New group aims to support Roslindale business owners

By Kim Foley MacKinnon, Town Correspondent

Small-business owners can often find help for their businesses, from marketing plans to signage to promotions, but a new group in Roslindale hopes to help in a novel way, focusing on wellness.

The newly formed Roslindale Business Health and Wellness Group is being facilitated by The Phoenix Collective, an interdependent professional community of mental health and legal service providers that opened its doors in Roslindale last June.

An invitation sent out to the business community said, “Our hope is to learn from one another, connect in a new way, to use our collective wisdom, and to develop a shared vision of a more supportive and thriving professional community here in Roslindale.”

At a meeting this week to explore what the group might do, several local business owners met at The Phoenix Collective’s offices on Birch Street. Veronica Akins, founder of the Collective, led the discussion and said she was interested in what the group “can build and create together.” She and others mentioned how small business owners can get into a “survival mode,” which can be isolating.

Nate Harris, another member of the group who is the director of Trinity Boston Counseling Center and a Roslindale resident said he was interested in helping small businesses do well.

“It’s my home [Roslindale],” he said. “What better way to help it thrive than to help small businesses? It has ripple effects throughout the community.”