Who We Are
We are Steve and Tanya Sizer, your ‘Tour Guides’. A little bit about us… We met in 2009 through a mutual friend at our local pub. Our first date was a hike at the Royal Botanical Gardens where Steve had an allergic reaction to a bee sting and my First Aid skills came in real handy. We married four years later and spent our honeymoon on a driving tour of the coastal towns of Nova Scotia. Now, every chance we get – we are driving the back country roads and discovering the best nooks and crannies all over Ontario.
It’s in our blood to explore, and it’s equally in our blood to share our lives with people who have disabilities.
From an early age I (Tanya) was involved in mentoring fellow students, I ran a Summer Camp for children with language difficulties at Chedoke Hospital which then lead me to take Recreation Leadership at Mohawk College. After graduation I went on to coordinate the Supported Leisure Program for Community Living Hamilton for over twenty years including the creation of the Dragonfly Lodge program. During that same time, Steve was mentoring a fellow employee at the grocery store where they worked together in Mount Forest. Over the years, Steve has had many informal opportunities to support and show compassion for people with disabilities. Steve’s natural ability to listen and let people be themselves around him have made him a trustworthy confidant.
Our greatest joys come often when we see our Club Members laughing, singing, making friends, and having fun! That’s why we spend our days on the bus heading out of town on new adventures.
What Guides Us
We believe in the dignity of risk – in which individuals with developmental disabilities have the right to participate in the same activities as people without disabilities and in doing so they risk failure, and disappointment. However they also risk success and learning new skills, deepening their self-confidence, building self-esteem, and developing new friendships and a sense of belonging. We have witnessed Club Members overcome their fear of getting on a boat at the African Lion Safari, overcoming their fear of heights by doing the Edge Walk on the CN Tower, and a fear of flying with a Helicopter Tour of Niagara Falls.
What We Do
Club members enjoy travelling, and touring historical, educational, and cultural destinations together. They receive all the support and coordination they need to spend time away from their family in a variety of unique settings that allow for personal empowerment, growth, exploration, fun and friendship:
- All trips are self-paced, and personalized to fit individual ability levels, personal goals and interests.
- At Compass Club everyone plays a key role in the success of each activity, outing or journey by giving, sharing and taking on tasks and responsibilities.
- Take a quick glance through our Facebook photos, and you’ll see members pumping gas, making coffee, building a campfire or barbecuing for example. The things you can’t see are the times that someone will help a fellow member put their seatbelt on, lift their walker onto the bus, or listen to a friend and offer advice when they’ve had a bad day.
- We push boundaries to experience a world of ‘firsts’, we pull together to face challenges and we all come away with fresh skillsets, and enriched confidence.
- Our motto is “We Guide, You Lead”.
Why We Do It
We love each and every day when we get to share in the journey of the people we support. The journey of where we’re going on our trip, but also the journey of personal growth. Our Club Members are learning every day. Whether they realize it or not, they are learning new skills, building confidence and strengthening their bonds of community and we get to witness this every day.
We feel we are ‘the lucky ones because we are experiencing life from a new perspective – our members’, and spending our days enveloped in so much joy.
“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than in miles,” Tim Cahill