To celebrate International Women’s Day (March 8), the Alberni Valley News is honoured to profile four women of influence in the Alberni Valley. Writing and photography by freelance journalist Heather Warren.
Terry Deakin has dedicated herself to helping people overcome life challenges in Port Alberni for the past 21 years. As the owner of INEO Employment Services, she and a staff of 16 employees provide support and training to clients with barriers to employment, such as physical disabilities, homelessness or addiction, and help them find jobs in the community.
Early on, she found herself facing a challenge finding work placements for her clients.
“I found that employers still had difficulty hiring people with barriers to employment. That if they didn’t have the experience or skills they were looking for they didn’t want to take the risk,” said Deakin.
Her ‘can-do’ approach to this problem was to build a network of self-sustaining enterprises of her own to provide clients with paid job experience and opportunities to develop skills in a safe and supportive environment. To date, she has purchased the Animal Ark pet store, secured the contract to operate the Alberni-Clayoquot recycling depot and started a mattress deconstruction and recycling social enterprise. As people move on from these jobs, others that are coming through the INEO programs will take their place.
Deakin moved to Port Alberni at age 10 during the city’s economic boom and has a strong connection to the city. She watched it go through some rough times just as she did herself. She speaks candidly about the fact that her life was derailed by drug addiction in the past and that the experience has motivated her to help others change their lives.
She quit drugs in 1992 and sought help from an addiction councillor who sent her to the women’s centre (now Sage Haven Society) to deal with the trauma that was behind her addiction.
She went back to school, graduating in 2002 from North Island College with a Human Service Worker diploma and earning a place on the Dean’s Honor Roll and a faculty Award for Outstanding Student. She has since completed a Bachelor of Commerce in Entrepreneurial Management through Royal Roads University and a Master of Arts in Community Development through the University of Victoria.
INEO (a Latin word for ‘new beginnings’) was launched in 1998 when Deakin and Mike Roberts secured funding to facilitate a Services Canada job mentor/coach pilot project. When the project ended in 2000, Roberts left to pursue a teaching career and sold his share to Deakin.
In addition to running INEO, Deakin is involved in many facets of the community. She is passionate about the homelessness and housing issues in the city and has led a committee to come up with recommendations for city council on how to address the issue. She has also served as a coordinator of homeless counts and is president of the Alberni Valley Chamber of Commerce, president elect of the Arrowsmith Rotary Club and recently made a bid for a seat on city council.
“I was not successful and I’m totally OK with that,” she said. “… I know that I make a difference out here so I’m quite happy to carry that on.”
Having the opportunity to give back through INEO and her volunteer work is very motivating, she said. “There have been so many success stories, that’s what keeps me going. Just to see people change their lives, to change their trajectory.”
