Top Forty Under 40: Helping injured workers and their employers
Oliver-born Sekhon switches from business to psychology to better help people
Abruptly, after her second year of university, Gagn Sekhon switched direction from business to psychology and sociology.
“I realized I fundamentally wanted to interact and help people and I couldn’t see doing that staring at data on a computer all day,” said the 27-year-old.
“So, I started to take psychology and sociology to better build my foundation to help people.”
Sekhon’s second about face would come a few years later.
“My first job out of university was with Interior Health working with low-income single moms, kids under six and elderly patients in care,” she said.
“It was great work, but my interests morphed into looking to work with people, to help them move forward in their lives with a long-term outlook.”
That career curve led her to become a employment services manager with WorkBC to help people find employment and come off employment insurance or welfare.
“Success in that job was measured in so many ways,” said Sekhon.
“The most obvious was when someone I was helping found a job. But there were also successes if they decided to go back to school, or start their own business, find housing if they were homeless, beat addiction or improve their health.”
Sekhon is now an entitlement officer with WorkSafeBC.
The title sounds like the term bandied about when referring to the millennial generation feeling entitled to an easy life and constant praise.
What it means in WorkSafeBC’s case is determining what injured workers are entitled to on their road to recovery and returning to work.
“We measure success at WorkSafeBC by how quickly someone can safely return to work,” said Sekhon.
“The longer you stay off work, the harder it is to return to work.”
“We help injured workers figure out what wages they will receive while off work, what health-care treatment they need and we can also liaise with employers to see if workers can return to work with lighter duties. Many are complex cases.”
Sekhon was born and raised in Oliver and graduated from
Southern Okanagan Secondary School.
After going to UBC in Vancouver, her first job was back in Oliver at Desert Sun Counselling and Resource Centre.
That’s also when her volunteering started, with Interior Health helping a social worker with terminal care patients.
She also became an instructor with Roots of Empathy to help kindergarten students understand other people’s feelings as a way of creating better social groups.
Sekhon is also going to do the training with Kelowna Community Resources to work on its Crisis Line, the 24/7 phone service to help anyone who calls. Sekhon loves road trips. Her last one was around Arizona and her next one will be San Francisco and over the Golden Gate Bridge to the Napa wine region.
Sekhon also enjoys spending time with family and friends, preferably by the water on a lakeside walk or eating and drinking on a patio overlooking Okanagan Lake.