A graduate from Seneca’s social service worker program, Murilo already knew what volunteering in a shelter would be like. While co-facilitating a group for men who had been involved with the justice system, he felt he wanted to use his skills in other settings as well. Since he already knew the system, Murilo thought a shelter would be a good fit for the program he had in mind.

Connecting with Homes First, Murilo began a four-month healthy relationship coaching program at Homes First’s Delta hotel program in October. Focused on aspects of healthy relationships, the program touched on many things like trust and support, fairness, honesty and accountability, and also gave participants the skills to build healthy platonic and working relationships, and not just romantic ones.

Murilo led each session more like a discussion than a lecture, with residents giving feedback and experiences from their own lives, and giving examples of how they would apply lessons from the program in real life. Often times, Murilo saw the same people come back week after week, and had people open up to share their experiences of unhealthy relationships.

For Murilo, being able to build rapport with and create a space for residents to share their experiences was a satisfying moment, as he knew the work and skills he were teaching were important and impactful.

Thank you Murilo for your continued volunteerism and support of Homes First residents!