Rise: Supporting Business Growth, Investing in People

The Business and Economic Roundtable on Mental Health analyzed how depression has affected business productivity. They estimated that the economic costs of mental illness are equivalent to 14% of the corporate nation’s net operating profits.

How can business leaders create opportunity for emerging entrepreneurs with mental health challenges?

Someone who has overcome the adversity of a mental health challenge is a more determined person. Unfortunately, due to the stigma that exists, finding suitable employment is often a difficult task for people with a mental health history.

Perhaps this means they should start focusing more on entrepreneurial endeavours?

Youth Small Business Program

In the world of entrepreneurship, you have to be able to turn heads. You need to be able to offer a product or service that has real value – especially if you are a small start-up. You have to create buzz.

“In the Youth Small Business Program we use Business Design thinking to help students create and launch businesses,” said Ross. “One of the key components of Design Thinking and small business is the ability to try out lots of different ideas, but do so as cheaply as possible. The more traditional approaches to business development and operation like marketing with flyers or having a ‘brick and mortar’ store represent huge investments for our entrepreneurs and are very risky things to use to experiment with new business ideas. Digital space, on the other hand, is cheap, relatively easy and ubiquitous and offers a fantastic opportunity for our students to be nimble, experimental, and cost effective while being able to access a large population of clients.”

Employment is one of the most important factors in improving self-esteem, positive mental health and helping individuals manage their symptoms. However, people living with mental health challenges come to find many barriers to meaningful employment. Entrepreneurship allows them to be their own boss and work at a job that meets their experience and qualifications.

Rise expanded to Ottawa with the help from Alterna Savings. Their services can be accessed at the Causeway Foundation’s Work Centre.

Rohan Small, an entrepreneur and participant in Rise’s Youth Small Business Program, is in the process of building an employment agency, AM/PM Employment Solutions. He has found “design thinking” to be an incredible opportunity to start-up with the right mindset.

“It’s been helpful learning how to analyze potential customers before getting in business,” said Rohan. “At AM/PM Employment Solutions, we help companies deal with time management and overhead costs. We help find the right employees for the right jobs and have successfully placed candidates in the past. We’re planning to do this in the future with larger companies.”

Adversity has placed an important role in Rohan’s life. He’s been able to experience things most people have not had to experience, and because of it he’s become a stronger entrepreneur.

“Having started my business in high school, I would say it was difficult being young and inexperienced,” said Rohan. “It was difficult having to do all this while dealing with mental illness and being sick. I feel that it’s a learning curve and with all challenges comes opportunity. I have had experience in the past running my business. Instead of being the cheapest, we plan on focusing on strong service.”

In 2001, vocational rehabilitation was given to 149 people with severe mental health conditions. They were analyzed on the basis of how employment contributed to their psychiatric symptoms, self-esteem and quality of life over an18 month period.

They were put into four different categories of work: competitive work, sheltered work, minimal work and no work.

Higher rates of improvement were found in the competitive group.