(Afgelopen) Webinar on Managing Substance Use Concerns in Housing First Settings

Join this webinar to hear from experts and practitioners in Canada and Finland and learn how to help Housing First participants who have substance use concerns. This webinar is the 8th in the International Housing First Webinar Series and is presented by the Canadian Housing First Network, the Housing First Europe Hub, and the Provincial System Support Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

Date: January 28, 2025
Time: 10-11:30 AM Eastern Time (3 PM UK Time, 4 PM Brussels time)

Register: https://camh.webex.com/weblink/register/r244b88f962830134ecc65080a77633bf 

About this Webinar

The presenters will discuss the following topics:

• The importance of trust-based relationships and dialogue in Housing First work.
  Presenter: Riikka Perälä
  Principles of client choice, flexible support, and person-centered planning challenge traditional ways of working with people with a background in homelessness. This presentation gives examples of different ways in which trust, flexibility, and person centeredness can be promoted and maintained through interactional means in the support work carried out in clients’ homes.
• Enhancing self-awareness to reduce your reactivity
  Presenter: Lukas Maitland
  Harm reduction is a natural fit with Housing First work but we often struggle to find practical skills to support clients who are struggling with substance use. This presentation will provide some tools to enhance self-awareness and reduce your reactivity to client substance use. You will also hear about three practical skills you can use when working with your clients to improve your ability to work together and reduce the impacts of substance use on tenancy.

About the Presenters

Dr. Riikka Perälä (she/her) received her PhD in sociology from the University of Helsinki in 2012. Her research interests cover the position of vulnerable citizen groups in welfare and housing policies and services. In the homelessness field, she has investigated these issues in the context of Housing First policies and participated in the development of policies in various expert groups. She works as a post-doctoral researcher at the Y-Foundation in an European Union-funded research project, which investigates the adaptation of Housing First policies in four European countries. 

Lukas Maitland (they/he) is a queer, transgender white settler who lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba (treaty one). They have been working as a social worker with folks without housing for over 20 years in Vancouver, Victoria, and Winnipeg, including 7 years with a Housing First ACT team (Wiisocotatiwin).  He is a harm reduction activist, educator, and clinician who brings his lived experience to his work with people who use drugs. Lukas currently provides clinical consultation to shelter and Housing First teams to support the use of harm reduction and other strategies and approaches in working with community members.

The Organisers

Canadian Housing First Network – Community of Interest

The Canadian Housing First Network – Community of Interest (CHFN-COI) assists communities across Canada to develop, evaluate, and improve Housing First (HF) programs based on the Pathways model tested, adapted, and shown to be effective in the At Home  / Chez Soi Demonstration Project.

The CHFN-CoI (formerly the Ontario Housing First Regional Network Community of Interest (OHFRN-CoI)), consist of HF champions, HF programs across Canada, policy-makers planners, managers, service providers, researchers, and persons with lived experience, including representatives from the housing, health, and justice sectors and Indigenous housing and support providers. The CHFN is hosted by the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH) and the Provincial System Support Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

Housing First Europe Hub

The Housing First Europe Hub was established in 2016 by the Y-Foundation (Finland) and FEANTSA (the European Federation of National Organisations Working with Homeless People) along with more than 15 partners.  Since then, the Hub has grown to include more than 37 organizations, cities, government ministries, housing providers and researchers from across Europe and beyond. The Hub works in partnership with core and associate partners to promote Housing First as the first and central response to homelessness.

Evidence Exchange Network

The Evidence Exchange Network (EENet) is part of the Provincial System Support Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. EENet moves evidence to action to improve programming and inform policy change. Our team works closely with researchers, clinicians, policymakers, system planners, service providers, and people with lived experiences to mobilize knowledge and help people connect with each other..