Staff Profile: Leona Conrick
“Getting to Yes” to Serve a Small but Thriving Military Community: Meet Executive Director, Leona Conrick
When the position of Executive Director became available at the PEI Military Family Resource Centre, Leona Conrick knew she wanted to apply…even though that would mean moving to PEI, should she be the successful candidate. When she asked her (now retired) military husband how he felt about that possibility, he told her that since she had followed him around for 30 years, it was his turn to follow her.
And that’s what they did. Leona moved to PEI in 2017 to become the MFRC’s second Executive Director since it officially opened in 2014.
While Leona had vast experience with the military lifestyle, through her own personal experiences, she had no connections to Canada’s smallest province—one where the majority of its military members are reservists*. But it didn’t take her long to see how special the Island military community is.
*30 full-time reg force military members and 300 reservists based in PEI. Additionally, the Island serves a large number of Veterans who choose PEI to retire.
A Unicorn Position
As anyone who’s ever been in a senior management position knows, the role of the Executive Director is one that is ever-changing, demands frequent adaptations, and requires you to be always-on. As someone once told Leona, “it’s a unicorn position.”
“An executive director does a bit of everything,” Leona explains, citing various operational responsibilities such as overseeing budgets, acquiring funding, and human resource management. “Being such a small team, I’m part of the everyday delivery of service and community engagement, the same as the staff are, so part of my job is also assisting them with whatever they need.”
Leona admits that, on some days, she wears a firefighter’s hat to work, as she plans her day around the next email or the next phone call. While PEI is small, the PEI MFRC still sees its fair share of crisis situations. Leona estimates there are around half a dozen a year. Because of the small team, Leona and the rest of the PEI MFRC rely on partnerships with other organizations to help out, where needed.
“Collaboration with our community partners is key to the situations that arise where we need to think outside of the box. We work together with the Legion, with VAC, and with other community partners to find the best solutions for the client.”
PEI’s Military Landscape: Connecting with the families
PEI’s military community looks a bit different from others across Canada. Its MFRC isn’t located on a base (in fact, PEI doesn’t have a base at all), and most of these families do not move around as much as Leona did in her previous life. However, Leona notes that reservist families are still very much part of the military family landscape and have their own unique needs.
“Since we only have a couple of postings in and out each year, we deal with more short-term and frequent absences. Our reservists are often juggling a full-time civilian life with a full-time job and all of the stressors that come from that plus their part-time military career and trying to juggle all those responsibilities with also maybe raising a family and trying to achieve some sort of work-life balance. It’s a lot.”
In fact, these short-term absences are what Leona identifies as the main challenge for PEI’s military reservist families, as they deal with changing logistics and emotions, compounded with navigating a system where the general public isn’t always aware that these absences happen.
To help families cope, the PEI MFRC has a staff member dedicated to working with families experiencing work-related absences, as well as a registered social worker. Another active part of the PEI MFRC strategic plan to connect with families and facilitate connections between families are the social events it provides.
“These are crucial,” Leona states, noting the importance for all military and Veteran families, regardless of their current situation. “Families are looking to connect, and the high participation rate of our events and activities reflect this.”
Leona cites a recent grant from True Patriot Love that allowed the PEI MFRC to put together a series of artistic activities for Veterans, military members, and their families—it didn’t take long for spots to fill up for the Creative Art Program months in advance. Their monthly coffee mornings are super popular, as is their annual Family Christmas Party which can often bring up to [number] people together.
“The social and fun times build the relationships so that when there is an issue, the families are comfortable coming to us because they know us already.”
“We know our families’ names”
Leona admits she’s been asked why PEI needs a Military Family Resource Centre by individuals who aren’t aware of the supports needed by military families. Part of her job, then, extends beyond the families themselves and into educating the greater community.
As part of this objective, the PEI MFRC attend regular unit briefings, often bringing in coffee and treats for the members; they participate in community parades, where children delight at seeing their fox mascot drive a tank; and they host their own events, providing opportunities for military families to meet and connect with the greater PEI community.
“While there are many amenities that a larger base can offer military families, we absolutely love serving a smaller location because we know our families. We know their names, we know their faces, and we know their wins and challenges—that’s really hard to do in locations where there might be 8,000 military members,” Leona notes.
On PEI, it isn’t uncommon for a PEI MFRC staff member to run into one of their military family members at the local hardware store or community event. For this particular MFRC, the families are more than clients and numbers—they are recognizable faces with names the staff know.
It’s this personal connection that allows Leona and her staff to really listen to their families and, often, find a unique solution to help their specific needs—something that can be difficult to do for thousands of people.
Getting to Yes
So how does a firefighter hat wearing, creative problem solver, working daily to help PEI’s military families decompress? Joking that she’s “solar powered,” Leona shares that nature is her go-to for recharging. Whether she’s kayaking, walking, hiking, running, planning a trip to climb Mount Kilamajoro (true story that happened in summer 2022), or just being outside, nature is Leona’s happy place.
Leona also finds motivation to keep working with and for PEI’s military families because of her own experiences. She remembers a particularly stressful day, back when she was new to a community, the mom of two young children, and a husband who was frequently away: The MFRC in that community came together to help ease some of that stress.
“Having the support of the MFRC at that time was life changing. I know what a difference family support can make for a military family, having experienced it myself, and I really want to pay it forward.”
Reflecting on her over five years at the PEI MFRC, Leona smiles when asked if she’s glad she moved here.
“PEI’s military community is dedicated, loyal, and thriving,” she says. “I love it here, and I love connecting with these incredible people. Honestly, military families have the ability to connect faster because it is a necessity—you can make a friend for life in five minutes, and that’s reflected here, even in this small place where most military members are already connected to the larger community.”
What does she like best about her work?
“Flexibility. We’re not government so we have more options available to us. We can think outside-the-box…we can collaborate with our partner organizations…we do what we can to find a unique solution for each person that meets their individual needs. Every day, we come to work and ask ‘how can we get to yes?’”
Leona is proud to say that her entire staff at PEI MFRC has a high track record of “getting to yes” which is reflective of a dynamic team who show up day after day committed to serving PEI’s military families.
To connect with Leona, email [email protected] or phone 902.892.8999.
