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Keagan Cockerill was only 4 years old when she started helping her mother, a correctional officer at CSC, study for criminology exams<\/p>\n Keagan Cockerill was only 4 years old when she started helping her mother, a correctional officer at CSC, study for criminology exams<\/p>\n
As a little girl growing up in Saskatoon, Keagan Cockerill would sit at the kitchen table while her mother studied for criminology exams. \u201cI was only four years old, but I would quiz her on the terms, and I picked up words most kids my age wouldn\u2019t know,\u201d she says with a laugh. \u201cWe\u2019ve always been so close. My mom has always been my biggest inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n
As her mother began her career as a correctional officer, she would often remind Keagan that behind the walls and wire were human beings who are flawed, complicated, and still capable of \u00a0kindness. \u201cThere\u2019s such a misconception that federally sentenced people are nothing like us,\u201d Keagan reflects. \u201cBut my mom would share stories of offenders who would look out for her or quietly warn her if something felt off. That humanity stuck with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
It also planted the seed for what she would discover was her calling as a parole officer. At university, Keagan immersed herself in sociology, psychology, and criminology, seeking out practicums that took her into healing lodges and psychiatric centres. Her passion was advocacy, particularly for those who had been overlooked or misunderstood.<\/p>\n
At just 22, she became a residential caseworker at the John Howard Society of Saskatchewan, working with male youth at risk. Many were only a few years younger than her. \u201cI was like a den mother, but also a big sister,\u201d she remembers. \u201cWe had dinner on the table every night. I showed up to parent, teacher meetings. I took them to sport events, and I created a non-judgmental space for them to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those years taught her the transformative power of trust, consistency, and compassion. It also showed her how, as a Black woman, lived experience matters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely always operate with a culturally competent lens,\u201d she says. \u201cRepresentation matters, and it makes a difference when someone doesn\u2019t have to explain who they are and what their cultural expression is before being understood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, Keagan is a parole officer with the Toronto Women\u2019s Supervision Unit, where she currently supervises 19 women on conditional release. Her work is dynamic, sometimes meeting in the office, at a client\u2019s home or workplace, and other times sharing coffee and conversation on a park bench. \u201cOne of my clients joked that our check-ins felt like therapy,\u201d Keagan says with a smile. \u201cAnd in a way, sometimes they do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The success of her clients\u2019 journeys is relative. It might look like a woman who stays sober for a month after years of relapse. Or a client who, against all odds, begins rebuilding a life with her family, shopping for chicken at the supermarket and making dinner at home. \u201cIt\u2019s about meeting them where they\u2019re at,\u201d she says. \u201cYou can\u2019t hold everyone to the same measuring stick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the most moving moments have come when clients express their gratitude. A woman finishing her sentence might hand her a letter, thanking her for believing in her when no one else did. Another may drop by the office months later, just to say hi. \u201cThose are the tear-jerker moments,\u201d Keagan admits. \u201cThose are the moments that remind you why this work matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
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For Keagan Cockerill, parole work is about humanity, possibility, and the quiet victories that ripple out far beyond what anyone can see.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s also helping to create new traditions of hope. Her unit recently launched a Star of the Month program, recognizing women for milestones like sobriety, employment, or volunteering. While the laminated certificates they hand out may be simple, the impact isn\u2019t. \u201cMany of these women have gone their whole lives without being recognized for their accomplishments,\u201d she says. \u201cTo see them cry tears of joy or proudly hang their certificate in their living room is so powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keagan dreams big, too. A lifelong dancer, she envisions one day creating a hip hop dance program for federally sentenced women. \u201cDance was always an outlet for me, it builds resilience, confidence, self, expression,\u201d she says. \u201cI know it could be the same for them.\u201d She\u2019s already tested the waters by performing at an ethnocultural day inside an institution.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t say that performing a dance solo in front of several women I\u2019ve supervised wasn\u2019t nerve wracking, but their unwavering cheering, support, and genuine appreciation made it all worth it,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was a moment of unity, no barriers, just people connecting.\u201d<\/p>\n
But for all her vision and drive, Keagan never forgets the heart of the work: walking alongside people, not above them. It\u2019s that balance, firm but fair, compassionate yet accountable, that guides her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou empower, you hold accountable, you walk with them for a time, and then you let them go,\u201d she says. \u201cThe hope is that they carry the tools to stop harming themselves and others.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also makes sure to practice what she preaches. \u201cSelf-care is everything,\u201d she notes. \u201cI love fitness classes, and I\u2019ve learned to tell my friends, \u2018I don\u2019t have the bandwidth today,\u2019 if I\u2019ve had a really heavy week. You can\u2019t show up for others if you don\u2019t take care of yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Keagan, parole work isn\u2019t about control or authority; it\u2019s about humanity, possibility, and the quiet victories that ripple out far beyond what anyone can see. \u201cI absolutely love coming to work every day,\u201d she says. \u201cEven on the hard days, there are always glimmers of progress. And that\u2019s enough to keep me going.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keagan Cockerill was only 4 years old when she started helping her mother, a correctional officer at CSC,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,128851,128847,128857,128848,114714,128855,128849,128845,44,128846,128852,128856,128858,128854,128850,128859,128853],"class_list":["post-283469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-parole-officers","tag-community-parole-officer","tag-correctional-officers-canada","tag-correctional-service-canada","tag-csc","tag-culturally-competent-corrections","tag-john-howard-society-saskatchewan","tag-keagan-cockerill","tag-news","tag-parole-officer-toronto","tag-rehabilitation-in-corrections","tag-representation-in-corrections","tag-restorative-justice","tag-second-chances-csc","tag-toronto-womens-supervision-unit","tag-trauma-informed-paro","tag-women-on-parole"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}