When we had our first meeting with Barry, he had recently lost his full time job of 12 years and he expressed feelings of sorrow at not being able to work for the same employer anymore or do the same job. He spoke of the changes he had gone through since his back surgery—changes that forced him to look at life very differently. He could no longer rely on the type of physical work that was required in his past job as a Furniture Assembler.

”It seemed that our Employ-Ability workshops came at the ideal time for him,” said Employ-Ability Facilitator, Joanne Ahern. “Although it was a difficult time, Barry faced the challenges head on and he found the determination to move ahead with his action plan, one step at a time.”