Rochelle was a long-haul trucker for 9 years until tendinitis (new window) in her hands forced her to go on medical Employment Insurance (new window). Not one to stay idle for long, Rochelle began to explore her options for a less physically demanding career.
Rochelle enrolled in the Neil Squire Society’s Job Focus program in November of 2004.
The Neil Squire Society’s Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant, Sara, worked extensively with her on career planning. Rochelle underwent a formal vocational assessment to determine suitable career options, as well as a formal functional capacity evaluation assessment to determine what she was physically able and not able to do.
Eventually it was decided that her next step towards this new career would be to deal with her limited knowledge of computers, so Rochelle joined another Neil Squire Society program, Computer Comfort. Up until that point Rochelle “didn’t even go near computers.” Of the staff and volunteers in the Neil Squire Society’s Computer Comfort program she states “If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t even know how to turn a computer on! You took me off the scared list.’” The staff at the Computer Comfort program also provided Rochelle with some helpful assistive technology such as the speech recognition software Dragon Naturally Speaking (new window), a program which allows her to use her voice to operate a computer instead of a keyboard, and helps to avoid the pain attributed to her tendinitis.
Since leaving her job as a truck driver, Rochelle has developed an interest in writing as well as advertising. She recently completed the Marketing and Communications course at BCIT (new window), which was partially funded by the Job Focus program, with an average grade in the high 70’s. She also writes on a professional freelance basis. Writing a voluntary weekly column for a pet website also keeps her busy but it is something she would love to eventually do as a career.
With her new found skills and passion for writing, Rochelle is sure to be a success!
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