About us

The employment First philosophy is focused on normative experience, inclusion, and capacity building. It recognizes that everyone has skills and abilities that can be developed and used to contribute to the workplace and to their community. Employment First is considered a best practice in disability services. It is an approach to service delivery that supports working-age adults, regardless of any perceived level of disability, to have choice and opportunities to earn a living through paid employment in the open labour market.

All working age people with a disability can make a valuable contribution to the New Brunswick labour market through integrated, equitably compensated employment within the general workforce, entrepreneurship or self-employment. From an employment first philosophy, if an individual is perceived to have a degree of a disability that appears to prevent their employment participation, this is due to an inability on the part of support services to communicate on the required level with the person or an inability to design a system of effective supports which allow the person to succeed.

Opportunity and support to participate in the open labour market significantly improves independence and quality of life of people with a disability, while at the same time providing the opportunity to become more involved with their community.