Perspectives on Preventing Homelessness

DESCRIPTION

Join us for a panel where we will explore the following topics to preventing homelessness across the province, including:

• The range of programs in the province that aim to prevent homelessness
• Successful strategies to prevent clients from losing their housing
• Ways to include people with lived experience of homelessness in decision-making in practice, policy and advocacy
• Policy changes that can prevent and/or reduce homelessness

PRESENTERS

Jack York has more than 15 years of mental health and substance use social work practice experience. He began his career working in shelters and has continued working with unhoused and marginally housed clients throughout his career. Jack is currently the board chair of the New Westminster Homelessness Coalition Society and a member of the BCASW Health Advocacy Committee. Jack is also currently program coordinator of the UBC School of Social Work’s continuing education and certificate programs and is also a sessional lecturer and PhD student at the School. Jack’s research centers on low-threshold, harm reduction-informed supportive housing.

Mariah Curry is a student and frontline worker on Lheidli T'enneh territory (Prince George). After working in Vancouver's downtown east side community in supportive housing, overdose prevention sites, and Canada's first safe injection site, Insite, they relocated to Prince George to continue their education. Since 2021, they have continued to work in overdose prevention sites and community outreach and now sit as the Board Chair for the Pounds Project - Indigenous-led, peer-driven harm reduction and health society. In the final year of their First Nations Studies Degree, Mariah approaches this work with humility and respect, while drawing on their lived experience to advocate for change, and fight for the humanity and dignity of all those they are lucky enough to walk beside.

Kelly Vidas brings a balance of community and hospital perspective to health care with over 20 years working directly with the homeless population. She spent the first 8 years with Fraser Health as a hospital social worker and transitioned into her current role as Housing Consultant for the Fraser Region for the last 6 years. Kelly focuses on connecting partners, identify system barriers, and support collaborative solutions that improve access to housing and healthcare for people with complex needs.

Tangie Genshorek is a Kamloops local who graduated from high school here, attended Cariboo College, completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Urban Studies at the University of Calgary, and then a Masters Degree in Architecture at the University of Toronto. It was her interest in affordable housing that drew her to architecture and then to the non-profit sector. Tangie has been working with non-profits in Kamloops for over 17 years and was proud to be able to step in as the Executive Director at A Way Home Kamloops in 2021 after the tragic loss of the founder Katherine McParland.

Shae Gallagher is an Outreach Support Worker with Cool Aid’s REES program in Victoria, where she supports people experiencing complex social, health, and housing-related challenges. Much of her work involves helping people navigate systems and access financial and housing supports, including Income Assistance, Persons with Disabilities (PWD) applications, government pensions, BC Housing, and other housing-related resources.

Before joining REES, Shae worked as a Housing, Health and Men’s Outreach Support Worker with PEERS, supporting people experiencing homelessness and housing instability. Through this work, Shae has seen firsthand the impact that chronic homelessness and the loss of stable housing can have on individuals and the broader community.

ZOOM

This event will be delivered on Zoom. Organizers will send you a confirmation email message including a link to join. If you don’t receive the email message, please check your spam/trash/junk folder.

DISCLAIMER

The educational material presented in BCASW hosted events is for general educational information purposes only and is solely the opinion of the author, presenter and instructor. No webinar is intended to provide professional or legal advice, and the material presented is not necessarily considered mainstream social work theory or practice. It is left to the discretion and judgment and is the sole responsibility of each attendee to determine what is useful for their own practice. BCASW cannot be held responsible for the material, opinions, or any inadvertent errors or omissions in the preparation or presentation of the material.