Kamloops ASK Wellness Society Supportive Housing Program

Category: Supportive Housing | Author(s): Khanh Bui

Image Credit: ASK Wellness

Location Address: 433 Tranquille Road, Kamloops, BC, Canada

Subject

The Supportive Housing facilities operated by the ASK Wellness Society provide vulnerable members of our community with safe and affordable housing. These programs also benefit the community by decreasing the need for community services to address issues involving these individuals when they are facing homelessness. Supportive housing facilities at Spero House, Mission Flats Manor and Crossroads Inn are operated by ASK Wellness Society with a total of 162 units that are all funded by BC Housing (Supportive Housing). ASK Wellness employs 275 staff in Kamloops to provide street outreach services, supportive housing, affordable housing, employment services and has a partnership with Interior Health for a supportive recovery program (Annual Impact Report 2022). 

All Supportive Housing programs are staffed 24 hours per day to provide client-focused support on problem solving, safety, harm reduction, health navigation, and overall life skills. Participants can choose to take part in wellness planning, with a focus on their health, welfare, and safety. The success of supportive housing is rooted in the availability of services that can meet the needs of all individuals, including those with complex issues such as trauma, mental health, and addiction challenges.

To stay safe amid the overdose and substance use crisis, social workers have thorough protocols in place regarding on-site client engagement and the use of appropriate personal protective equipment. Even with best practices, however, there’s no denying the toll that the current circumstances can take on these frontline workers.

Crisis

The organization continue to struggle to work with difficult clients, which leads to staff burnout. “Exposure to higher numbers of overdoses within the community was identified as a source of trauma which led to emotional exhaustion or compassion fatigue and decreased empathy,” said Megan Dalgleish – ASK Wellness Tenant Support Worker. She also indicates that mental health combined with substance use was the most common reason why someone’s behavior became an issue. “They go home at night and experience the vicarious trauma of watching somebody needing to be, over and over, injected with naxolone to save their life. That’s no way to function on an ongoing basis. We need to envision more than just putting bandages on people and look at doing a systems overhaul,” Bob Hughes, AK Wellness Chief Executive Officer said (ASK Wellness wants national approach to overdose crisis). ASK Wellness and other social agencies are finding solutions to turn around the crisis, but they are not supported it needs by the government to help people with chronic mental health issues (Funding for Critical Social Issues). The funding allocated for these services does not allow for competitive wages and benefits, nor the ability to upskill staff. Moreover, staff are further disadvantaged due to the expectation of the health authority and law enforcement to provide out of scope care to those that are acutely ill or violent.

Megan mentioned that the current environment might place many of the staff in dangerous situations. Staff safety could be at risk when they have a challenge with certain individuals with significant mental health disorders or chronic substance use issues. Some supportive housing settings (for example, Crossroad Inn) have people smoking in their suites and staff can say they will not attend due to exposure to smoke. 

Video Credit: Khanh Bui . Interviewee: Megan Dalgleish (Tenant Support Worker at ASK Wellness)

Community Implications

This increase in overdoses and responses can result in increased burnout among personnel working in such settings. Experiencing burnout can lead to consequences such as voluntary turnover among service providers. Megan indicates that their quality of care is reduced when experiencing burnout due to their higher workload, and poor quality of care due to burnout can result in clients having a difficult time building a relationship with their healthcare staff.  Higher rates of turnover can result in increased stress among remaining service providers and can further increase their perception of not having supportive relationships in the workplace. High turnover rates may also lead to financial strains for the organization that then have to recruit and train new staff. 

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A Way Forward

We recognize that no one suggestion will solve the housing crisis in Kamloops, but based on our research, here are some ideas that may help move us even slightly forward.

There needs to be a conscious effort to put staff safety at the forefront which means that certain individuals may need to be excluded from accessing programs when they pose to great a risk to staff and other individuals accessing resources. There also needs to be an understanding from BC Housing and the health authority that staff safety in these programs must be treated in the same way that they support health authority staff. Some recommendations will be suggested to highlight those gaps in funding/programming and the need for greater support. By filling these gaps and providing the necessary support to agencies and staff, an increase in staff satisfaction and retention should result, ultimately resulting in stronger services.

Acceptance and treatment therapy (ACT) which consists of using mindfulness and behavior change to assist healthcare staff with identifying their work-related values can be useful for coping with stress. Furthermore, ASK Wellness might learn about cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or the use of CBT in their work with clients. CBT focuses on re-evaluating thinking and incorporating helpful behavioral responses. CBT can be associated with lower levels of burnout as it can give service providers a greater sense of control over their work.

In order for the organization to attract and retain a qualified and healthy workforce, funding that acknowledges the level of expected services and professional requirements of staff is needed and the safety of staff must be at a level Work Safe expects. 

For the staff, they could practice more positive personal habits to reduce burnout. Service staff should take paid time off, take part in self-care activities such as meditation, or participate in activities they enjoy such as reading or listening to music as ways to alleviate burnout.