Sister June Dwyer: nursing hope, healing families

TORONTO — Sister June Dwyer of the Sisters of St. Joseph is a nurse by profession and advocate who has dedicated her life to supporting vulnerable women and their children in their efforts to find stability, confidence and well-being. Her work reveals that compassion and meaningful support can empower women to live lives marked with dignity and independence. Dwyer is the 2010 YWCA Woman of Distinction recipient for Health and Healing.

Over the course of her career, Dwyer has held a range of management and administrative roles in hospitals and community health care settings. She was instrumental in the establishment of the St. Lawrence Health Centre, a community health centre operated by St. Michael’s Hospital and the City of Toronto. Dwyer was there when the centre opened for the first client in 1980; when she left five years later more than 5,000 clients from the surrounding neighbourhoods and other parts of the city were able to see doctors, nurses, counsellors and social workers for preventative health care as well as treatment.

Dwyer is best known for her work as the executive director of Nazareth House, a home for women who are at risk, recovering from addiction, dealing with abuse or have nowhere else to turn. Nazareth House is a home of hope and compassion that provides safe, supportive, transitional housing for women and their infants.

For more than 15 years, Dwyer has been committed to the well-being of the women and children who call Nazareth House home. The counsellors meet with each woman to develop a unique plan of care; at the same time, the women commit to their own recovery and plan of care. Dwyer and her staff have pioneered innovative health programs including a supervised home-based methadone program, in-house group therapy and a post-resident voluntary visiting program.

Dwyer’s mission is one of radical social justice. She believes that all human beings are equal in their need for and right to dignity, love, health and safety. Dwyer has dedicated her life’s work to ensuring that the most vulnerable people in society have access to safety, healing, love and support. As one former Nazareth House resident explains, “(Dwyer) took a stand and advocated for me . . . when everyone else had given up, and (she) nurtured me like a mother. She saw in me a worthy human being and treated me with such love . . . .”

Dwyer says she is optimistic and determined in her belief that with the right supports, women can confront challenges and secure better lives. Dwyer’s work helps women overcome addiction, further their education, permanently leave abusive relationships, parent their children in a positive and loving manner and assist them in finding employment. Child protection workers and even judges have indicated their faith in Dwyer’s ability to help a family in crisis transition toward stability and well-being.

Dwyer’s work serves as an example to the transformative potential of programs and services that are well-designed and delivered with compassion, determination and understanding.