On June 20, during a unique London, Ontario business event designed to address poverty through the lens of mental health as a barrier to employment, a young woman shared her story of reaching rock bottom in her life, contemplating suicide, and then finding a way out of the darkness. She cited her employment in a social enterprise, Pathways Clean Works, as the key factor in her turn-around.

Through this supportive and non-traditional workplace,the woman has moved from being depressed, overweight and isolated to gaining new confidence, engaging with friends and co-workers, leading a small team at her workplace and losing weight.

As she finished her story, the group of business leaders listening gave her a standing ovation.

The young woman’s story sparked an “aha moment” for these London business leaders, says a coordinator of the event, Maureen Spencer Golovchenko, community collaboration program manager for Pillar Nonprofit Network.

The presentation was part of a day-long tour of four social enterprises in London by a group of business leaders, including Brian Henderson, regional vice-president for the London/St. Thomas RBC Royal Bank, and Gus Kotsiomitis, RBC vice-president for commercial financial services and London Chamber of Commerce president.

RBC and the London Chamber of Commerce recently partnered with Pillar Nonprofit Network, United Way London & Middlesex and the Wellesley Institute to launch the Prince’s Seeing is Believing program in London, as a means of addressing poverty —through the lens of mental health as a barrier to employment. 

The Prince’s Seeing is Believing is an experiential program created two decades ago by Prince Charles in order to engage corporate leaders on social issues and challenge them to action.

The day-long event began with breakfast at a café operated by Goodwill Industries, which runs a number of social enterprises.

The group toured the Goodwill enterprises and then bussed to see several operated by Youth Opportunities Unlimited in another part of the city.  

Representatives from Clean Works, a social enterprise operated by Pathways Skill Development and Employment Centre, and Impact Junk Solutions, run by WOTCH Mental Health Services, joined the tour to share their stories. One of these stories featured Impact Junk’s notable achievement of owning a dump truck that’s never gone to the dump. A junk collection service, the year-old enterprise has managed to find a home for all the “waste” items it collects.

The tour ended with the business group discussing next steps, the first of which is to plan a meeting with additional business leaders to explore actionable ways they can support the growth of social enterprises in the city. They are also considering the development of education and support initiatives to help break the mental health stigma in workplaces, as well as make mental health issues less of a barrier to people’s employment.

“We are really thrilled,” says Spencer Golovchenko reflecting on the tour’s success, noting Pillar Nonprofit Network has been trying to engage the business community for several years.

“Through this program, I think we’ve broken a paradigm,” she says.

The London business community has typically supported the non-profit sector through the donation of funds. This effort appears to have opened business     leaders’ eyes to the possibilities and opportunities in bringing their business acumen and resources and networks from the “board room down to the community level,” Spencer Golovchenko says.