It has been another busy and successful year with our Outreach and Family Support programs with lots of exciting things to highlight. Like most things, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected our youth and young families, including our programming, in ways we could never anticipate. However, despite those challenges, our teams have demonstrated incredible commitment and flexibility to ensure the needs of all participants were prioritized.
Outreach, Health, & Family
Feeding Young Bellies
As inflation and the cost of living has increased, Youth Services funding and Income Support rates stayed the same This coupled with the result of youth signing up for and then being cut off CERB when the program ended, has created more financial stress on youth. The Outreach team created an onsite food pantry that supplied youth with dry food items when they were in need. The team had also initiated freezing extra meals to provide to youth in need and giving out donated grocery gift cards to support this as well.
As part of the ongoing COVID-19 response, the Outreach team continued to adapt to the changing pandemic safety protocols and continued to follow best practices on social distancing as well as the production and distribution of daily meals. They adapted throughout the year, and continued their onsite drop-in meal program in the model of three (3) shorter drop-in sittings, eventually shifting to two (2) longer sittings until eventually returning to our traditional two (2)-hour drop-in. The team was also able to safely add adapted summer recreation activities to the programming in the summer, while practicing caution with the number of youth attending, ensuring adequate spacing, and minimizing contacts for all.
Supporting Moms and Improving Family Relationships
In this last year, our Momma Moments team focused on the recruitment and retention for 12-14 new volunteers to join our Momma Moments program. With all the public health guidelines, protocols and contained bubbles for individuals over the last year, it has been very difficult for staff to obtain and sustain volunteers, however, we were successful in recruiting 11 new volunteers.
Cashin Avenue affordable housing units had 100 % occupancy for 2021-2022 fiscal year. Having safe and affordable housing options with the philosophy of wrap around supports and stability for the families we work with is very important and we are delighted to support the 5 young mothers and their 5 children at our Cashin Avenue house.
The Family and Natural Support Program continued to support program participants with working toward improved relationships with various identified supports in their lives. This allowed the FNS Staff to build relationships with participants identified supports to help find creative ways to help promote positive advances in their relationships and support network. Due to the lifted restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, FNS Staff were able to initiate more in-person contact with these individuals and bring more families together for meetings and mediation.
Prevention Work in Junior High Schools
Our Upstream NL team had a big focus on program development early this year and administered the Students Needs Assessment (SNA) virtually at the end of May; a tool aimed at identifying and referring participants into the program. After many months of public health restrictions due to COVID-19, they were finally able to begin working in schools in June, connecting with people who were identified by the SNA and completing intakes.
During the summer months, the Upstream NL team focused on building relationships and community integration, including Lester’s Farm, Plaza Bowl, Get Air, Quidi Vidi, and more. Engagement with parents and caregivers was strengthened and support plans we co-created with students and families. Once back in school again in the fall, the team provided information sessions and presentations for all the grade seven (7) classes in both Brother Rice Junior High and St. Peter’s Junior High. As the year progressed, school staff, students, and families became more familiar with the Upstream NL team and what the program offered. The program’s numbers continued to increase and during 2021-2022 the Upstream NL program supported 41 youth and their families.
Bettering Health
The medical care team at Carter’s Hill Place (CHP) has improved health outcomes of so many youth we served again this year. A new harm reduction nurse practitioner began onsite medical services and a second nurse practitioner also started with our medical team this year, providing 5 days of medical coverage for youth a week. This was key as the public health nurse onsite was often deployed for vaccination clinics over the course of the year. The new nurse practitioners have been a great fit and operate from a very low barrier, harm reduction-based approach. They both have engaged with many youth that have previously avoided healthcare. In general, the medical clinic has been running very smoothly and the relationship and communication between CFY teams and medical team is working exceptionally well.
A memorable outcome this year came from the onsite COVID-19 vaccine clinics which was supported by multiple teams across CFY. The CHP teams screened, directed, monitored, and supported the clinic and the nurses who were onsite. Much planning with the team, Eastern Health and CFY leadership occurred to make this clinic run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. A lot of education and resources were provided to support youth in making the decision to get the vaccines to ensure young people felt secure with vaccination against COVID-19. Having this clinic onsite provided youth with a low barrier, inclusive way to access the vaccine where they might otherwise have not become vaccinated. Staff also supported youth to book offsite vaccine appointments and provided transportation to vaccines when needed.
Having experienced an unprecedent public health emergency really highlighted both the resiliency of our youth and young families as well as the significant impact that the pandemic had on all aspects of life. We have seen an increase in mental health struggles and gender-based violence, food insecurity, increased substance use, social isolation and worsening financial and housing stability. Despite these incredible challenges, we have also seen incredible strength and adaptability of both our staff teams and the youth and young families that we serve.
