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Soon, friendly, trained volunteers will be spreading out into Squamish's downtown to check on folks, hand out supplies, lend an ear, direct those interested to where they can find services, or perhaps simply answer questions.
The Mobile Care Team initiative aims to "provide a visible, compassionate presence in the downtown core, as well as opportunities for community dialogue to generate creative solutions moving forward," according to a news release.
The team, which will be visible in the coming months, is an initiative of the newly formed Community Resilience Committee (CRC).
The committee consists of members from each of the District of Squamish, Squamish Helping Hands Society, Squamish RCMP, Sea to Sky Community Action Team, Squamish Library, Squamish Nation, Vancouver Coastal Health, and local community members.
Strengthening locals' sense of neighbourhood safety and inclusion downtown is the committee's stated goal.
"We recognize that there are challenges in our community, because there's there's discrepancies, and there's injustice, and there's people who are vulnerable, and there's marginalized folks, and there's privileged folks, and there's gentrification, and there's all these things are happening at once. And it's created a bit of a challenge for everybody to figure it out," said Maureen Mackell, executive director of Squamish Helping Hands Society.
"So we thought... together, we should be looking at this issue and seeing what we can do to bring community together to sort of bridge the gaps.'
Mackell said the downtown core in Squamish, like many communities, is feeling the pressures of the pandemic, the housing crisis, the toxic drug supply and declining mental health, among other things.
According to the release, consultation has identified challenges downtown such as "identifying service gaps and advocating for change, developing strong communication lines, compassion fatigue of frontline workers and neighbours, and safety for all community members."
Though Under One Roof has alleviated some of that pressure by housing a good number of folks, she said a count showed at least another 100 people without housing in town.
Jonathan Hand, Squamish Helping Hands project manager of the mobile care team, said volunteers are welcome and needed.
Folks with related experience and training would be ideal, but anyone interested can apply.
"It's like a way to try to alleviate some of the pressure that is on all these different service providers, by mobilizing some people in the community who we hope care — we find a lot of people care about this who want to be involved. And having a volunteer-based team can hopefully give them a structured, supported pathway to get involved where they can work with a couple of other people, they can access some training... and get taught how to go and approach people in the community and check on them and provide basic care, and just kind of demonstrate that Squamish is a place where we're turning and facing the music. It's like, OK, this is happening here and instead of just turning our backs, and just letting it get out of control, we're at least going to put some people out there to go and check on people and show them we're the type of community that shows up."
The team will meet people where they are at in life.
Examples could be walking around talking to people at the parks downtown and to business owners and local homeowners — building relationships or even handing out water to those who need it on a hot day.
The outreach is meant to be inclusive — for anyone who lives downtown — so everyone feels seen and heard.
"For residents and neighbours around here, too. I feel like it's a trustworthy presence for them.... So they know there are people out in our neighbourhood who care, and they're helping homeless people, and they're also helping me," he said.
The team is not an enforcement arm or a neighbourhood patrol, the group members stressed. If something is happening that requires the RCMP, they would be called upon in that case.
Lisa Young, programs and services manager for Squamish Helping Hands, explained that part of the committee's goal is also to provide education for those who live downtown who aren't vulnerable.
"Coming together and wanting to support community is so important and we're all working together, but there is also, ‘What is the expectation to that?’ And how do we manage those expectations, too, with some acceptance of some of the behaviours that will not necessarily go away entirely," she said. " I think that is an important piece for me, because I think sometimes people believe that if you've got mental health involved, or you've got people who are supportive that those behaviours can be, they can stopped... but that doesn't always necessarily happen, particularly when somebody is in psychosis or in a really deep mental health state... I would like to see some more education so that we can come together with the understanding that it's definitely not going to be perfect. We do want it to be better, but that's all of us working together, community included."
Jenna Becker, project co-ordinator with the Sea to Sky Community Action Team, said that is where capacity building comes in.
"So, having that trauma-informed education, breaking down that stigma. It's not about fixing problems that are happening here. It's about having a cohesive community where there is more understanding and also capacity building of everyone here in Squamish," she said.
The mobile team and the committee itself are dynamic and will change, shift and grow over time as needs change.
To volunteer with the mobile team, go here: https://www.volunteerconnector.org/squamish/under-one-roof/community-mobile-care-volunteer
Future plans
The committee has other ideas for further community building, such as fireside chats about tough issues.
Next up is a virtual screening of the movie, The Wisdom of Trauma, which features Dr. Gabor Maté slated for Feb. 17. After the screening, there will be a discussion with people with lived experience. Watch the Squamish Public Library site for details.
A mural is also planned for the Opioid Prevention Site (OPS).
"Part of that is doing community engagement with folks, both who use OPS, who live here in Under One Roof and neighbours and the wider community about what they want to see and how we can whether it's a mural to honour folks who've been lost to the overdose crisis, or is it of hope like it's this idea is really up in the air and it's about that community engagement around what people want to see," said Becker.
Find out more
To keep up with the latest from the CRC, join the Squamish Library newsletter through the website squamishlibrary.ca/newsletter/.
Jonathan Hand can be reached at: [email protected].
Jenna Becker can be reached at: [email protected]. (The Sea to Sky Community Action Team is looking to add people with lived substance use experience to its team. Members are compensated for their time.)
For information regarding supportive housing, food recovery hub, Overdose Prevention Site, and outreach, go to www.squamishhelpinghands.ca
For information regarding: Vancouver Coastal Health, mental health and substance use, go to: www.vch.ca, or phone 778-894-3200; Sea to Sky Community Services at www.sscs.ca; or www.fnha.ca for Indigenous based resources.
