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Crisis lines help

May 7th, 2014 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Crisis lines help)

crisisphoneCrisis Line Awareness Week: March 23-29, 2014

Provincial funding has been assured through March 31, 2015, for the 1800SUICIDE (1.800.748.2433) and 310Mental Health Support (310.6789) phone lines. These are networks that enhance access to 24-hour BC crisis lines through easy to remember, toll-free numbers and routing technology that directs calls to the nearest crisis line network partner. This cost-effective service is not only life-saving, it decreases demand on overburdened police, ambulance and hospital resources.  In fact, efforts to replicate the success of these networks are currently underway at a national level across Canada.

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NFLA’s new Beyond Blame workshop

April 2nd, 2014 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on NFLA’s new Beyond Blame workshop)

guyhelpingIn the tradition of pioneers such as Jackson Katz (Violence against women: it’s a men’s issue) and Tony Porter (co-founder of A call to men: The national association of men and women committed to ending violence against women), Nanaimo Family Life Association offers a workshop for men called “Beyond Blame”.  “The purpose of this workshop is to address the root causes of family violence and abuse in our community.  We do this by supporting men to take personal responsibility for, and end their abusive behaviours.” A new workshop session will be starting in May.

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Society offers successful temporary housing

February 5th, 2014 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Society offers successful temporary housing)

On our February 6, 2014 People First Radio broadcast, we will be talking about the Victoria Human Exchange Society and their two houses in Nanaimo.  Mary Gordon House was just opened in December of 2013.  The name of the society is taken from a quote by Thomas Merton: “Every meeting of persons is an exchange of life’s gifts”.

Both houses in Nanaimo offer a temporary home for men recovering from addiction or other difficult periods in their lives. Residents must have 3 months clean and sober before moving into the house and attend sobriety meetings while in residence.  Originally started in Victoria, the Society now has houses for men or for women in Victoria, Nanaimo, Saltspring Island and other locations on Vancouver Island.

We spoke with Debbie Scott, a Victoria Human Exchange Society volunteer during this weeks People First Radio broadcast.

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Image: Richard Carlton, left, chops up vegetables for dinner while fellow Mary Gordon House resident Mitch checks messages on his smart phone. (CHRIS BUSH/The News Bulletin)

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Testing housing first for chronic alcoholics

January 22nd, 2014 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Testing housing first for chronic alcoholics)

A new study shows that non-abstinence based housing does not enable alcohol use, but actually decreases it.

picture 481A controversial project using a housing-first approach with chronically alcoholic homeless people in Seattle has been shown to decrease overall alcohol consumption levels.

The program, which is funded by the City of Seattle, allows homeless shelter residents to continue to use alcohol, with an overall goal to reduce both alcohol use and alcohol-related problems.

Now a study has found that the approach results in “across-the-board decreases in alcohol consumption and problems”, according to lead researcher Susan Collins. We speak with Susan Collins, a research assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at University of Washington in a rebroadcast from February 17, 2012.

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Campaign for the reform of cannabis policy is underway

September 12th, 2013 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Campaign for the reform of cannabis policy is underway)

If the Sensible B.C. campaign collects over 400,000 signatures from across the province, the group says there will be a referendum in British Columbia to decriminalize marijuana possession in 2014

amanda orumA group called Sensible BC is working to decriminalize the simple possession of cannabis in British Columbia through a proposal called the Sensible Policing Act. The Sensible Policing Act would amend the Police Act, to redirect all police in the province from taking any action, including searches, seizures, citations or arrests, in cases of simple cannabis possession by adults. This would apply to all RCMP and municipal police in BC. (more…)

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At Home/Chez Soi project nears its end

March 21st, 2013 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on At Home/Chez Soi project nears its end)

Housing first makes better use of public dollars—especially for those who are high service users

picture 465In 2008 the federal government invested $110 million for a five year demonstration project aimed at providing evidence about what services and systems best help people experiencing serious mental illness and homelessness. The Mental Health Commission of Canada’s At Home/Chez Soi project was established as a field trial of complex interventions in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, and Moncton. The rigorous, multi-site, experimental research design of the At Home/Chez Soi project was expected to help identify what works, at what cost, for whom, and in which environments. It compared “Housing First” approaches with existing approaches in each of the five cities. For the first time in a trial, it included a standardized definition of Housing First and used assessments to document the quality of the implementation of the program over its first two years. (more…)

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