Sara Goldvine | #PeopleFirst Interview

What was your first job growing up? What was the most memorable lesson you took away from that experience?

I grew up here in British Columbia, on Vancouver Island around Nanaimo. I had a few different jobs, but my most memorable one is starting my own publishing company in elementary school — before desktop publishing existed! I handmade catalogues and handed them out to neighbours, family and friends, and people could order birthday cards, holiday cards, gift tags, bookmarks, calendars, and more.

Honestly, I made less money than I did on my paper route. But I loved being able to create something and see the joy it sparked in other people. That was the first job that gave me a real sense of purpose.

How did that lead you on the journey to becoming Chief Operating Officer of Coast Mental Health today? 

To be honest, I didn’t know my current career was an option even when I was in university. Growing up, roles in public affairs, advocacy, and corporate strategy simply weren’t on my radar.

Instead, my path has been defined by a single through-line: mission-driven work. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to collaborate with amazing teams at world-class organizations. For me, it has always been about pursuing my passion and finding places where I can contribute to creating a better future for everyone.

Do you have a role model you look up in your journey to becoming a better leader?

I have a slightly controversial answer — I don’t really have one. I seek leadership wisdom from all kinds of places.

My kids call me out when I’m not showing up with the integrity I want to as a parent. I also learn a lot from them about how to listen. When I was leaving BC Housing, someone stopped me in the elevator and told me that on their very first day, I took time to welcome them even though I had no idea who they were.

For me, it’s those constant learning moments — from the front lines, from my kids, from people in leadership roles — that show me who I want to be.

Speaking of learning moments – what is a leadership mistake you’ve made along the way? How has it changed the way you lead?

If a week goes by and I haven’t made a mistake, I’m probably not pushing boundaries enough. I make them all the time, and the ones I learn from most always involve people.

One particular course correction stands out. I was leading an incredible team during the pandemic, handling a crisis deployment that stretched on for months. We delivered, and I truly believe our work saved lives. My mistake? I let that gruelling pace become normalized.

Fortunately, my team sent me clear signals that it wasn’t sustainable. That experience taught me to reject the ‘tyranny of the urgent’ – the common trap, especially in leadership, of assuming that because a task lands on your desk today, it has to be done by tomorrow.

It has changed the way I prioritize and set boundaries for my team so we can achieve better outcomes in a more sustainable way.

Is there a belief you held earlier in your career that you’ve since changed your mind about?

Early on, I believed being a leader meant showing up with reservation and detachment, operating with an analytical mindset. I spent a lot of energy trying to fit into that mold.

Over time, I realized I deliver better outcomes when I show up authentically, with real passion and energy. And you know what? It’s a heck of a lot of fun. I get so much more joy out of working with people when I’m being myself.

With teams facing change on nearly every front. What can leaders do to help their people and organization navigate it?

In uncertain times, there’s no playbook. You can’t grab last year’s plan, update the dates, and hit play. That means mistakes are inevitable, and our instinct is to shrink back for fear of failing. Layer economic uncertainty on top, with people worried about their jobs, their housing, and their ability to support their families. It can create a real loop of fear.

So as leaders, we need to model an authentic version of humanity. For me, that means showing up as my authentically messy self. When my kids have a crisis in the middle of the day, I don’t quietly ‘step out’ the way executives traditionally do — I deliberately say, “I need to go get my kids.”

And when I make a mistake, I own it, call it out, and move on. When people see that coming from someone with positional authority, it creates space for them to lean into their work without living in constant fear.

Fostering healthy employees is one of the strategic priorities at Coast. What keeps you up at night, and how are you tackling it?

What sits most heavily with me is that every prioritization decision we make at Coast has real human consequences. Saying ‘no’ can sound simple when it’s just a deadline — but in human terms, it often means someone isn’t housed, or doesn’t receive the services they need.

The need for mental health care — especially for people with severe mental illness, our priority population — is enormous, and we can’t possibly meet all of it. To balance the long-term health of our employees and the resident populations we serve, we have to make challenging trade-offs. These calls sit heavily with me, but making them is a necessary part of our role as an executive team, so we can reach the best outcomes for everyone.

How do you reach the voices that are most vulnerable or least likely to speak up — and create the space for them to be heard?

I take organizational listening very seriously. That means building in the mechanisms to hear the intelligence that exists with our employees, our clients, and our stakeholders. One of the key mechanisms for me personally is literally showing up: being at our sites, being present. Over time, people get to know me and start to share things. It shows respect for the work being done, it keeps me in touch, and keeps me real — and honestly, it’s more fun and fulfilling. It brings the data, the spreadsheets, and the Gantt charts to life.

Then, we complement that walk-the-floor, anecdotal information with formal listening systems. At Coast, we’ve recently implemented an engagement framework built on international best practices, specifically for our clients and other people with lived and living experience. We’re rolling it out across the organization to capture feedback continuously — from the site level all the way up to the strategic level — so we’re tapping into the wisdom of our people. That’s how we deliver better services and better outcomes.

Bringing it full circle — what does being a #PeopleFirst Leader mean to you, and how does it shape your daily decisions?

The other weekend, I was helping my dad pack up some books when a family friend asked what I’m up to in my career these days. My answer? “I do humans.”

That really is the best way to understand my work. I work alongside people to build solutions for people. I’m fascinated by who we are individually, how we connect with each other, and how we fit into larger systems and the world around us.

Ultimately, my north star is always asking: how does my decision affect the people involved, and how can we create better outcomes for those most impacted?