Like many people who come to Causeway Work Centre, Aleid was struggling to find the right job for him. Causeway’s Employment Supports Program was able to help. In his words: “Everything was so downhill [when I couldn’t find a job], but now things are looking up – Everything is changing. I feel proud to have a job”.
EARN member, Causeway, supports people with mental illness and other challenges to find rewarding work and live more independently. You can learn more about how to create mentally healthy workplaces where everyone, including those who live with mental illness can thrive, by attending EARN’s upcoming annual conference.
After years of searching for that perfect job, Aleid’s hard work and determination finally paid off when he was able to get not one, but three jobs. For a few months now, Aleid has been working at Tim Hortons in the lobby doing cleaning and maintenance, at the Ottawa Carleton Association for Persons with Developmental Disabilities (OCAPDD) maintaining the plants, and at an enterprise of OCAPDD called Hearty Tails where he is responsible for helping to make and package gourmet pet food.
Like many people who come to Causeway, Aleid was struggling to find a job that was right for him.
He began his journey in the Job Quest program where he began searching and applying to jobs online, developing his resume, and going to job fairs. Because of the nature of Causeway’s programs, Aleid was able to add more recent work experience to his resume while searching for employment by working for Good Nature Groundskeeping, a Causeway social enterprise. Despite his best efforts, he found that finding employment opportunities that worked for him was very difficult. “I went to so many interviews, but nothing was working”.
After transferring to the Employment Supports Program, he was able to get the right amount of support that he needed to find a job that he really enjoys. Even though he is now busier than ever, he often reflects on his experiences where he struggled to find a job. “Everything was so downhill [when I couldn’t find a job], but now things are looking up – Everything is changing. I feel proud to have a job”.
When asked about the future, Aleid said that he hopes to be trained at Tim Hortons to work the store front serving customers. “It’s time for me to try something new and different because when I usually get a job I’m stuck in either lobbies or parking lots”.
For those who are still struggling to find a job, Aleid’s advice is just to keep at it, because eventually it will work.
This success story was submitted by Rennatha Bernadin, Causeway Work Centre. Thank you, Rennatha, for sharing Aleid’s journey.
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