---
title: "Meet Jenna: From Psych Patient to Community Support Worker"
description: Jenna Boivin went from needing mental health support to providing it to others. Find out how Herzing's CSW training got her where she is today.
image: https://blog.herzing.ca/hubfs/Jenna%20Boivin.png
---

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# Meet Jenna: From Psych Patient to Community Support Worker

**Oct 22, 2026, 10:06:41 AM**

![Herzing CSW graduate Jenna Boivin](https://blog.herzing.ca/hubfs/Jenna%20Boivin.png)

# Meet Jenna: From Psych Patient to Community Support Worker

**Oct 22, 2026, 10:06:41 AM**

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![Herzing CSW graduate Jenna Boivin](https://blog.herzing.ca/hubfs/Jenna%20Boivin.png)

As a teenager, Jenna Boivin struggled with addictions, an eating disorder, and a personality disorder. After a stint in a psychiatric hospital, she took stock of her life and decided to make a change.

Herzing’s [community services training](https://www.herzing.ca/programs/community-services-worker?comet_token_override=3949026419404976304639678972035915175342483499351) helped her get on the path she really wanted. Today, Jenna works at a social services agency in Winnipeg, supporting adults who face many of the same struggles she once did.

We talked with Jenna about her Herzing experience and how her own past shapes the way she supports people. Read on for the highlights.

 

### **Q. What were you doing before you enrolled?**

**Jenna:** I was studying culinary arts, but with COVID, that took a really big hit. I was still working back of house and kitchens for a year or two, but no one was going out. So I got laid off.

I bounced between different jobs, like house cleaning, retail, just random stuff I had no interest in.

I ended up working in a sales position in the automotive industry. That allowed me to get to know people because I was trained to find those vulnerable spots—unfortunately, it was to make the most amount of money, but it gave me that opportunity to work one-on-one with people. And I was able to save up enough money and go back to school.

 

### **Q. Why community services training?**

**Jenna**: I always wanted to do counselling. We live in Winnipeg, where there is a large homeless population, and my parents were always like, “That’s why you have to do good in life. You don’t want to end up on the street.” But I always thought more like, *why* is someone on the street? What happened to them? What’s their story?

I’m in this industry because I grew up affected by a lot of generational trauma. I grew up with a lot of anxiety, and my parents didn’t recognize that. In their generation, mental health and cognitive disabilities are not discussed. Everything is just swept under the rug.

I went my first 18 years of life knowing I was different from everyone; I just didn’t know what made me different. And then when I was 18, I was an inpatient at a psych hospital and was later diagnosed with a personality disorder. I was struggling with an eating disorder, I was struggling with addictions, and I was being prescribed medications that no 18-year-old should ever be prescribed. So I was where a lot of the people who I support are now.

Eighteen-year-old me looked in a mirror and thought, how did I end up here? I don’t want to be here. I had no one to help dig me out, so I had to get myself out.

So now I want to take that passion and put it into helping other people.

 

### **Q. What made you choose Herzing?**

**Jenna:** I actually had no idea that private colleges offered diploma programs that you could do from home. I did not know that was an option. I did my research and read reviews and had phone calls with so many people.

With the lady that I spoke to at Herzing, I knew this was the college I had to go to. She took the time to get to know me over the phone. I find a lot of colleges recruit potential students without actually getting to know them first. With Herzing, I felt like a human being instead of someone that was just being recruited. And that meant a lot to me.

 

### **Q. What was your impression of the training?**

**Jenna:** What really stood out to me is that the instructor, [Kim Melnyk](https://blog.herzing.ca/how-one-csw-instructor-came-to-embrace-online-education), always shared personal experiences. She shared stories about her helping individuals. She also talked about how the industry was 10 years ago and how it was five years ago and what kind of changes we could expect to see.

You hear a lot of negative stories from people in the industry about death, suicide, self-harm, addictions, a lot of that heavy stuff. But Kim would always share positive stories. I really adored how she was shining light on things you’re not going to read in a textbook.

In my day-to-day now when I’m working, her stories replay in the back of my mind. Like, these are the happy moments that she was talking about that we’re going to experience amongst all of the heavy stuff. And that’s what stood out to me most.

I don’t think I can say that about many, if any, teachers that have taught me in my whole lifetime.

 

### **Q. Tell us about your internship.**

**Jenna:** I was accepted into a day program at a local agency. My student coordinator hired me based on my personality and placed me in a day program that had never had students before.

The first week, I was like, what am I doing here? I’m not learning anything. I’m looking at individuals playing games all day, they’re playing pool all day, like they’re not doing anything.

Then I realized that the participants here need structure. If I’m just sitting here observing, that’s not my opportunity to learn. But sitting one-on-one with someone playing these games, they’ll tell you their life story.

I didn’t realize that by taking the time to sit down and talk, I was making a big impact.

By my second week, I had staff approaching me asking, “What are you doing differently that you’re getting stories we’ve never heard? We’ve been working with these individuals five to 10-plus years.” And I was shocked. I genuinely believed they were praising me just to give me positive feedback. But then I heard from our team lead and my supervisor, and they said I was doing a great job and that they saw so much potential in me.

We had participants who were labelled as nonverbal, and when I started, they began talking to me. The staff were like, we’ve been working here for eight years and we’ve never seen this participant talk. And I wasn’t doing anything different. I was sitting down with them, making them coffee, asking them about their weekend. The way I worded my sentences was no different than someone else.

It was the genuine sitting with them as if they were not a participant. We just happened to be in the same place at the same time, playing games.

I have experience of being an inpatient myself and having a nurse sit across from me. I could always tell that I was the patient, they were the nurse, and they were talking to me because they needed to. I hated that feeling. So I wanted to take that feeling and flip it. When I’m talking to the participants that I support, I don’t want them to ever think, well, a staff member is here playing games with me. I just want them to think that I’m talking to them as a human being.

 

### **Q. You were hired straight out of your internship. How did that come about?**

**Jenna:** I had created very strong bonds with many of the participants. Unfortunately, that day program was fully staffed and there was no opening. My student coordinator said she was going to find something for me, that she couldn’t afford to let me go.

There was an opening in the all-women’s day program, so I started working there two or three weeks after my internship was over.

Months later, my student coordinator and I were talking, and she told me that during my practicum interview she knew she wanted me as an employee, but she wanted to see how I did in the practicum. That was pretty cool.

 

### **Q. Is there a part of the job nobody warned you about?**

**Jenna:** If anything, I was overprepared. I was prepared to walk in and experience all the negative things you read about. You’re always told to be ready in case someone’s going to attack you or hit you. So I’m walking into this day program scared like someone’s going to jump on me or attack me because I’m the new person.

But I was underprepared for how friendly the individuals I was supporting were going to be. And honestly, I dislike that I ever thought that there was any negative connotation to working with these individuals. They’re the sweetest, most genuine people you will ever meet, and that’s what took me by surprise the most. I don’t think anyone ever expects that answer, but it’s true.

 

### **Q. What advice would you give someone who was considering this field and was looking at Herzing?**

**Jenna**: Just have an open mindset. Don’t go in with any assumptions.

Keep your camera on during class lessons and don’t be afraid to speak up. I was always shy because I was one of the only ones with my camera on, but I think it creates an open and safe space.

Always look on the bright side. Everyone has a bad day, but there’s always a positive to a negative.

 

**Learn More About Community Services Training at Herzing**

Herzing's CSW program helps you build the skills to support people with disabilities, mental health challenges, and addictions. Training includes an internship, so you get real work experience before you graduate.

Click below to learn more about the program and talk to an admissions advisor. We're here to help!

[**Explore now**](https://www.herzing.ca/programs/community-services-worker)

 

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