INDIGENOUS INITIATIVES

In everything we do, we strive to create a space of reconciliation and inclusion. All of our staff and foster families receive education on Indigenous culture, and we work to incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing and being into our programs.

We are grateful to the Elders, Knowledge Keepers and Indigenous coworkers who continue to walk with us on this path. Here are a few highlights of the work happening at Trellis over the past year.

Orange Shirt Day

Coinciding with the first ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, our Orange Shirt Day events brought many together to honour the experiences of Residential School Survivors, celebrate local Indigenous culture and discuss the essential roles of care and kinship. From musical performances to storytelling, our Orange Shirt Day Celebrations were full of moments for reflection, joy and looking forward to how we can continue to learn and take action every day.

HONOURING OUR CHILDREN: TRADITIONAL POW WOW

This spring our Strathmore Commons Family Resource Network in partnership with the Siksika Family Resource Network, hosted our first full Traditional Pow Wow. We welcomed over 400 participants, including dancers, drummers and young people and families we work with.

Walk For Reconciliation

Over 130 community members attended this year’s annual Walk for Reconciliation. This marked Trellis’ thirteenth year co-hosting the Walk, beginning in 2009 as a partnership with the Aboriginal Friendship Centre of Calgary. The Walk for Reconciliation has continued as an opportunity to reflect on the difficult history and atrocities of residential schools in Canada, survivors’ legacies and how we can all move forward together to overcome adversity.

“

WATCH HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS YEAR’S POW WOW EVENT

I think events like this are important because I want to provide my kids with as many experiences during their childhood as possible so that they can see and learn different cultures and ways of doing things.

POW

THE BOREAL

Trellis Launches New Pilot Program To Address Complex Youth Homelessness

After seeing this group of youth cycle through systems and repeat episodes of homelessness, Trellis staff realized another level of support was needed. By leveraging real-time data from our Impact and Evaluation team, we advocated to ministries and key stakeholders that a different approach was critical to help these complex youth. As a result, we were able to launch a brand new program called The Boreal.

Falling Through The Cracks

Last year, our youth shelter Avenue 15 served 144 youth with over 2,800 bed nights of safe shelter. However, more than half of these stays were by the same 23 youth.

These youth all face common barriers, says Jen Hosie, manager of The Boreal. They live with a range of complex challenges that include mental health, addiction and severe childhood trauma. Almost all have been involved in gangs or exploitation and have spent time at the Calgary Young Offenders Centre. Because services are often not set up for such high acuity needs, this small group of youth struggles to fit into programs and systems that usually work well for their peers.

Kim Ledene, a Trellis program director, adds that in some instances, these youth are at a high risk of being victimized. In scattered site housing, for example, youth have run into scary situations where guests, often adults with ties to gangs, take over their units.

There are also gaps in services when youth are not yet equipped with the life skills to live on their own.

“Many of them have developmental, cognitive delays where they’re not really functioning at the 17-yearold level, but the world is expecting them to be that way,” says Kim. “I think what’s most important about The Boreal is it really comes from a place where housing is a human right and people don’t have to earn their housing with good behavior.”

What The Boreal Offers

The Boreal is a lodging-style house owned by HomeSpace and located in Forest Lawn. The program will start out as a one-year pilot and offer small apartment-style units paired with intensive case management to eight youth at a time. The space is designed to be trauma-informed and has lots of natural light so that youth feel safe and comfortable.

“Our goal is for a young person who comes to our building to realize that they matter and somebody cares about them and cares about where they live,” says Kim. “I think The Boreal sends that message to the youth that we are serving.”

Working with community partners through the Complex Youth Collaborative Table, The Boreal will identify youth who need safe housing. While other programs like Avenue 15 serve as a temporary shelter, The Boreal is meant to be a home where youth can stay for as long as they need. The program’s low-barrier, harm reduction focus also means that youth do not have to meet any preconditions to receive help.

“Youth would be able to live there regardless of where they are in life,” says Jen. “They don’t need to be sober. They don’t need to be in school. There’s no eligibility criteria. We will walk with them no matter what.”

The Boreal will provide support that values youth’s choice, voice and self-determination. In addition to 24/7 on-site staff, The Boreal will be working with supports such as Trellis Circle Keepers, Alberta Health Services and addictions counselors so that youth are connected with whatever help they need.

The Forest Lawn Community is an ideal location for accessibility to transit, and it gets youth out of the downtown core as a first step towards stability. The neighbourhood also already has protective factors and community resources, which will provide additional wraparound support for youth to achieve their goals. These resources include:

The Alex Youth Health Centre

Sunrise Resource Centre (lowcost counselling, community kitchen & free haircuts)

Trellis Forest Lawn Club, which runs youth programming and has youth employment opportunities

All in for Youth Support

Coaches in Forest Lawn High School, Jack James High School & Marlborough

Discovering Choices

Success will look differently for each youth. For some that might mean getting into school, and for others it might be working on sobriety. As youth transition to adulthood, learning to nurture healthy relationships and strengthening natural support networks is crucial, Kim says.

“A lot of the young people we work with have been apprehended, they’ve been put in foster care, they’ve been taken away from their family or their natural supports, and in that there’s a lot of judgment and shame,” Kim says.

“First and foremost, we believe relationship is the conduit to change. Building a relationship with young people where we care about them, no matter where they’ve come from or what they’ve been through, is the first and most important step.”

With this new beginning, our hope is that these youth will finally have the support needed to improve their quality of life on a recovery journey that they define.