Dewar Boutilier thought he was unemployable. After suffering a brain injury in a car crash 15 years ago, the once vice-president who oversaw million-dollar accounts, became unable to work, eventually losing his job and his financial independence.
Now, due to the Nutrition, Cooking and Gardening program at Powell River Brain Injury Society, Boutilier wakes up with a renewed sense of purpose and joy.
Four people have been given a new chance at employment and life—not only receiving a paycheque but also giving back to the community at large—by creating a garden space now buzzing with life and newly hatched mason bees, at the corner of Duncan Street and Joyce Avenue.
“This place has taught me a how to give back,” said Tommy Carew, also employed at the program. Carew is responsible for many of the buildings at the garden including the new chicken run, which will be welcoming its first tenants at the end of the month.
The brain injury society helps those who have suffered an acquired brain injury, defined on the society’s website as, “damage to the brain which occurs after birth and is not related to a congenital or degenerative disease.”
“You know, all kinds of ways you can get injured when you whack your brain bad enough,” said Debbie Dee, executive director of the society. “It’s a split second that changes your life.”
A brain injury can happen to anybody said Dee, whether through a car or workplace accident or through violence.
Carew is one of the people at the society who experienced violence. Originally from Surrey, he said he had a rough upbringing, got involved with gangs and took several beatings, one that nearly ended his life.
“I think the actual problem was being taught the wrong processes by the wrong people of how to live life,” said Carew, explaining that he originally moved to Powell River to get away from all the violence and be alone.
Harry Zarins, executive director of Brain Injury Society of Canada, said people with brain injuries want to isolate themselves socially, in part, because of the stigma attached to having a brain injury.
Zarins said brain injuries have behavioural, emotional or cognitive challenges that the public, and employers in particular, might not be able to see, understand or know how to deal with.
“It’s important to get people with brain injuries into situations where they are socializing and learning the life skills they need to manage in life,” said Zarins, who applauded the work of Powell River’s society, in particular because of its integrated team approach.
The year-long program in Powell River is funded from a grant from Service Canada. Each of the four program participants works 18 hours a week, earning within the $800 a month allowed by the provincial government’s Annual Earning Exemption program started this year.
“What they’re learning is skill building and work experience and they’re learning everything,” said Dee. “It’s a skill-building work experience program so at the end of it we’re hoping that enough skills are built that a person would be comfortable to put a resumé out.
“Gardening is therapeutic. You get to see everything from seed to actually cooking,” said Dee, who hopes the experiences enjoyed by the program’s four beneficiaries will stand them in good stead in the job market.
Dee said she eventually hopes to put out a book about the program, where members of the society can share recipes, as well as gardening methods and tips.
While the garden initially began two-years ago, as part of an innovative outreach program to overcome the social isolation that so often plagues those with brain injury, it has taken on a life of its own under the care of those employed in the new gardening program.
Both Carew and Boutilier beam with pride as they explain their work in the garden. Boutilier explains, for instance, that he has to be there at 8:30 most mornings to water the tomatoes, while Carew shows the cedar trim he designed for the chicken run.
However, to these gardeners the space is about more than the plants and buildings, it’s about the people. “I’m proud of the people that are working here, because they’re doing an awesome job,” said Carew.
The garden has become the social heart of the society, a place where members and staff sit together, share experience, advice and help each other as a sort of surrogate family. “All the people here, they’ve supported me and they gave me the one thing I guess I never had, and that was they believed in me,” said Carew.
Having this support is important for Carew in particular he said because without it he wouldn’t have had what he needed to gain custody of his children. Carew said his two children, nine and 12, even call Boutilier and his wife Grandpa and Grandma.
For Boutilier and his wife, who suffered a brain injury with him in the same accident, the connections made at the society have made all the difference.
“We came here like two lost souls,” said Boutilier, who moved with his wife from Edmonton, AB, in part, because of the support and community offered at the Powell River society. “We knew nobody, and had no family here or anything; now the brain injury society is our family.”
Dee said anyone can bring kitchen scraps to the society, and get a bucket of black gold in return. Dee encourages interested parties to call her at the society or visit its website www.braininjurysociety.com.
Pointing to Dee, Carew said, “That lady right there, she put all that craziness in perspective and changed it around. It’s hard for me to talk about the person I used to be, because I almost don’t remember him any more.”
The important thing, agreed Boutilier and Carew, is getting properly diagnosed so there is a starting point to work from.
“It’s a struggle,” said Boutilier. Everything is a work in progress for him and he said he still requires a lot of direction to keep him on task.
Regardless of the challenges, both men enjoy the calm quiet companionship of the garden, and take pride in all that is growing there.
“It’s been quite a ride, but the outcome—I feel like the richest man in the world right now,” said Carew.
