How do you ensure a strategy to address homelessness is going to be effective? You include people who have lived or living experience to guide the process.
This is what sets the Journey Home Strategy apart from other strategies to address homelessness, from the beginning, input and guidance was sought from community members with lived or living experience with homelessness.
The Lived Experience Circle on Homelessness (LECoH) is a group of individuals who have lived or are living the experience of homelessness in Kelowna and is the result of a series of comprehensive conversations with over 200 individuals with lived and living experience of homelessness in our community.
91裸聊视频淭hese conversations were essential in the creation of the Journey Home Strategy,91裸聊视频� said Dr. Kyleen Myrah, co-chair of the Journey Home Transition Team. 91裸聊视频淭hrough these robust discussions, it became evident that weaving the lived and living experience expertise throughout the development and implementation of the Strategy, including the need to have an ongoing working group, was critical to success.91裸聊视频�
LECoH is currently made up of ten individuals that meet every two weeks, working alongside Journey Home Transition Team. In order to continue to provide guidance in the implementation of the Strategy, the Circle will have a seat on the newly formed Central Okanagan Journey Home Society Board of Directors.
91裸聊视频淚 have a lot of experience being homeless and I care about people who are living on the street,91裸聊视频� said one LECoH member. 91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檓 trying to make it a little easier for people to get housing.91裸聊视频�
One of the goals of LECoH is to find creative and meaningful ways to inform the greater community about the experience of homelessness in order to reduce stigma. The recent Ending Us and Them event on Nov. 22 at the Kelowna Community Theatre was just one example of how this work can be done. With a sold out crowd, members of the community came together for an artisan market, film screening and panel discussion to dispel myths about homelessness and highlight the root causes of homelessness 91裸聊视频� including pain, trauma and abuse. Attendees reported that the evening transformed their perspectives and encouraged them to educate themselves further.
RELATED: Kelowna looking for board of directors for Journey Home Strategy
91裸聊视频淪omething I will do differently tomorrow is I will become a catalyst for change, I will have conversations with my friends, family, co-workers, and neighbours encouraging them to challenge their perspectives and the myths about homelessness,91裸聊视频� said another LECoH member.
RELATED: Formerly homeless woman speaks on need for affordable housing in Kelowna
91裸聊视频淭he Ending Us and Them event was a way to foster a relationship of understanding among people who don91裸聊视频檛 normally connect,91裸聊视频� said Gerard Joyal, LECoH convenor. 91裸聊视频淔or LECoH, it91裸聊视频檚 about developing a community where no one person or group of people are on the outside looking in. We are all in this together and we are bigger than the problems that perpetuate homelessness and the stigma on those who experience homelessness.91裸聊视频�
LECoH will continue to meet regularly and work alongside the new Journey Home Society to empower individuals with lived and living experience to share their wisdom and contribute their expertise to guide how the Journey Home Strategy is implemented. This will ensure that the Strategy remains relevant and responsive. An example of LECoH91裸聊视频檚 current work is to guide the development of a peer support program designed with the goal of having a person with lived experience of homelessness available to mentor individuals in their navigation of the homeless serving system.
For more information about Journey Home and how the Lived Experience Circle on Homelessness is involved, please visit
To report a typo, email:
newstips@kelownacapnews.com.
newstips@kelownacapnews.com
Like us on and follow us on .
