AKLAVIK - Whether it's to help clean up a crime scene or be a shoulder to cry on in court, Shandel McLeod is always on call.

The Aklavik resident helped launch the Mackenzie Delta hamlet's first victim services program out of the community justice office in 2007 and for the past three years has been a support system to victims of all types of crime.

"One of the biggest parts of my work has to do with violence - whether it's family, domestic or property violence," McLeod said from her office.

As victim services co-ordinator, McLeod handles referrals from the police when a crime has taken place so she can contact the victims and offer to help, even if that means showing up on scene to find them emergency shelter or accompanying them to the health centre, community counsellor, or to a court trial.

"That way they don't feel like, 'I can't go to the RCMP,' or 'I'm too scared to go here.' My job is to make the victim feel more comfortable, more safe," said McLeod, a mother of three. "I try to make them as comfortable as possible in the court room, even if we have to do visits to the court room prior to court being held."

Between attending training sessions in Yellowknife eight times a year, filing paperwork and referrals for current clients and checking up on previous clients, a large part of her job involves helping victims of family violence. That means McLeod must make herself available whenever these clients decide they want to see her - a challenge she calls "the waiting game."

"I could be at the Northern Store, you know, shopping, just doing my regular day stuff and I'll have a woman or a man or a kid come up to me and ask if they can talk to me. So my hours of work are pretty much 24/7," she said, explaining her work is made easier because she was born and raised in Aklavik.

"It gives me a pretty good advantage because I pretty much know everyone here in Aklavik and everybody knows me and I try to better myself to work with others," McLeod said. "I just want to help people in the community. I feel better knowing that families are safe and that now people are starting to talk about it. It just makes me feel like a better person, helping others that are hurt."

She's currently dealing with about seven victims of crime in the community, and their collective stories can be a lot to handle, mentally and emotionally.

"If it's something that's too graphic or if it's in too much detail for me, I'll just ask them if I can step out for a few minutes. A part of victim services is you only go as far as your body can handle. If it's too much for your mind, there's a debriefing service," she explained, wherein McLeod relies on her counterparts in Inuvik for moral support.

"That's way I'm not going home with the stress of my position."

She also relieves stress by volunteering around town, including organizing volleyball tournaments. It's a lifestyle much different than the ones in her youthful dreams of growing up to be a hairdresser or an airline stewardess, but McLeod now says she couldn't imagine doing anything else.

"I'm an open-minded person. I'm energetic. I love volunteering. I just really like being out - out on the land or just out in the community walking around," she said. "I cannot leave this job. It's absolutely the best job that I think is for me."

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