great!

 

Lastly, do you have any advice for people that are interested in participating in Catamount next year?

 

Prepare to change and be changed. This fellowship is not only a research endeavor, and if you maintain the mindset of this fellowship as “just research,” you will miss out on many amazing opportunities and insights that this fellowship can give you. Catamount is an amazing and challenging learning experience, it will help you not only academically but personally, in so many ways. Be prepared to be surprised by what you learn, by the progress you will make within yourself and within the system. Apart from this, and more practically, start setting up an organization system. It is unbelievably important to be organized and prepared for this workload. I would say it is about 1.5 courses worth of work, so if possible I would recommend three to four classes as workload and a very good calendar and planner. Apart from that, believe in yourself! Through this fellowship, I have been able to recognize my resilience and capabilities, and I can say that you are much more capable than you think. 

 

 

Salo's work is available via the links below: 

Scholarly Report: Harm Reduction and Family Housing Instability: Understanding the System, Identifying the Gaps, and Embracing Change [pdf]

Creative Work: We are Human CoreCore Video [video]

Artistic Statement [pdf]

 

 

 Applications for the 2023/2024 Fellowship cohort will open in Summer 2023. Students who are interested in applying can contact Barb Davies, bdavies@mtroyal.ca for more information.