On a quiet morning at a Hope employment agency, a client who wants to be referred to only as Gord S. sat down and began playing a song he had written.
“Stuck in a crossroads, in my life. Looking for some freedom, just to feel alive,” he began, singing a haunting tune he accompanied by strumming on an acoustic guitar.
Darla Dickinson, case manager and employment coach at Free Rein Associates in Hope, recorded the video as her colleague and Gord’s contact at the agency was away from the office.
“It was the sort of classic example of a series of financial situations, left him in straits where he had less and less resources to draw from,” Dickinson said of Gord, who came to Free Rein in November 2017.
Gord had a background in driving and as he worked towards getting a full-time job, he did odd jobs and even some gold panning. Dickinson said Gord lived in Yale and despite having no means of transportation, always made it to weekly meetings with his case manager Gary Elliott.
She said many people who are unemployed in Hope find themselves without transportation, as a car is considered a luxury item and is often the first thing people have to get rid of when they lose their job. But to get to work in Hope or the Fraser Canyon, having a vehicle is often essential.
Dickinson said Gord’s song really captured the essence of what it’s like to be without work, sometimes for extended periods of one’s life.
“When you’re finding yourself at less and less of a means and then you eventually realize that you have no place left to go, like ‘what’s next, where can I go, where can I turn?’ And this song really does capture that, it really does capture the essence of a lot of people that just don’t feel like they have any place left to turn and how they even came to be in this place to begin with,” she said.
Gord, who could not be reached for an interview, references feeling lost and being at a crossroads in his song.
“Stuck in a crossroads, in this life. Which way to turn? Which way is right? Stuck in a crossroads, my thoughts are indecisive. Walking a tightrope to save my life,” he sings.
Going without employment has a financial affect but it also affects all facets of a person’s life.
“We get our social, emotional and physical health from our work. It forms part of our identity, it forms part of who we are,” Dickinson said.
“So when you are at a loss and you don’t have that, not only are you in financial straits but often you struggle emotionally as well. Because who you are and what defined you for so many years, is no longer there.”
The clients who come to the employment office range in the type of assistance they are looking for and how long it takes to get back into the workforce. One common truth, Dickinson said, is the longer someone is out of the job market, the more difficult it becomes to get back into it.
Gord has since found work driving a water truck, just over six months after he first came to Free Rein. When asked how it feels to see people find success like Gord has, Dickinson said it was difficult to find words to describe it.
“You feel this sense of satisfaction, this sense of success like you’ve personally done it and yet it was all them,” she said.
All across B.C. employment opportunities are plenty, in everything from the service sector to skilled trades.
“It’s a wonderful time to look at your career and where you’d like to take it,” Dickinson said, ending on a bright note for job-seekers in the community.
Is there more to this story?
news@hopestandard.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter