Pathways celebrates 40 years of helping people find jobs, skills and confidence

Kate Dubinski · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 20, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Brandi Bulanda credits counsellors astatine the Pathways Employment Health Centre with not conscionable helping her fig retired lawsuit work skills and Excel spreadsheets, but besides with helping get her beingness backmost connected track. 

"I've made immoderate beauteous immense beingness changes successful the past fewer years," said Bulanda, 34, present a ineligible administrative adjunct successful the centre's advocacy department. 

The Londoner is 1 of astir 2,300 radical helped by Pathways each year. The largest employment bureau successful the region, it offers skills training, employment counselling and connections to much than 400 employers successful southwestern Ontario. 

This week, Pathways is celebrating its 40th day with an unfastened location connected Thursday, wherever it volition showcase immoderate of the grooming programs it offers, including successful the manufacturing, operation and administrative fields. 

"One of the fascinating things that happens is you ticker radical turn successful skills but besides successful the assurance to really usage those skills," said Paul Hubert, who has been the caput of Pathways for 25 years. 

"You ticker them travel successful and larn to usage powerfulness tools, chop saws and skills saws and that benignant of thing, but you besides spot them turn successful assurance knowing that they cognize however to bash thing and however to efficaciously archer their communicative to an leader truthful they tin get a job."

In 2021, Pathways Skills Development merged with the London Employment Help Centre. The enactment helps radical looking for work, newcomers, and radical who cod Ontario Works, Ontario Disability Support Program oregon employment insurance. "Many of our folks are radical nether property 30 who are looking for their archetypal accidental successful the workforce," Hubert said. 

Bulanda's occupation travel wasn't straightforward. After graduating from precocious school, she struggled to settee down and support a job. She tried immoderate skills grooming but wasn't ready. 

"When I archetypal tried to link with Pathways, I conscionable was not ready. Life had maine going successful a antithetic absorption and I wasn't acceptable to marque the changes I needed successful my life," she said. 

"But Pathways was determination for me, offering enactment and guidance and encouragement. When I went backmost successful 2019 aft immoderate idiosyncratic growth, I got assistance done what was past the London Employment Help Centre. My employment advisor helped maine navigate my vocation options." 

Bulanda took an administrative clerical grooming program, learning Excel, PowerPoint, and Microsoft Word, arsenic good arsenic typing and lawsuit work skills. "I did a two-week co-op astatine Big Brothers and Big Sisters of London that was beauteous awesome," she said. 

Surrounded by occupation seekers from each walks of life, the Pathways unit helped and encouraged each other, Bulanda said.

"I won't lie. I was not the astir diligent person, and I wasn't precise bully with my words. Completing that programme helped maine spell from thoroughfare speech to nonrecreational talk. Being surrounded by truthful galore antithetic radical helped maine person an unfastened caput and beryllium alert of everyone's journey. We're each determination to amended ourselves and get immoderate assistance truthful we tin person a life." 

After getting a occupation arsenic an administrative adjunct welcoming radical to Pathways' Horton Street location, Bulanda precocious got a promotion and present has her ain office, fielding questions from radical who telephone successful oregon halt by the Dufferin Street office. 

Now, she sees radical who lucifer the unsure young pistillate she utilized to beryllium travel into the bureau and permission much fulfilled. 

"It's a spot wherever radical find direction, community, and purpose. Over the years, I've seen countless clients travel done our doors unsure of what to bash next, lone to permission with certifications, occupation offers, and a renewed consciousness of

hope," she said. 

'Tomorrow is an opportunity'

The skills that radical request person changed successful the past decades, Hubert said, but the halfway of the enactment that Pathways does has not. 

"We weren't talking astir AI a fewer years agone oregon astir everyone needing to beryllium machine literate. The complexity of what employers request has changed," helium said. 

"The outgo of surviving has gone up substantially and enactment has not accrued astatine all, truthful the situation of taking that archetypal measurement guardant has increased," Hubert said. "We speech a batch much present astir intelligence wellness challenges and the interaction they person connected each level successful society." 

Approaching radical looking to upgrade their skills and get a occupation with optimism and open-mindedness is important, Hubert said. 

"We similar to say, yesterday ne'er defines your tomorrow," helium said. "Tomorrow is ever an accidental to beryllium antithetic and to person a antithetic result than you did yesterday. Let's not fto yesterday specify your future."