Karen Duffy has been trained as a social worker, and has learned a lot just living life through failed relationships, raising her children and moving across Canada.
Now settled in Ituna Duffy has developed a program she has tagged 'Kareapy', which focuses on helping others deal with the challenges in their lives.
"It's building self confidence," said Duffy. "It's about finding your voice." Duffy said the 'Kare' portion of the name has come to stand for 'keeping attitudes real every day."
Duffy said often people approach problems from the perspective of anger, and there are better ways to address things.
"It's not always what you say, but how you say it," she said.
For example Duffy said people need to be forth right when confronting trouble.
"It somebody is attacking you verbally and using bad language, you have to say 'stop it. I don't like it'," she said. "You have to use assertiveness."
It is often a case of simply helping people gain some inner confidence, adding she focuses on teaching respect, trust, integrity and courage to people.
While much of Duffy's work is with youth, she said it is really "for anybody that needs to raise self esteem."
Duffy said she doesn't work on pushing her vision of how to deal with everything on others, suggesting people need the tools to figure out the answers themselves.
"It's providing problem solving tools and techniques," she said.
Duffy said people need the tools to deal with issues in their lives, because a counselor is not always there.
"I'm not your lifeline. I'm not always going to be there," she said, adding by teaching tools "they take them and use them anytime It's basically self-help It's about looking in the mirror and who you see."
When Duffy is there, she said it is often as simple as talking through a situation.
"Basically it's somebody to listen too," said Duffy.
It is often just a case where people face things, and need to talk it through with someone to realize "you can get through things."
In that regard Duffy, who earned her child and youth worker in 1995, and her human service worker in 1999 from Ontario, having a diploma in both, said she if often less a counselor and "more a sympathetic ear."
The whole idea really started as Duffy moved to Saskatchewan as she tried "to heal myself." What she found helped her she wanted to share with others.
To get her message across to a broader audience Duffy is doing a show on Access 7 television. The show entitled 'Welcome to Kareapy' in an hour-long program.
"It airs every second Monday and Friday," she said, adding at present it airs in Yorkton and Melville, but she hopes it goes to a larger Access audience in the future.
