One of the qualities that set us apart at Prevention CDN-NDG was, in the past, the very low staff
turnover. We were quite lucky to be able to hold on to most of the staff for many years Last
year, the average years worked at “Prev” was 8.

However this streak could not last forever! Since Christmas, Mesay Girma, Julie Robillard,
Marc-Alain Félix, Patrick René and most recently, Alain Mankarios, have each moved on to
positions that offer more stability and higher salaries, in both the community and the private
sector.

When reading everyone’s exit interviews, it wasn’t the job itself that made them leave, although
many were in their positions for 5 plus years and one would assume that everyone likes a new
challenge or two in their careers. The reason for leaving was for financial security and job
stability. The staff, who were all once in their 20’s and 30’s are now in their late 30’s to mid-
forties. They now have little and now not so little people, families with growing needs. In the
past 2-3 years, we have had to create Plan B’s (and C’s) to figure out how to keep staff, even
though program or project funding was precarious at best. It also takes a toll on people’s stress
levels. Maybe in my career lifetime, we’d be able to discuss proper salaries for community
workers, with a normal indexation that many others receive. It is a subject that is finally getting
peoples’ attention after constantly repeating these issues for years and sounding like a broken
record.

People often ask me how I feel with all these departures, and I answer that I am “sappy”..the
mix of sad to see them go, and happy for them to find something that now meets their needs.
The loss of their expertise, however, is difficult to describe and quantify. Hiring new people
takes many hours of job postings, meetings, interviews and training, but, in the end, I also look
forward to adding new people to our team as they bring with them positive energy, motivation,
many great questions, and a willingness to learn.
So as we bid adieu to our colleagues and friends, we are happy to welcome Ramaelle, Lysa,
Laura, Tamar and Jago to the Prevention CDN-NDG family! We wish you a long and productive
career with us!

Terri – Executive Director at Prevention CDN-NDG