Care Journey | Awakening Dignity
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Description
What does it mean to truly awaken dignity in our communities? In this final episode of our Care Journey series, hosts Johan Heinrichs and Wendi Park engage in a heartfelt conversation with Kathy Boschmann, who shares her inspiring experiences working with those on the margins in downtown areas. Kathy delves into the life-changing moments of simply acknowledging others and treating them as equal image-bearers of God. The discussion explores the barriers of fear and tunnel vision that hinder meaningful connections and touches on the profound impact of humanizing interactions, both with the vulnerable and hardworking social service professionals.
Time Stamps
[04:19] Daily drive, meeting Carrie, worship impact.
[08:57] Creating space for meaningful, transformative encounters.
[10:25] Fear affects communication; saying "good morning" difficult.
[15:26] Human connection erases shame, normalizes vulnerability.
[17:12] Empathetic support empowers social workers for clients.
[22:38] Mom sought connection, shared life story vulnerably.
Other Links
Reach out to us! https://journeywithcare.ca/podcast
Email: podcast@careimpact.ca
Listen To Journey With Prayer - A prayer journey corresponding to this episode: https://journeywithprayer.captivate.fm/listen
or get both podcasts on the same RSS feed! https://feeds.captivate.fm/n/careimpact-podcast
CareImpact: careimpact.ca
About the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportal
DONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with children and families: careimpact.ca/donate
Editing and production by Johan Heinrichs: arkpodcasts.ca
Transcript
Imagine the whole church discovering their passion to care,
Speaker:one small group at a time.
Speaker:You're listening to this special podcast series, Care Journey,
Speaker:from the Journey with Care
Speaker:podcast. I was working downtown, and I'd parked my car, and
Speaker:there was 3 people that have been squatting in the parking lot that night.
Speaker:And they were busy gathering their stuff and getting rolling
Speaker:off of the sidewalk, getting up. And I was torn. I'm like, do I
Speaker:say good morning? Is this really a good morning for them? They're
Speaker:sleeping on the sidewalk. And I just took the chance and I
Speaker:just said, good morning. And the one fellow turns and smiles. He says,
Speaker:good morning, you know. And it just it really made me think,
Speaker:okay. This isn't rocket science, treating one another
Speaker:as human
Speaker:beings. Welcome back to another episode of Journey with Care. We are in a Care
Speaker:Journey series, a series highlighting some of the topics that are core to the
Speaker:work of Care Impact in the community and their work with Care Portal.
Speaker:And we actually developed a small group course that goes deep on each of these
Speaker:topics, but we just wanted to give you a glimpse into some of them,
Speaker:give you some real stories, some real voices that hopefully inspire you, and
Speaker:maybe spark interest in you wanting to go deeper and actually take the course
Speaker:that we've developed. So today, we are talking awakening
Speaker:dignity, and we have a special guest, Kathy, with us. But before
Speaker:we bring Cathy into the conversation, I wanna remind you that we have Journey with
Speaker:Prayer, a 5 minute devotional series to start off your week. That's on a
Speaker:separate podcast feed. You can go to the show notes to find that or
Speaker:find it on our website at journey with care dot ca, and that
Speaker:will come out the same day as this one if you go to the website.
Speaker:Otherwise, you wait till Monday. And I also wanna remind you that
Speaker:we exist because of the generous donors
Speaker:and those listeners, those that sow into the work of Care Impact in the community.
Speaker:We would love for you to join our team to help keep the podcast
Speaker:going, to keep our work in the community going. So if you wanna be part
Speaker:of that, if you wanna be a sponsor, sponsor an episode, head over to journey
Speaker:with care dot ca, and there are links for you to be able to do
Speaker:that. You can also check the show notes for those links. Alright. Wendy, you
Speaker:wanna introduce our guest and our topic for
Speaker:today? Well, awakening dignity is part of our discipleship
Speaker:pathway that we have church small groups going through, and we're getting
Speaker:some good responses. But in studio today, I'm so
Speaker:happy to have with us Kathy Boschmann, who is not,
Speaker:a new voice to our listeners. Kathy, welcome to the
Speaker:podcast. It is great to be here again. Always loved
Speaker:having great conversations with you and Johan. Yeah. Well,
Speaker:Kathy, you do a lot of administration behind the
Speaker:scenes. You help make Care Portal happen across Canada with
Speaker:our team. But beyond the administrative role, you
Speaker:have a real heart for people. So let's dive in. What
Speaker:does awakening dignity, mean to you as you
Speaker:are driving down that street, walking down that
Speaker:grocery aisle? What do we mean by awakening dignity?
Speaker:For me, it is a matter of seeing
Speaker:everybody as regular people and
Speaker:not judging people according to what they look like on the outside.
Speaker:It's about recognizing that we really are all
Speaker:brothers and sisters. Whether we know each other or not, we are
Speaker:related. And that has really been growing in
Speaker:me in this last year or 2 especially. Well, that is a
Speaker:value for our team at Care Impact and the the churches that
Speaker:we are working with. That idea of God
Speaker:has made everyone in his image and seeing people,
Speaker:the the the image bearers of Christ, and how
Speaker:do we actually live that out when
Speaker:those instant impulses to
Speaker:judge people on the surface and not
Speaker:humanize them? You have had some
Speaker:encounters very recently, we don't have to look far, where
Speaker:you've had encounters with people while you were driving to work.
Speaker:Can you tell us about that experience at the stoplight? Yeah.
Speaker:I drive through downtown every day to
Speaker:get to work. And, this one day in particular,
Speaker:I was very impacted. I had stopped and I
Speaker:met my Wendi, Carrie, who I see every day
Speaker:at a certain corner that she is usually there
Speaker:asking for money. And, I sometimes I have given her
Speaker:other times when I've stopped. I've originally asked her her
Speaker:name just to get to know her and sometimes given her a care
Speaker:package. But sometimes, like, I would just stop and say, Carrie, yeah, how's your day
Speaker:going or whatever? How are you doing with the weather that we're
Speaker:you're living in? And this one
Speaker:day, I went past that stop and she wasn't actually
Speaker:there. And, but I had been listening to some worship music,
Speaker:and the song was just about how
Speaker:beautiful the Lord is, how wonderful, How
Speaker:loved to look on his face. And as
Speaker:I was singing it, I was envisioning Carrie.
Speaker:And there was another lady, Lina, who I'd
Speaker:met earlier. Like their faces were just coming to me
Speaker:and remembering just this idea that we were all made in the
Speaker:image of God. And as I was worshiping the Lord, I was
Speaker:remembering that as I love them and
Speaker:honor them and acknowledge them
Speaker:that I am honoring God. And that was a
Speaker:real spark, real moment, and I
Speaker:was working through that along my journey
Speaker:and trying to dry my tears as, you know, before I got
Speaker:anybody in public could see me, my red eyes from
Speaker:just processing that. And that's really stuck with me,
Speaker:obviously, as very meaningful moment
Speaker:and has really impacted the way I have interacted
Speaker:even more with those I meet here lately on my job to work
Speaker:in around the community, but also as I
Speaker:go to doors, meetings, making connections
Speaker:with people in the community. It's, really been an
Speaker:eye opener for me. Well, thank you for sharing that, Kathy.
Speaker:It just brings to light in everyday terms,
Speaker:Matthew Wendi. It says, for I was hungry, and you gave
Speaker:me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I
Speaker:was a stranger, and you invited me in. I needed clothes, and you
Speaker:clothed me. And I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison
Speaker:and you came to visit me. It's in the everyday.
Speaker:It's in in the people that we encounter that you saw Christ in
Speaker:them. And scripture is so clear that when you welcome
Speaker:the vulnerable in my name, you welcome me, Jesus
Speaker:says. And tell me a little bit more. Let's
Speaker:dig a little deeper. What did that do to you as you were
Speaker:seeing them as image bearers? As God, through
Speaker:that beautiful worship music, you saw Keri. You saw
Speaker:individuals' names come forward. What what did that do to you
Speaker:as you were experiencing that? It softened my
Speaker:heart even more. And I think also
Speaker:brought light to where I haven't treated people with dignity.
Speaker:And just that piece of allowing
Speaker:transformation to happen within me. And I think with each
Speaker:interaction that I had leading up to
Speaker:that and beyond there, I think it really
Speaker:just changed the way I would interact with people. I worked used
Speaker:the office space downtown this summer and the at the one stoplight, there was a
Speaker:disabled fellow who would be there most times and taking the
Speaker:time just to listen. And he had a hard time speaking, and it
Speaker:just gave me more patience. It gave me more I
Speaker:think, more humility and being able to say, hey. This
Speaker:is but for the grace of god, there go why. Right? That
Speaker:whole piece of understanding, enabling me to put myself in
Speaker:other people's shoes more so. Yeah. And
Speaker:wanting to stop and hear a little bit of their story as well. And to
Speaker:recognize that our lives are complicated, that
Speaker:people don't choose to live on the street. There is a story there
Speaker:and there are reasons why that's where they've come to or or
Speaker:people that, you know, are in a hard place that have a social
Speaker:worker that need to, help to make sure that they can stay together
Speaker:as family. There's more to the story than just 1 or
Speaker:2 poor choices. There's a lot behind every person's
Speaker:life and, learning to respect that. Well and what you're
Speaker:describing is a modern day well where Jesus would meet that
Speaker:Samaritan woman. We need to create
Speaker:space for that. Right? It's all around us.
Speaker:And I I ask myself how many times do I miss
Speaker:those opportunities, those Jesus moments, where I could
Speaker:be interacting with others, not as my project, not
Speaker:as just a help me understand poverty understanding,
Speaker:but, really, those encounters with
Speaker:others and and seeing people for who they are. Because I recall when
Speaker:you came back into the office after one of these encounters and how
Speaker:that profoundly impacted you, and I was working on the curriculum with
Speaker:Johan. We were co creating this this, discipleship pathway
Speaker:for for church small groups, and I'm saying, that's it.
Speaker:You're living it, Kathy. We need you to share that story
Speaker:with us because that's what it's all about. It's it's
Speaker:seeing Jesus and others being impacted, not as your
Speaker:project, but you had an encounter with Christ
Speaker:that had impacted me. But I I wonder,
Speaker:what prevents us? Let's have this honest discussion. What prevents us
Speaker:from stopping in those moments and taking the time
Speaker:to have more encounters? What are the the practical barriers that we're
Speaker:dealing with, Realistic barriers that prevent us from doing
Speaker:it more often, being with people more often.
Speaker:Fear, I think, would be the number one underlying thing.
Speaker:What am I gonna say? How do I say it? Yeah. Well, how are they
Speaker:gonna take it? You know, receive it. And just to throw another
Speaker:story, and I was working downtown like I said, and
Speaker:I parked my car and there was 3 people that have been squatting in the
Speaker:parking lot that night. And they were busy, you
Speaker:know, gathering their stuff and getting rolling off of the
Speaker:sidewalk, getting up and whatnot. And I was I was torn. I'm
Speaker:like, do I say good morning? Is this really a good morning for
Speaker:them? They're sleeping on the sidewalk. And I just took
Speaker:the chance and I just said, good morning. And the one fellow turns
Speaker:and smiles. He says, good morning. You know? And it just it
Speaker:really made me think, okay. This isn't rocket science
Speaker:Treating one another as human human beings that you would in
Speaker:your neighborhood is really key. Just being
Speaker:present and being loved to one another is so
Speaker:important. Well and as we love, perfect love
Speaker:casts out all fear. I think fear can always be there. It's
Speaker:not, like, don't wait till the fear goes away. I think we need to push
Speaker:through it and recognize, oh, this is a stretching
Speaker:opportunity. I need to grow here and grow that muscle
Speaker:because then we can access that prefrontal cortex where we can actually be relational,
Speaker:actually be loving, and actually connect with other human
Speaker:beings. But it's so true. I think, fear prevents me.
Speaker:I I was gonna say that another barrier for myself is
Speaker:that I can have tunnel vision. I am going somewhere from point a to
Speaker:point b and I'm not even noticing people around
Speaker:because I am just so focused on what's happening up stairs
Speaker:in what my thought process is, my timeline of needing
Speaker:to be certain places, that I actually get gypped
Speaker:from having those encounters, those meaningful encounters where god wants to
Speaker:break in. And I and I it's an awareness for me
Speaker:to loosen up a little, start looking,
Speaker:to have more encounters, more opportunities to be
Speaker:human to human, to show that human side. We're not human doings.
Speaker:We're human beings, and that is so needed.
Speaker:Johan, do you have another Well, for me, it's I'm not
Speaker:someone that likes small talk. So even taking the
Speaker:time to start small talk is just cringey to me. If I'm
Speaker:gonna have a conversation, I wanna go deep. I wanna have deep conversation.
Speaker:And quite often, when you're just passing someone on the
Speaker:street, you're not looking for a deep conversation,
Speaker:and there's an investment there. If you start a conversation, I feel
Speaker:like you gotta give a little bit more yourself. And sometimes I'm
Speaker:just not in the place where I'm willing to give more myself.
Speaker:There's so many things already in my life, like, how how can I even add
Speaker:more? And and once you have that deep conversation, you're invested. So
Speaker:where do you go from there? How much is it gonna cost you in time
Speaker:and resources in the future? These are things that sometimes go through your
Speaker:head. I don't know if that's a good thing to say at all, but and
Speaker:it's not like I don't wanna have compassion to the person on the side of
Speaker:the road. It's not it's not that I don't wanna have that conversation.
Speaker:It's just this is sometimes one of those barriers that prevent me
Speaker:from taking that extra step to say hello and to having that conversation. These
Speaker:are these are things that go on in the back of my mind. I totally
Speaker:get that, Johan. In fact, it reminds me of a story and it relates
Speaker:back to what Wendy had said about that conversation we had in the
Speaker:kitchen. I had stopped at the light and gave a
Speaker:little care package, just some socks and couple of granola
Speaker:bars to a fellow standing on the corner. So I asked
Speaker:him his name, and he told me his name was Hector. And
Speaker:and I told him mine and just had a little small talk. Then he
Speaker:paused, and then he said, I've only been living on this only been
Speaker:homeless since due. So it's all had only been 3 months, and
Speaker:he told me why he got evicted from his hotel or his,
Speaker:apartment. And I said, he was able just
Speaker:to have some compassion and say, wow. That must have been really hard or
Speaker:it's amazing how much you can see in one traffic light one red
Speaker:light. And then I said, well, I really hope that you're able to find
Speaker:somewhere safe to live before winter comes. Anyway, he told
Speaker:me that I called my sister yesterday and
Speaker:I'm gonna go be staying with her, and I was just able to
Speaker:share his joy with him. And to say that's awesome,
Speaker:and I wish you well as I started driving away.
Speaker:And, but just even to take that moment to share
Speaker:his joy. Just in that 90
Speaker:seconds at the stoplight, it really impacted
Speaker:me in being able to do that and and to remember
Speaker:him, to to wish him well, and to pray for him as I
Speaker:drove away. Just that all of that would turn out well for him. It
Speaker:was, yeah, it was a really special moment. Wow. And what I love
Speaker:about that interaction is that as
Speaker:you connect human to human as equals
Speaker:made in the image of God, it erases that
Speaker:sense of shame that so often people
Speaker:carry when things aren't going well as if
Speaker:that's a a measure of their worth and their value in
Speaker:society. But that he felt open enough that
Speaker:you gave him that place of safety that he could share this information
Speaker:and that you could validate him rather than make him your
Speaker:project. I just love that you were talking neighbor
Speaker:to neighbor and normalizing the journey moving forward.
Speaker:We all go through challenges, and I think sometimes when we don't
Speaker:live through poverty or we fit into society in a a
Speaker:mainstream kind of way, we have a more difficult
Speaker:time being vulnerable like that. And I think there's a lot we could
Speaker:learn when we drop the mask as well and just be neighbor to
Speaker:neighbor. There's another aspect that I would love to talk about when we're
Speaker:talking about awakening dignity, and we've been seeing this happen
Speaker:as we've been unveiling Care Portal in Canada.
Speaker:When we invite the church in to wrap
Speaker:around children and families who are
Speaker:going through various challenges in life,
Speaker:there's something that happens actually in that interaction with
Speaker:social services. Kathy, let's talk about our
Speaker:interactions with social workers. What's that been like as we've
Speaker:been equipping churches in awakening dignity
Speaker:for social services? It's been
Speaker:really interesting to hear about the
Speaker:interactions. I think of one of our white people, especially, she
Speaker:just has this great compassion and
Speaker:empathy for our social workers. She actually will insist that
Speaker:they join her when she makes an interaction because she wants
Speaker:to help social workers become yes
Speaker:people for those they're serving. Just so often they have to say no
Speaker:to any requests that are coming from their clients. And
Speaker:so what through care portal will enable them to be able to
Speaker:say yes and help supply some of their needs. And
Speaker:this particular white person, she will takes interest in the
Speaker:social worker or a caseworker that's come out and will take time to
Speaker:encourage them. Another thing that comes to mind is that
Speaker:at, Christmas and spring, we've done little appreciation
Speaker:gifts for our social service workers. And
Speaker:that is one thing that they often talk about later on is, like, they
Speaker:will keep the little cards on their desk that just say thank
Speaker:you for being who you are in our community.
Speaker:That it's so encouraging to them. Another time, I
Speaker:remember I was at a luncheon sitting at a table with
Speaker:several social workers and just took time to say thank you or
Speaker:do the one. I'm like, thank you for what you do. And
Speaker:she was like, that's the first time anyone has said thank you to
Speaker:me in 2 years that she'd been working as a social worker. She'd never heard
Speaker:those words. And like you were saying, they often get a bad
Speaker:rap. But when we can honor and show dignity
Speaker:and respect for the amazing hard work that they
Speaker:do in community, I think everybody
Speaker:wins. That there is, refreshment
Speaker:that comes through those words encouragement and appreciation. And
Speaker:it enables those of us who aren't in those positions
Speaker:government positions in the community just to say thank you because they
Speaker:truly representing us as people that we're employing
Speaker:them to do this work on our behalf and to say thank you and to
Speaker:recognize that we need them as our community leads them is
Speaker:so important. Yeah. These are hard roles, and they're making big decisions.
Speaker:They've got huge caseloads and and crisis upon
Speaker:crisis that they're needing to navigate and
Speaker:sometimes be bearers of bad news and other times be
Speaker:discouraged because those resources and those the bureaucratic lines
Speaker:are not that simple and straightforward, and they're in the trenches
Speaker:day in and day out. And what you're describing isn't an anomaly. It wasn't just
Speaker:at that table. I hear it over and over and
Speaker:over again when I'm connecting with social services
Speaker:that we've never been thanked before. We've
Speaker:been told the f bomb, but we've never been told thank you. We don't even
Speaker:know what to say, and they're tearfully, sharing
Speaker:this, and it brings tears to their eyes when we can
Speaker:simply say we see you. We thank you
Speaker:for this difficult place you're in, and how can we
Speaker:wrap around and support the work? Because the church is called
Speaker:to be in these spaces. It's not just a government or a a
Speaker:nonprofit's role, but how do we bring dignity into
Speaker:these spaces that we've often alienated? Out of fear
Speaker:and and a lot of trepidation. We've alienated the people that
Speaker:we actually need to step in and support. I just
Speaker:wanna remind our listeners, little bit of a callback here, that we did a series
Speaker:called Battery Life. And one of our episodes we we interviewed
Speaker:Rebecca, a social worker. Really good episode if you wanna get
Speaker:some key insights into what it's like being a social worker
Speaker:and how those around us can support and care for social workers.
Speaker:Just a really good interaction with someone that both loves Care
Speaker:Impact, Care Portal, and yet has her boots
Speaker:on the ground as a social worker doing the hard work.
Speaker:I really encourage your listeners to go back and listen to that. I'll throw that
Speaker:link in the show notes. Make sure you catch that one. And one thing
Speaker:that I'm capturing from today's conversation here is that when we're in
Speaker:a posture of listening and truly listening
Speaker:and and sincere about wanting to
Speaker:connect with other people and hear their story,
Speaker:our compassion can grow. Our hearts can grow 2
Speaker:sizes larger. This isn't an impossible thing. This isn't
Speaker:rocket science. It's about being people to people,
Speaker:recognizing that their story matters. God is writing their
Speaker:story as well, and we just need to be in a posture
Speaker:to be available and listen. What you're saying
Speaker:reminds me of a family that we
Speaker:served during the pandemic. It was a mom, single mom,
Speaker:and her teenage daughter needed new
Speaker:beds. And I brought a couple of youth with me to
Speaker:this request, which was in the north end, which is
Speaker:the poorest postal code in Manitoba. They had never
Speaker:been into this community. They don't only ever driven by
Speaker:and so it was a real eye opener for them. So that was
Speaker:interesting to expose them into a home that
Speaker:they would never have experienced before and had a chance to process
Speaker:that with them. I went on a return visit to this
Speaker:family and brought some cutlery or something. I can't remember what it
Speaker:was. But during the second visit, what was very interesting, you
Speaker:could see the mom was particularly hungry for for
Speaker:connection because of the pandemic. We closed out the glass
Speaker:door and spoke to one another through the door. And I
Speaker:stood there for 20 minutes as she told me her life story.
Speaker:She opened up to me. I was amazed at how comfortable she was
Speaker:and and longing for connection. And all I had to give her was
Speaker:my time. That's all in my listening ear and my interest, my
Speaker:curiosity. And it really
Speaker:impacted me that her willingness to be
Speaker:vulnerable with me and to share her life story
Speaker:and enabled me to once again see
Speaker:that those we're serving, our neighbors are just like
Speaker:us. We don't have no matter our postal code,
Speaker:our life situation, the difficulty that we're dealing with in
Speaker:that moment. Neighbor to neighbor, we can show
Speaker:love simply by taking the time to
Speaker:listen, to be available, to be present.
Speaker:And it really impacted me and Wendi has brought transformation
Speaker:to me as I hope it gave to her during that
Speaker:that conversation and those interactions. Wow. That that
Speaker:is so profound, and and that resonates with my experience too when
Speaker:I've connected with people. When I hear their story, you know what it
Speaker:does for me? It makes me more brave to be
Speaker:vulnerable with them and others to drop the mask
Speaker:to let people in because they have been transforming my
Speaker:life as well. Thank you, Kathy, for taking the time to share some of
Speaker:your experiences and helping us to understand better
Speaker:what it means to awaken dignity in our communities.
Speaker:It's been great to be here. Thank you for joining another conversation on journey with
Speaker:care, where we inspire curious
Speaker:curious Canadians on their path of faith and living life with
Speaker:purpose in community. Journey with Care is an initiative of Care
Speaker:Impact, a Canadian charity dedicated to connecting and equipping the
Speaker:whole church to journey well in community. You can visit their website
Speaker:at careimpact. Ca or visit journey with care. Ca to get
Speaker:more information on weekly episodes, Journey With Prayer, and details about our upcoming events and
Speaker:meetups. You can also leave us a message, share your upcoming events and meetups. You
Speaker:can also leave us a message, share your thoughts, and connect with like minded individuals
Speaker:who are on their own journeys of faith and purpose. Thank you for sharing this
Speaker:podcast and helping these stories reach the community. Together, we
Speaker:can
Speaker:explore ways to journey in a good way. And always remember to
Speaker:stay curious.
