The Centre Action Bénévole de Sutton (CAB de Sutton) has found a new senior outreach worker in Étienne Guérette, and he is looking to rebuild connections and a sense of community in the villages of Sutton and Abercorn. 

Guérette, who has a background in religious studies, joined the CAB de Sutton team this summer after working in hospitals to provide patients support through spiritual care. 

“Having that experience and internship with spiritual care in hospitals kind of opened me up to the deepness of what elders can have as life experiences, the values they can share, their history, and their willingness to still be a part of manifesting themselves in community,” Guérette highlighted. “I’d say that is what attracted me and why I’m still happy to do this job.”

Recognizing that not every municipality has a senior outreach worker that can serve its citizens, Guérette said his role involves going out into the communities of Sutton and Abercorn, their public spaces, and identifying those seniors that may be in a position of vulnerability or that may be isolated. 

These individuals are then referred to services provided by the CAB de Sutton, including the food bank, the collective kitchen, the Café 50+ (which offers a varied program of activities, workshops, and conferences that bring seniors togethe - or other external support services that can help address their needs.

“What are those services? The first thing is to listen. As human beings, we are people of relation, interaction -- and when we are deprived of this, life starts to losing its colours. We are there to make that first contact to say that the community is there, that we want to hear, that we want to see, people still driving their lives. We want to see how we can make them more autonomous in their every day life,” explained Guérette. “(…) If we see their are issues or other problematics, we try to refer. There could be other services that could be appropriate for their situation.”

Highlighting his experience working with seniors in Sutton and Abercorn over the last few months, Guérette said that he was “surprised” by some of the living conditions of the seniors that he is in contact with. 

“For example, houses are not well [insulated], there are problems with poverty, the food bank is really useful for some people. (…) That struck me as the kind of situation we don’t see within Sutton and Abercorn on an every day basis, you don’t see the misery,” he highlighted. “When you are here as a resource to help people, I just found there were a lot of people in need and it changed my way of seeing this place. He noted that it is common to see people going to the mountain for skiing, driving big cars, and on the main streets where all the shops are. "There is a small part of the community that has been deprived, I’d say, of this public life,” he said.

From poverty there are other issues that follow, added Guérette, particularly isolation. 

“The ability of creating links and making our life relevant [in terms] of building a future when you cannot find ways to [meet] your basic needs, well you won’t go to other people, you won’t outreach, you won’t try to get along with the people around you because you’re working for your own survival. That isolation causes a lot of stress and suffering, I’d say,” Guérette explained. And he says it's not always about financial hardship --  “Even people with money can live with those situations of isolation and feel that suffering as well. It’s a big issue for me. With the 50+ Cafe, I’m trying to see the CAB as this space where we can recreate links again, recreate balance in the community, but it’s not an easy task.”

As people’s needs only continue to grow, Guérette emphasized that outreach work is one of the only ways to find “long-lasting solutions for those who aren’t heard, who aren’t seen, and need support.”  

“When we’re thinking of isolation, what can be a solution? If a community doesn’t organically support itself, its every day relations, and neighbourhoods don’t end up providing appropriate support, there are some people that will face a wall,” said Guérette. “(…) We are really there to fill the cracks of our communities and of the system.”

For more information on the senior outreach service and the CAB de Sutton, listen to the full interview with Guérette below: