Beyond Surviving: Identifying how to support individuals living with mental illness and/or substance use difficulties to thrive following homelessness in Kingston, Ontario

Authors

Carrie MarshallFollow

Document Type

Report

Publication Date

3-2021

URL with Digital Object Identifier

https://www.sjmhlab.com/transition-from-homelessness-study

Abstract

While unhoused, persons who have experienced homelessness are frequently consumed with securing the necessary conditions to meet their basic needs including finding a place to stay for the night, finding food, and keeping safe. In other words, they are simply trying to survive. It is frequently assumed that when individuals secure a tenancy following homelessness, that their life naturally improves for the better in most or all areas of their lives. Unfortunately, recent research suggests that many people who secure housing after homelessness languish and continue to live in a state of survival. While the importance of supporting individuals to secure and sustain housing cannot be understated, other aspects of a person’s life including being integrated in their community, having enough money to pay for basic needs, attaining mental well-being, and having opportunities to engage in meaningful activities are similarly important. This report describes a participatory project aimed at identifying the strengths and challenges of the current system of support currently offered to individuals as they leave homelessness in Kingston, Ontario. We collected this information to inform recommendations for refining existing supports that will enable individuals to move beyond surviving after leaving homelessness and thrive in their community after. Consistent with a participatory approach, researchers involved in this project worked in close collaboration with a community advisory board (CAB) that informed the design and delivery of all project activities. This CAB consisted of individuals with lived experience, service providers and leaders of organizations that serve individuals who experience homelessness. We executed this project in two Phases. In Phase I, we interviewed 51 stakeholders between June – December 2020 from three groups: individuals with lived experiences of homelessness and mental illness and/or substance use difficulties; service providers working in organizations that support individuals as they are leaving homelessness; and leaders in these organizations. In all of these interviews, we asked participants to describe the strengths and challenges of the current system of support in Kingston, and their perspectives on what individuals living

with mental illness and/or substance use difficulties need to “thrive” following homelessness. Some individuals with lived experience were asked to take photographs to help illustrate what they need to thrive following homelessness. We analyzed these data, and identified five themes that describe stakeholders’ views on the current strengths and challenges of existing services, and what individuals need to thrive following homelessness: 1) Systemic changes are needed; 2) Programs need to align with a more person-centred philosophy; 3) Services need to be more relationship-focused and trauma-informed; 4) There is a need for increased supports that engage people in meaningful activity and support life skills; and 5) Effective community integration supports are needed to prevent ongoing homelessness. In Phase II, we engaged the CAB in collaborative conversations to identify nine recommendations from our Phase I findings which are presented in this report. Shifting systems to support individuals to thrive following homelessness has the potential to drastically improve a person’s life circumstances and may be an important strategy for preventing ongoing homelessness. This report is meant to stimulate discussions in Kingston, Ontario and other municipalities about how we can help individuals to secure more than just housing alone following homelessness. The recommendations that we have developed and described in this report will form the basis for the next stage in our process, which will involve collaborating with a broad range of stakeholders in the Kingston community to co-design solutions. By offering this report, we hope to share the perspectives of stakeholders, engage the broad community in the co-design process, and provide information that will inform the development and implementation of services for individuals who experience homelessness in Kingston. Further, we hope that the process described in this report may be used as a model for other communities who wish to identify opportunities for system improvement in the interest of promoting the health, well-being and living conditions of persons who are trying to create a home after living in housing precarity.

Notes

https://www.sjmhlab.com/transition-from-homelessness-study

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Citation of this paper:

Marshall, C., Phillips, B., Greening, T., Landry, T., Panter, G., Hill, O., Hall, M., Ravnaas, C., O’Brien, A., Ridge, R., McQueen, G., Aryobi, S., Carlsson, A., Lambert, E., Jastak, M., Siemens, T., Goldszmidt, R., Holmes, J., Easton, C., Shanoff, C., Couto, B., Woodman, R. & Maatta, K. (2021). Beyond surviving: Identifying how to support individuals living with mental illness and/or substance use difficulties to thrive following homelessness in Kingston, Ontario – Transition from Homelessness Project Kingston Site Report. Available online at: https://www.sjmhlab.com/transition-from-homelessness-study