Carolyn McDougall, a trailblazer in disability-inclusive employment, has been awarded the Ontario Disability Employment Network’s (ODEN) 2025 Disability Employment Service Award for Outstanding Employment Service Professional. As the manager of Holland Bloorview’s Employment Pathways team and Ontario/Canada coordinator for Project SEARCH Canada, McDougall’s work has contributed to transformation of the landscape of youth employment for individuals with disabilities across Ontario and beyond.

McDougall’s involvement in employment pathways for youth with disabilities began in 2007 when she responded to the urgent call from families and youth for meaningful employment opportunities. Recognizing employment as a key determinant of health, she and her colleagues designed Holland Bloorview’s first youth employment participation program, Youth@Work. This program sparked the creation of the Employment Pathways model, a pioneering framework that has supported hundreds of youth to date. Each year, her team works with approximately 70 high school students with diverse disabilities, 60 per cent of whom live with multiple diagnoses.

Her leadership has extended the reach of this Employment Pathways model to five additional organizations, including pediatric hospitals and community centres, promoting steps toward more equitable access to inclusive employment experiences for youth with disabilities in Ontario.

A leader who listens and delivers

“Carolyn has changed the employment landscape for youth with disabilities across the province. What sets her apart, beyond the breadth of her work, is the way she does it – with humility, integrity and unwavering respect for the voices of youth and families,” says Joanne Maxwell, vice president, experience and transformation, Holland Bloorview. “She builds trust, fosters collaboration and delivers results that ripple across classrooms, boardrooms and communities to build a more inclusive future.” 

Scaling Project SEARCH across Canada

In 2019, McDougall was instrumental in bringing the first Project SEARCH sites to Ontario, including the currently active site that operates out of Holland Bloorview and University Health Network (UHN). She has since become the coordinator for the Project SEARCH Canada community of practice. Her outreach and support for emerging partnerships has helped Project SEARCH Canada grow from four sites in 2019 to 29 sites across Ontario, Manitoba and P.E.I. by 2025-26. Together with ODEN, McDougall is now leading the Realizing Employment Potential strategy, which was generously funded by The Slaight Family Foundation. Her advocacy efforts, in collaboration with ODEN, Holland Bloorview, March of Dimes Canada and others, are shaping policy and working to secure sustainable funding for youth employment programs province-wide.

Championing inclusion across health care

McDougall’s influence extends into Ontario’s health-care system. In 2024-25, she led the development of Inspire, Hire, Train, Retain (IHTR), a free, adaptable training resource designed to help health care organizations implement disability-inclusive employment practices. Funded by the Government of Ontario and donors including the Azrieli Foundation, IHTR is now recognized as a Canadian Health Standards Organization Leading Practice. 

Beyond health care, McDougall and her team also co-created the Employer Resource Hub, a practical toolkit developed with 50+ employers to support inclusive hiring and retention. The hub features real stories from youth with disabilities and step-by-step guidance for building accessible workplaces.

Advancing education and research

It is difficult to make effective behavioural change for youth in Ontario without connecting to the education system. McDougall’s commitment to education is evident in her oversight of the delivery of disability-inclusion training to more than 1,100 students and 370 educators across 20 Ontario school boards in 2024-25. She led the creation of Project Inclusion e-learning modules for educators about disability, accessibility and inclusion.

She also collaborates to advance research -- on the Holland Bloorview Employment Pathways programs and Project SEARCH Canada programs, also partnering with VRAIE-IDEA, March of Dimes Canada and McGill University’s Par-KT lab to further amplify her impact, bridging practice and evidence to inform policy and programming.

“This award celebrates the work of so many people and organizations who know that early work experience opportunities will transform the employment outcomes of youth with disabilities,” says McDougall. “I am grateful to accept the award on behalf of our Employment Pathways, Project SEARCH Canada, and many other teams, and hope that it keeps our teams, collaborators, clients, families, and funders motivated to expand access to start-early employment programming for youth with disabilities in Ontario.”

By Laura Bowman