For small business owners, ‘the calls have turned dark’
CFIB’s hotline has been inundated with distressed calls as second wave takes hold
The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses’ hotline typically fields calls from small business owners looking for help with regulations or tax rules.
But throughout 2020, the non-profit organization began receiving calls from business owners in severe mentalhealth distress.
“The calls have turned dark,” said Dan
Kelly, CFIB’s president.
Last year, the CFIB received around 78,000 calls for general business help — more than double what they would normally field pre-pandemic. But what has alarmed Kelly is the dozen or so calls the non-profit has received from business owners who expressed having suicidal thoughts. Thousands of other callers have expressed a worrying decline in mental health.
“That’s been incredibly difficult,” Kelly said. “My staff is just not trained with those kinds of calls.”
With the country now grappling with
the second wave of infections and lockdowns, some business owners who were able to stay afloat before are struggling, and their mental health has taken a hit.
Kelly said his organization has done its best to point struggling business owners to federal or provincial financial relief programs, or even connect them with a suicide prevention hotline if needed. Some, however, may still not know where to turn for mental-health support as they feel the strain of the second wave.
For Leeanne Colley, a successful Toronto nail salon owner since 2006, the second wave of COVID-19 has brought significant challenges not seen early in the pandemic.
Like many, Colley has had to close her two locations since March, with a brief reopening in the summer when lockdown restrictions were lifted. She focused on pivoting her business online by creating content for her clients and maintaining a connection with them virtually, and managed to keep all her employees on the payroll with the help of Canada’s small business wage subsidy.
But when the second lockdown in December hit, Colley’s business reached a breaking point, forcing her to lay off almost all of her team at both locations in the first week of January.
“It was really hard for me, that was the last thing I ever wanted to do, to lay my girls off,” said Colley, who likened them to family.
“But when you’re dipping into the last bit of savings, you have to really wonder, how is someone supposed to reopen?”
COVID-19 has brought on mental-health challenges for
Colley, who started her business when she was a single mother and could barely pay rent. It has grown significantly, and to see it crumble in the past 11 months is akin to losing a part of her life.
“It’s really tough to try and keep that bubbly energy going in yourself when you can barely catch your breath,” Colley said.
Kelly said he had talked to several business owners in the past month who were particularly crushed around the end of the year, both from losing significant revenue over the holidays since Ontario’s widespread lockdown on Dec. 26, and for having to lay employees off close to Christmas.
“It’s been just brutal,” Kelly said.
Other challenges business owners have faced include staying on top of wage-subsidy programs and other available financial help as the pandemic evolves.
“Business owners are on board to try to help their employees through their mentalhealth issues wherever they possibly can,” Kelly added. “But there aren’t very many people that are actually thinking about the business owner, and the mental-health challenges that they may be going through at this stage.”
So what mental-health help, if any, is available to small business owners?
The Business Development Bank of Canada has tried to keep a close eye on the mental health of Canadian entrepreneurs and has conducted a series of surveys from August to January to help measure the pandemic’s impact.
BDC’s latest survey in November showed an increase in entrepreneurs feeling depressed, rising to 47 per cent versus 39 per cent in August.
In response to these numbers, BDC has dedicated a page on their website with mentalhealth resources for entrepreneurs. This includes a link to Wellness Together Canada, which offers individual phone, video and text counselling funded by the federal government, and MindBeacon, which offers free services to Ontario residents, funded by the province.
Not9to5, a non-profit started by two veterans of Toronto’s hospitality industry, has also launched its own course to educate colleagues about mental health, substance use and healthy coping mechanisms.
Dalton Associates, which offers mental-health services for a fee in Ontario, has been offering pro-bono counselling during the pandemic for those who don’t have mentalhealth benefits, said Carl Dalton, a registered social worker and CEO of the mental-health service.
For Colley, friends and family are the support system that keeps her calm and positive, despite the challenges she’s faced since the pandemic began.
“If I just need to call someone to vent or cry, I know that I have them there.”
“It’s really tough to try and keep that bubbly energy going in yourself when you can barely catch your breath.”
LEEANNE COLLEY NAIL SALON OWNER