“I was working 14-to-16-hour days, had bought a
beautiful house on the lake with my partner at the time and
was able to complete my principal’s papers.”
Despite the challenging work, great salary and
knowledge that she was being groomed for senior
administration, Kara realized she needed to make another
change. There was something missing in her life. “As well as
education, my other passion is health and wellness,” she
says. “And while I had enjoyed performing Thai massage
and reiki, I felt that if I really wanted to make a difference in
that area too, I would need more training.”
Trillium College in Kingston offered the kind of massage
therapy program Kara was seeking, as well as an accelerated
option that compressed three years into two. “At age 33, I
figured the quicker I could do it, the better!” she laughs.
Although it was hard to leave family, friends and a
promising career for an unknown future in southern
Ontario, Kara listened to her instincts and then took a
leap of faith. She sold her dream home in Kirkland Lake,
bought a house on Charles Street in downtown Kingston
and reconnected with an old friend from Powassan who
was working as an employment counsellor at the local KEYS
Job Centre.
“Through my friend, I met Wendy Vuyk, a former KEYS
counsellor who had recently become the manager of a new
program called Pathways to Education,” says Kara. “I’d
heard it was coming to Kingston and was excited about the
work they did helping kids from neighbourhoods where
there were challenges to finishing high school.”
The impetus to start a Pathways to Education program
here had come from a 2010 study by the Kingston
Community Health Centres that showed students from
the Rideau Heights and Inner Harbour neighbourhoods were
twice as likely to drop out of high school as those in other
parts of the city. The national non-profit initiative provides
academic, financial, mentorship and advocacy support to
help students “break the cycle of poverty through education.”
Kara knew she would need to find part-time work to
finance her college courses, and the after-school hours at
Pathways meshed nicely with her own busy class schedule.
Her background of teaching and administration, combined
with a passion for special ed, qualified her to take on the role
of program facilitator of tutoring.
“Interacting with children, families and teachers from the
north end helped integrate me into Kingston,” Kara says. “I
learned about the distinctive cultures here, and the city’s so-
called dividing lines. I know now about some of the
challenges and biases faced by students from our catchment
area,” she adds. “But I’ve also seen a lot of those barriers
break down, which is really encouraging.”
Today, Kara combines her full-time work at Pathways to
Education — helping youth succeed in school and transition
to careers — with a part-time position at Better Balance
Massage Therapy Clinic. As a therapist there, she helps
adult clients on a physical and emotional plane.
With her partner, Jason, Kara is raising three children in a
blended family. They each bring one child from a previous
relationship and had baby Sadie together. She has also
embraced opportunities to become involved in the
community and in volunteer activities, including the
Skeleton Park Music Festival, KEYS mentoring program
and, most recently, taking Sadie to visit residents in long-
term care facilities through Babies Who Volunteer.
“When I first came to Kingston, I was a single woman
with no kids, focused on travel and experiencing new
things,” she says. “Now I’m in a happy relationship, have
had two babies in my 40s and work at two very different
jobs that I love.”
The balance she has obtained in her work, family and
community is something Kara cherishes and doesn’t take for
granted. “I’m doing what brings me joy, with people I really
like,” she says. Then looking down at her nursing baby, she
adds: “Being a mom too. It’s a perfect combination!”PROFILE KINGSTON 39