k : J '<f I male department head. In September of 1989, she be- gan what she calls "testing the water" through part-time Queen's psychology courses. She wasn't considering full-time study but was looking for train- ing in an area of her job she en- joyed -- counselling staff and children in township programs. Ironically, her last promotion to director pushed her more to- ward policy-making and away from counselling. "I guess that's when I started to think. This isn't what I want to do. I'm losing my purpose." Vacations were another way of ' testing the waters. She went to Portugal in spring of 1990, then to Japan in early 1991. By that spring, she knew she wanted two things -- to travel and to further her education. Finkle said her family did not really understand. "Their main concern is why would I want to give up a good job, and good money, and security...?" Only her eldest brother, Mike, a Belleville electrician, offered encouragement. "If you don't do it, you'll always wonder," he told her. Finkle wondered. She also knew, "I finally had to break away...and do it for me." In January of 1992, Finkle said goodbye to her Sidney job and family and set off on a six- month tour of Southeast Asia. On her return, she moved into Queen's residence. Finkle acknowledged her first year at Queen's tested her confi- dence. She was an older person living in a graduate residence, but still facing "all the adjust- ments of a frosh that I'm seeing as a don this year." Figuring out where she fit into the Queen's community, she said, was the hardest part. But she's more than fit in at Queen's. She's now counselling stu- dents, whose main problems are homesickness and lovesickness. Finkle doesn't miss her pay- cheques. She's too busy, from early morning until evening, as well as being on 24-hour call, counselling, studying and resi- dence program planning. She's currently pursuing a Masters degree in Social Work. Her long term goal is to help child victims of sexual abuse. Does she ever feel -- 12 years later -- she's been given a second chance? "No," she says, emphatically. "I gave myself a second chance."