A Vancouver customer began her journey with DSB as a high school student, eager to explore what her future could hold. Through DSB's Pre-Employment Transition Services, she took full advantage of the opportunities available to her by participating in career exploration, educational planning, and a variety of pre-employment activities and events that helped shape her sense of direction. From early on, one thing was clear: she knew she enjoyed working with people and wanted to make an impact.
 
As she continued her time as a DSB customer, she had the opportunity to work with several vocational rehabilitation counselors who guided and supported her along the way. Those relationships left a lasting impression. She found herself not only benefiting from the services provided but growing genuinely curious about the system behind them “learning about how services for people who are blind and have low vision work and run." Seeing firsthand how vocational rehabilitation counselors helped individuals with visual impairments navigate barriers, build independence, and reach their employment goals, she began to envision herself doing the same for others one day.
 
That vision became her mission. Inspired by the counselors who had invested in her, she made the decision to pursue vocational rehabilitation counseling as her career. She set her sights on obtaining the education required to enter the field and worked hard every step of the way, balancing the challenges of academic life with the determination of someone who understood deeply why the work matters…. because she had lived it herself.
 
That dedication paid off. She was recently closed successfully from DSB services, now employed as a vocational rehabilitation counselor with DSB's partner agency, the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR). The young woman who once came to DSB seeking guidance now sits on the other side of the table, ready to be the counselor she once looked up to.
 
Her story is a testament to the power of belief in the services, in the people who deliver them, and most importantly, in oneself. At DSB, the mission is not only to help customers find employment, but to help them discover who they are and who they have the potential to become. When a former customer returns to serve the very community that uplifted them, that is the truest measure of the mission's success.