Volunteer driven to forge connections

Our CMHA Simcoe County’s volunteer’s perspective about her lived experience and the impact on her life’s journey

Eileen Bethune, a volunteer at CMHA – SCB, was shaped by her experiences growing up in Barrie. When she was not at St Monica’s Catholic Elementary School, or later, Eastview Secondary School, Bethune received a lot of attention from her four, much older brothers – the youngest was eight years older than she. “I like to say I was picked on. (My brothers) would say I was spoiled rotten,” she said. Either way, the interactions made him quite the social person, a trait she’s treasured ever since.

If her boisterous nature came from her brothers, she discovered a need to help others in the example of her mother, who worked for a Children’s Aid Society. When Bethune’s dad was working overseas in Korea, her mother found time to take on the loving task of bringing in foster kids to raise too.  “That always stayed with me,” she said.

Bethune had thought about becoming a teacher but decided she preferred work that would allow her to spend more time building relationships. At the University of Waterloo, she studied psychology and became interested in helping those with learning disabilities. Soon, she turned her interest into a lifelong pursuit, training to provide therapy and support to those on the autism spectrum at a time when there was almost no public awareness of autism.

“When I first graduated I had to explain to everyone what autism is and now almost everyone knows someone (on the spectrum),” she said. When she started her decades ago, only one in 10,000 youth was designated autistic, likely because doctors only identified those on the more severe end of the spectrum. The lack of awareness about autism left some describing those on the spectrum with language that was harmful and incorrect. Many were said to suffer from ‘mental retardation’ even though the intelligence varies as much among those who are autistic as among those who are not.

By the time she finished her career after more than 35 years, one in 140 people were being diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, that prevalence along with advocacy led to greater awareness.

Bethune provides one-on-one therapy to young children on the moderate to severe end of the autism spectrum, what is called Intensive Behavioural Intervention, helping them learn how to behave by offering positive reinforcement, all under the direction of a psychiatrist.

She also volunteered in Barrie, serving as a coordinator of a program that was a precursor to shelters, Out of the Cold, which provided meals, a place to sleep and positive interaction, work that also involved getting trained to support those with mental illness or who used substances.

Later, she made use of that training and experience to volunteer at the David Busby Centre, which provided broader and better-organized supports. She worked at the shelter itself and especially enjoyed going out three days a week as part of a van-based mobile service.

Much as she did when she worked with kids on the autism spectrum, Bethune valued most building strong relationships, something that continues even during the pandemic as she works one-on-one with a client, meeting weekly virtually or safely distanced outside.  The two exchange paintings each has done. “I’m a very social person and I feel like I hit the jackpot,” Bethune said. “She has enriched my life.”

Written by Jonathan Sher