Under Pandemic Pressure: Laura Gatien Helps To Maintain Mental Health
SAINT JOHN – Businesses of every shape and size have been thrown for a loop by the Covid-19 pandemic. In the second of a three-part series of conversations with local female entrepreneurs, we spoke with Laura Gatien, a private practice therapist and owner of Laura Gatien Counselling Services, about her struggles, pivots and adjustments during this difficult period.
Tell us about your work
“I am a social worker and opened a solo practice in 2018. Over the past two years, I saw such a demand that I grew a team of 14 people.”
“My whole mission is to remove barriers to mental health treatment through reducing stigma and increasing accessibility, so that’s been my whole focus for the last couple of years.”
Was it an adjustment pivoting to online? What are your future plans?
“Initially I think people were scrambling to figure out their childcare and their jobs, and then some people did lose their jobs, so they were canceling their appointments because of that. But I think now that there is more emphasis on staying well during this and that this is not the time to pause your mental health and progress that you’ve made.”
“This is the time to really build up your toolbox so that you can dip into it. I always say to people, try to take a bit of a proactive approach to coping [with difficulties]. If you only reach out for your help when you’re on the edge of breaking, it’s a lot harder.
How are businesses coping and adapting?
“I think as a business community, there’s so much fear and so much uncertainty because no one knows how long it’s going to go on. So even when they’re crunching numbers, they don’t know. In my mind I was thinking, ‘Maybe if we could make it to June 1, I’ll still be able to pay the rent,’ but no one knows. I think there is a lot of fear and anxiety and worry among small business owners by far. You cannot count on the government to bail you out.”
“There’s a new awareness. People realize, ‘Hey, that gym stays open because people have memberships there, that stand in the market stays open because people shop there.’ On a day to day basis, people just take for granted that small businesses are in business and always will be, and that simply is not true. It’s an incredible struggle for small businesses.”
How do you think local and small businesses will restart and grow now that restrictions are being lifted?
“Just one day at a time. Hopefully, they’re working on their businesses right now and using this time to look at their systems, look at their numbers, look at their processes and say, ‘How can I come back from this with a bang?’
“It’s seeing what the steps are in rebuilding and hopefully getting the community support. If they’ve supported the community over the years hopefully it comes back on them.”
What are your thoughts on the business relief programs that the federal and provincial governments are offering for business owners and entrepreneurs?
“They’re really quite generous and they’ve done a really good job at supporting businesses from what I can tell. At first, there didn’t seem to be much, just the 10 percent wage subsidy. I thought, ‘Okay that’s not going to be able to keep people working.’ But then they introduced the 75 percent wage subsidy. That’s really forward-thinking for the economy.”
“The only thing is I think some people were already laid off before they announced the subsidy, so now they have to rehire them and apply for the subsidy. I don’t think some businesses will do that. It’s a little bit late but in the grand scheme of things I think they really rallied quickly to help small businesses.”
“They’ve definitely exceeded my expectations. I didn’t have any expectations before because I truly feel that it is on the entrepreneur to figure it out.”
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