Helanna Procshyn - MA in Conflict Analysis and Management (MACAM)
I consider myself a lifelong learner. My formal training is in both medicine and psychology. I’m a registered nurse and have been working for seven years in acute psychiatry – crisis intervention, suicide prevention, family education – most recently with the Vancouver General Hospital.
A friend took this program and now works for the Red Cross in Kenya. I thought, ‘Wow, her life took off in a new direction she never thought possible.’ She kept encouraging me to apply. She thought it would be a perfect fit. She was right. This is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
When I started the program I thought I’d be working in the nursing profession and dealing with conflict in the Canadian health care system. But within the first week of taking classes here and being exposed to the international scale of this place, I realized my interests lay overseas.
I enjoy traveling. I’ve been to southeast Asia and fell in love with the culture, the people, and the landscape. Early in my first residency I sat down with an RRU adviser, and within a week he gave me the name of a World Bank program in Indonesia. I started exchanging e-mails with them, and by Christmas I learned there was an internship posting.
Once I graduate I’m going to Sulawesi, an island in Indonesia. I will be assisting women with emotional distress and psychological problems that result from conflict and violence in their community. The idea is to fuse western treatment modalities and traditional eastern healing methods. These people are Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus – so we hope to create a multi-faith program open to all.
RRU has prepared me well for this opportunity. The university is unique in the way that people across Canada, the U.S. and even overseas are challenged to work together in community. We do it from our living rooms, our workplaces and coffee shops with Internet access. Your life doesn’t cease. You can still manage work and family. You just don’t have to take two years off and quit everything to be on a campus. In fact, the campus is your computer.
I am constantly amazed at the dynamic people who are drawn to RRU. Not only my cohort, but other graduates who come back to inspire us with their stories. They found this little global community on this island with its castle, and from here they’ve gone on to do amazing things.
Being a learner at RRU is like belonging to a club that has its own secret wink and handshake. The networking capacity of this university is amazing. I know I can e-mail or call any of my cohort and ask for assistance, advice or just a friendly ear. The door is always open, and that includes the faculty and advisory boards.
Often you hear of people who work for international organizations like the UN or the World Bank. And I always thought, “How does anybody get those kinds of jobs?’ RRU is a gateway, a place I’ll always associate with wonderful opportunities, growth, doors opening and phenomenal networking. I never thought in a million years I’d one day be an intern with the World Bank on a beautiful island in Indonesia working with women who are cutting paths in their community, building peace and healing themselves.
