Social enterprises as spaces of encounter for mental health consumers

Recent geographical scholarship has suggested that disabled people's encounters with non‐disabled others might constitute an important mechanism for community participation and social inclusion. Existing studies recognise the importance of the immediate material and relational character of place in shaping the nature of encounters between disabled and non‐disabled people. Yet there has been little attention – beyond questions of physical access – to the ways in which places might be practically created to facilitate positive interactions. In this paper, we examine the potential of social enterprises to serve as a space of encounter between disabled workers and non‐disabled others. Drawing on interviews and focus groups, we explore how and to what extent social enterprises (coffee shops, catering businesses, cleaning and janitorial companies, courier services) create supportive environments for interaction and encounter between workers with mental health problems, clients and members of the public. Our analysis suggests that specific efforts to accommodate and support mental health consumers in their employment‐based interactions contributes to an enabling relational space for encounters that begin to unsettle prevailing assumptions about mental ill health. At the same time, broader social conditions and enduring assumptions about mental health consumers work to reinforce disabling differences.