
Michele Markowski, Manager of Harm Reduction and Low-Barrier Services, and Colleen Allain, Carole Anne’s Place Supervisor, recently presented at the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH) conference in Ottawa. This annual conference gives service providers, researchers, and people with lived experience a space to reflect on challenges and to learn new approaches to addressing homelessness.
Colleen started at YWCA Hamilton as a social work placement student. For her, the opportunity to present with Michele reflects the organization’s commitment to supporting young leaders in sharing their expertise and ideas within the organization and more broadly.
Michele and Colleen’s research discusses an approach to service delivery that is flexible and responsive to service users’ needs and experience. They encourage continuous reflection and conversation between service users, management and staff to lower the barriers of services we provide. This requires a general understanding that all women and gender-diverse people experiencing homelessness benefit from trauma-informed and accessible programs.
The positive feedback Michele and Colleen received from other service providers in the sector reinforces the important work done at YWCA Hamilton by the Housing and Gender-Based Violence Support Services team.
This team is flexible and responsive in many ways, including filling a critical gap in our community this winter by opening a temporary 20 bed, 24/7 shelter this month at our MacNab St. location. The former Fitness Centre has been temporarily transformed into an inviting space for unhoused women and gender-diverse people to stay while seeking more permanent housing and connecting to other necessary health and social services. These new shelter beds are part of the City of Hamilton’s encampment response to increase the number of available shelter spaces across the city.
The experience of attending and presenting at the CAEH conference was a reminder of the importance of building relationships, and always striving to improve the way supports are delivered to those who already face significant barriers to accessing services. The Housing and Gender-Based Violence Support Services team is excited to continue innovating and sharing their learning across the sector.
It is also a critical time for emergency shelter and drop-in programs. The weather is cold, wet and unpredictable. If you would like to make a donation of new and unopened items to help, please check out our urgently needed items list and reach out to Corporate and Community Engagement Coordinator, Lidia Siino.