May Ottawa Small Business Corner Feature!
Why hello there, fellow pandemic dwellers!
Hope you had a lovely weekend... well, as lovely as possible during these times. I'm here with another my May Ottawa Small Business Feature. Yes, I skipped a month. For those of you who are wondering where April went, I figured this particular business fits perfectly with it being Mental Health Week. Allow me to explain.
When I was growing up, I was an only child, so my friends were my 'siblings'. Out of the few consistent ones I had, were two sisters who lived across the street from me. We were ALWAYS at each others' houses... Thanks Mom and Dad, for putting up with our shenanigans. Anyways! I am so lucky to still be in touch with Erica Leibovitch, who is one of these sisters... so, we've known each other for about 3 decades now, maybe? Crazy, right?
Without further adieu, I am very happy and excited to introduce this month's small business feature... Fragments: Mental Health by the amazing Erica.
To start off, let's talk a little bit about her business name, which I personally find fascinating. Fragments Mental Health describes how fragments of our past can be used to piece together our present.
FMH sells fun mental health themed merchandise, such as t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, as well as stationary items to come. They also offer a coping box workshop that runs every Monday (other dates and times will be added). At these workshops, Erica teaches you how you can make your own coping box.
When I asked her what inspired her to start the business, she explained how it was from her own experiences going to therapy and learning how to manage her mental health. Through this, she quickly noticed that while some organizations had access to funding, private practice therapists did not. If provided funding, they could extend their services to those clients who really need it, such as those who are low-income or marginalized. Due to this, a portion of the proceeds from each purchase (both workshops and merchandise) goes towards a fund for low income clients to see a private practice psychotherapist. What an amazing person, am I right?
To get in touch, you can find her on instagram @FragmentsMentalHealth, or on her facebook business page which goes by the same name.
Hope you enjoyed this touching edition to my monthly series. I know I definitely enjoyed working with Erica, and hope we can collaborate again in the future!
If you have an Ottawa small business and want to be featured in my series, feel free to reach out! In the meantime, I hope you can spend some time on self-care during mental health week.
Thank you for reading!!