Watch a video about Anna Amy Ho at ryerson.ca/alumni

PROFILES

Grateful every day

Crisis counsellor sows the seeds of resilience

BY SUE HORNER

ANNA AMY HO, Social Work ’15, believes everyone carries some weight of trauma or hardship; it’s what you do with the experience that matters. What Ho has done is make a difference.

Ho was 13 when she witnessed the murder of her mother and grandmother by her mother’s abusive partner. She credits Victim Services Toronto for guiding her first steps in a world without family.

Living independently at 16, Ho focused on her studies as one area where she had control, and graduated from Ryerson with honours. Post-university travel offered yet another perspective on life. Two and a half months of backpacking in Australia showed Ho how people can be happy with very little.

“That inspired a mindset of being grateful every day,” Ho says. “People call me resilient, but I believe everyone has the capacity to overcome anything. It’s a matter of nurturing that seed of resilience, doing the things that make you happy and never giving up on yourself.”

Ho puts her belief into practice as a crisis counsellor and violence prevention program co-ordinator at Victim Services Toronto. She is also a passionate public speaker on resilience, child abuse and child welfare, and has spurred changes in child welfare policy and practices.

Ho has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Attorney General’s Victim Services Award of Distinction and the Isadore Sharp Outstanding Recent Graduate Award.

“I’m grateful,” Ho says, “but the biggest reward is that sharing my story has inspired people to think, ‘If Anna can do it, I can, too.’”

Ho now plans to study for her master of social work, then establish an accessible, affordable program of music, dance and art therapy. Eventually, she wants to open a therapeutic arts centre, where children and adults can access arts-based forms of therapy.

For now, she says, “I’m grateful every day for what I have in my life. I love my jobs, I have friends I consider family and a wonderful partner who keeps me grounded. And I’m happy to give back to the community that helped me.”