Nurturing a culture of gentleness is fundamental at COR

Shannon Wiebe has been at Creative Options Regina, Inc. (COR) for seven years in the role of mentorship and outreach. Before that, she worked for 18 years with families who had children with disabilities, planning future residential care. Often, that meant support from COR.

“In mentorship, I provide depth as to why we do our jobs, how we do them and the importance of our central purpose, which is to nurture, teach and sustain the experience of connectedness, companionship and community,” Wiebe says. “For employees, it’s shining a light on their capabilities and encouraging and celebrating them in the work they do.”

Regina-based COR has some 400 employees who provide support to people experiencing intellectual disabilities and mental health challenges in the city. Most work within the community supporting people in their homes with their daily life.

“We’re finding more people with intellectual disabilities who are in need of support have significant mental health challenges as well,” says Tim Jones, chief learning officer. “Care is becoming more complex.”

“Our vision is not only to train employees, but to spread this culture of gentleness more broadly, inspiring change within caring professions. There has been a lot of interest from organizations throughout Canada and parts of the United States in learning about Gentle Teaching.”

Gentle Teaching is a philosophy that emerged in the 1980s. It’s a strengths-based approach rooted in relationships. Instead of focusing on behaviour, the focus is on how to support someone by ensuring they feel safe, valued, cared for and engaged.

In 2023, COR established the COR Academy for employees and new hires to deepen their learning about a culture of gentleness and take basic training courses, such as Mental Health First Aid and crisis prevention.

“My role is twofold,” Jones says. “The first is to mentor and strengthen our leaders with the foundational knowledge of our philosophy and how we support people. The second is taking our training and mentorship initiatives externally to others that are interested in our approach.

“COR is intentionally focused on caring for the caregiver. We believe that if the people providing care are ‘cared for,’ then they in turn provide exceptional care to those whom we are contracted to provide care for,” says Jones.

“COR focuses on nurturing a culture of belonging in the workplace, a place where people’s gifts and talents are nurtured. That extends to both the people we support and employees.”

COR is also developing LGBTQ+ and Indigenous employee resource groups.

For her part, Wiebe cares deeply about her work. “Why I do what I’ve done the past 37 years, supporting those who are marginalized in my community, is my passion,” she says.

As a part of her role in providing mentorship, Wiebe will meet with home team leaders to help build their capacity to feel confident in their role, which is to support their team members who provide direct support. It’s about cultivating layers of support, Wiebe says, and the mentoring effect causes ripples throughout the organization.

“That just reinforces our culture of learning and supporting one another. It’s really integral to everything we do,” says Wiebe. “It’s mentoring each other and learning to care for one another. Everything we do at COR for those with disabilities, we also do with each other and for one another.”

For Jones, this is the core of COR. “We refer to our culture as a culture of gentleness, a culture that nurtures a sense of belonging where both the people that we support, and the employees, feel safe and valued.”

“Care that we give is woven into care we receive,” Wiebe says.

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Saskatchewan's Top Employers winners, published February 4, 2025 in the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon Star Phoenix. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.