You’re invited to the 29th Annual General Meeting for Family Counselling and Support Services for Guelph-Wellington
We have much to share, special presentations and are thrilled to have Rick Osborne as our keynote speaker.
WHEN:
WHERE: Community Living Guelph Wellington – 8 Royal Road, Guelph, ON N1M 3J4
We look forward to seeing you at FCSSGW’s 29th Annual General Meeting! Register by clicking here.
Rick Osborne, one of Canada’s leading gang experts, has been well chronicled in the media. In 2014 he received a Heroes recognition award from MP Joy Smith’s Foundation, for his work with marginalized youth. Rick was raised in a middle class home environment, but silently suffered bullying from age 10 until his entrance into high school. As a teenager, in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Rick was victimized by a pair of heroin addicts. This, and other “street” traumas, contributed to his journey into drug addiction, cutting (self-mutilation), and opportunistic criminality. Rick quickly spiraled into street gang involvement which ultimately led to his entrance as member of an outlaw motorcycle club. At age 21 he entered the federal penitentiary system for multiple robbery and weapons offences where he spent 25 years of his life incarcerated in several different federal institutions from coast to coast. During this time Rick completed an apprenticeship and earned his license as a Class A mechanic. In 1993, after breaking free from drug addictions, he began to reform his life. He earned a B.A. in Psychology from Queen’s University and continued his studies at McMaster University completing an Addiction Careworker Diploma. His story of redemption allows him to work with unmatched credibility and power with youth involved in gangs or at the margins of gang involvement/ influence.
