JA was referred to us from Street Outreach Services and had many barriers to employment such as a history of addictions, a criminal record and many gaps in his employment history. He also recognized in himself that he had some serious anger issues, stemming from relationships with his family as well as his experiences living on the streets. During our first life skills meetings, we addressed some of his feelings as well as explored some strategies that he could use to deal with these feelings. Although JA has always been an excellent worker and therefore one of the favourites of the managers, he would often have outburst on-shift whenever he was frustrated or felt 'picked on'. He would slam doors, storm out to the back and would, at times, become aggressive and make threatening comments whenever he became angry. We challenged him to recognize and address how his outbursts have contributed to his inability to maintain employment or to communicate effectively with others. We assisted him in building his communication skills with the team - both during the life skills meetings as well as on-shift with the managers. Previously, he would address frustrations or concerns in 'the heat of the moment', which never proved to be an effective way for him to resolve these issues and often exacerbate his frustrations. He began practicing 'taking a moment' to gather his thoughts, rather then addressing the issue while he was angry about it. He would take his breaks at these moments and would approach the managers after he had calmed down and had had time to fully understand what it was that was frustrating him. By doing this he was able to see the different reactions and responses that he would receive, which helped him understand how to begin communicating effectively, honestly and responsibly.

We also explored alternative ways for JA to release and address built-up anger. He joined a boxing gym through the life skills program. He explored his interests in art by keeping an scrapbook/journal where he would draw his dreams and nightmares (which he has continued to do) and he also entered a poetry contest, hosted by another community agency and wrote about his addictions and life on the streets. JA also expressed his desire to see a therapist outside of AAB for these anger issues and we assisted him in finding one that he continued to see for the duration of his time with us.

Towards the end of his year at River, JA approached us to say that he felt he was ready to graduate and begin his job search. Being a huge hockey fan, JA's goal was to get a job in the kitchen at 'Wayne Gretsky's' Restaurant. After a few weeks of handing out resumes and interviews, he was hired at 'Gretsky's' as a dishwasher/prep cook. JA most recently called the management team at River to tell them that he had been promoted to a line cook - a position that would not only pay him more money, but would provide him with his own personal set of chef coats. He has been working at 'Gretsky's' now for over a year.

MS was referred through Youth Outreach Toronto. She had recently immigrated from Russia and had no Canadian work experience. She was in an adult ESL program when we met her and was very eager to develop her communication skills and gain some work experience. MS was hired as wait staff due to her friendly nature and professional appearance, but we soon found that her challenges with the language made her extremely shy and nervous with the customers. The first time she waited on a table, she whispered her greeting and was therefore ignored by the very rowdy table. She cried after this experience and was extremely frustrated - it was a week or two before she would try it again. In any other customer service work environment, MS would not have been given the opportunity or the encouragement to gain the confidence or experience that she needed, however, she was one of our most reliable staff at the restaurant - never missing a shift. We worked very hard with her during the day shifts so she could master the menu and continued this menu testing and confidence building in her life skills meetings with us. Through the life skills program we gave MS the time throughout her week to continue with her ESL courses and within a few months, she was competent and comfortable enough to be moved to the busier night shifts.

After MS's initial life skills meetings, which centered solely on her communication skills and her knowledge of the menu and the procedures with the tables, she shared with us that she was interested in possibly returning to school to explore the areas of fitness or nutrition, but she wasn't sure in what capacity. One of her goals through the life skills program was to research the different programs in the city that were available and for her. We encouraged her to contact potential employers in this field to research which programs and certifications were necessary and most reputable. From this goal, MS found the 'Personal Trainer Course' through Humber College and enrolled. Through the life skills program, we scheduled time for her to complete these courses.

The rest of MS's life skills time was focused on becoming certified. She received her First Aid through St. John's Ambulance, prepared for her theory test with us in our meetings and passed this first test in November of 2002. For her following goals, she joined a gym so she could become familiar with the various machines. Once she felt comfortable with these machines, she then began practicing by creating fitness programs both for herself and for other staff members. In February of 2003, MS passed the practical exam - the final stage of her certification.

Currently MS is working full time with 'Total Fitness', making $25/hr when she is working with her clients. She has been working there for over a year now and has been promoted to staff supervisor.

Daren was referred to us in 2001 from Evergreen Center for Street Youth with several employment barriers. Some of these barriers included no Canadian work experience and minimal skills. He had just served time in the Don Jail for assault and trafficking, and was living in a shelter. By the time he was hired into our kitchen he wanted to change his life. He started as a dishwasher and had little faith in his abilities to be a successful cook and would often claim that ‘he couldn’t do it’. After a lot of encouragement and ‘tough love’, Daren became one of our most reliable employees. Without fail, he would be there in the morning at least a half an hour before his shift started to set up and prep the kitchen for service. He learned the necessary skills at all of the stations and by the end of his program was helping to train new participants, was assisting the Chef in ordering supplies and was giving his input on the special menus. Through the life skills program Daren worked on his English literacy skills and one of our supporters acted as his tutor for several months. He also saved his money and got out of the shelter. Today Daren works at a fine-dining restaurant on College St. His interview consisted of making a pasta dish for the General Manager and for the Chef and both were impressed with his knife skills, presentation and ability. Daren’s position as a line cook is paying him $11/hr to start. He is currently saving his money to be able to fly home to Ethiopia to visit his family this winter.

Laura had several employment barriers when she was referred to River in 2001. She had a history of self-harm, abuse and attempted suicide, as well as minimal work experience. As a result, she was unemployed and had little self-confidence. She learned to be a server through the training at River and benefited greatly from the lifeskills program as we worked with her around problem solving, recognizing and altering patterns of behaviour, motivation, budgeting and goal setting; all the while providing her with the support she needed to raise her self-esteem. It has been one year since Laura graduated with us and she has recently made contact with All-A-Board to thank her old managers for 'helping her to learn how to be accountable'. She is now working at a restaurant on Vancouver Island as a server and saving all of her tips as she's just been accepted back into school.

Craig was referred to us in 1999 from his worker at Youth Outreach Toronto. He was living in a shelter at the time and had minimal work experience, but was interested in cooking. We hired him into our kitchen as a dishwasher. He eventually worked his way around each of the stations and became an integral part of our catering team. After he had been with us for seven months, he requested a transfer to the front of the house so that he could gain experience as a server. One of the main issues that we worked with Craig on was his attendance and his tendency to be late for his shifts. In his life skills sessions we worked on motivation – an area that he identified as being a problem for him. By the end of the program he was one of our on-shift supervisors and had completed his last three credits – making him a high school graduate, which had been one of his main goals when he came into our program.

Craig has kept in touch with All-A-Board over the years. When he completed our program he was hired as a server at ‘Red Lobster’ and continues to work there now as part time staff. He has also just been hired by Toronto Parks and Recreation to help implement a program in Etobicoke that provides youth between the ages of 12-24 with after school activities and day programs to keep them off the streets. He has many ideas for programming for this age group and has returned to All-A-Board to reconnect so that he can refer his youth back to the program that gave him his opportunity for training, support and employment. He is very proud of the opportunity that he now has to give something back to his community.

David was referred to us in 1999 by his principal who was afraid that he was going to turn to the streets after he had been expelled from school in grade 10. He had no interest in returning to school as he had found it difficult to learn in the classroom environment, but had no previous work experience to qualify him for the workforce. He also had no supports in his life besides his brothers who were often in and out of jail. David was hired into our kitchen to be trained because he wanted to learn a new skill and was interested in cooking. We had several problems with him with regards to attendance and motivation and the managers at the restaurant worked consistently with him around developing his work ethic and helping him to focus on the tasks at hand. During his life skills sessions, a lot of time was spent on matching him to various tutors until he found one that worked well with him. In his time with his tutor, he worked on his reading and writing skills, as his abilities to communicate on paper were very minimal. David graduated from our program successfully more then two years ago. Today David is working in the kitchen at the Holiday Inn and has been there now since he graduated from River.

A year ago he called the restaurant to speak to his old managers and to update them on his progress. He wanted to give us his new number in case we ever needed some experienced kitchen staff or old graduates to come in to fill in shifts when needed. He wanted to be able to give something back to River for helping him to see that he indeed had talent in the kitchen.

We hired Jessy into the restaurant in April 2000 after she was referred to us from St. Stephen’s Employment Center. She had no previous work experience in a kitchen and came to us for our training, as well as the personal support our programs and managers provide. Training Jessy was a challenge because she had very low self-esteem and a lot of anger issues stemming from unresolved abuse issues from her childhood. This anger played itself out in how she took direction from her managers, as well as how she handled stress while on the job. Through the life skills program we set Jessy up with a counselor that she could connect with once a week to address these issues. The life skills team also worked a lot with her around trying new behaviors to deal with stress and frustration while on the job and the managers provided her with constant feedback regarding her progress and other strategies.

In time, we found that Jessy was very talented in the kitchen. She quickly began to take on more responsibility with regards to ordering and working closely with the chef and the other trainers when the new menus were being constructed and through this new responsibility, her confidence began to grow. At the end of 7 months at River, she was hired at the Air Canada Center as a prep cook and when the season there was over, she came back to us as an assistant manager in training—grateful and eager for the opportunity to show us what she had learned and how far she’d come.

Jessy now lives in Alberta and has been working consistently in various kitchens. She’s learned that with her valuable experience and obvious culinary talent, that she can save her money and work as she travels and explores her options for her future.