Covenant House Vancouver

Yesterday we did an intake for the Shelter with a 19 year old first timer.  He’s not your typical street kid but has nowhere to go after his girlfriend’s mother kicked him out for “not pulling his weight.” 

He was a little emotional because he had to leave behind his 2 month old son.  He spoke of his high hopes and wanting to get a job and back on his feet.  He said that he was glad to have found Covenant House, but was nervous about being in a shelter for the first time.  During the intake, he asked many questions about the other youth:  Would he have to share a bedroom?  What would they think of him?  Where are they all from? Etc, etc...  He finally finished the intake and we brought him into the house.  Almost immediately he was inundated with questions from other youth:  What’s your name?  Is this your first time?  Are you from Vancouver?  You could tell he was immediately accepted as they then started lightly razzing him. 

Friday mornings are a special time at the CSS because we hold a Women’s Only Drop-In. Young ladies can come and get the support they need in a caring and safe women-only environment.

Last Friday I was walking through the Drop-In and saw some ladies getting an extra special treat – manicures and pedicures! Everyone deserves a bit of pampering and it does wonders for your soul as many of you have probably experienced. Our young women face lots of issues from addiction, abuse and lack of housing and being treated to a special spa day is a great way to boost their self-esteem and make them feel good.

Our thanks to the UBC Nursing Students for making this special treat happen.

Below are a few pictures of the mani’s and pedi’s:

The shelter welcomed a new youth, Ethan, several weeks ago.  This youth’s alcohol use and family breakdown led to him to Covenant House.  One evening Ethan disclosed he had attended his first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting as he was struggling with remaining sober.  Ethan attended four meetings that week, and continued to do so every week.  Ethan had begun talking in constructive ways with his family and was hoping to spend time with his Mom.  Ethan began seeing a Covenant House Drug and Alcohol Counselor weekly and also took part in some workshops for life skills. Ethan managed to secure employment in the field he was interested in—things were looking up!

Things were going great but Ethan began getting short-tempered and argumentative.  Ethan started being disruptive to the house and had to be called on it several times.  When his one-to-one worker asked to talk about his behavior, he refused.  We were not sure if Ethan was going to make it through the night.

The next morning, Ethan came to talk to staff.  He stated that for the first time in his life, he really felt like he was an alcoholic.  His said that his addiction was getting the better of him and he was wanted to drink. We tried, at length, to reason with him, but Ethan decided that he needed to take a break from Covenant House as he couldn’t resist his urge to drink.  There was not much that we could do…his mind was made up.  We gave Ethan Covenant House’s Drug and Alcohol Counselor’s contact information and encouraged him to call.  Within a very short period of time—Ethan had left the shelter… It was very tough to see him go.

Last night was an exceptionally hectic. One youth had returned to the shelter intoxicated and emotionally distraught.  As per our policy and in order to maintain sanctuary for the other youth in house, she could not stay the night in the shelter.   She received an overnight suspension, but was able to return this morning to maintain her stay-which she has.  This particular youth admits her ongoing struggle with alcohol.  She recently lost her nephew to a terminal illness and has been devastated by his passing.  She disclosed to staff that her recent alcohol use had been triggered by passing a store window with toys that she thought her late nephew would have loved. 

Her previous stays in the shelter documented numerous incidences of alcohol use.  Staff were concerned that previous supports put in place were not effective and had arranged a meeting for tomorrow to discuss treatment options but were worried her alcohol use may lead to her being discharged before the meeting could happen. 

One of the youth workers spoke to the youth at length to develop a safety plan for this evening so she would still be here for tomorrow’s meeting.  The youth worker (who had only met this youth the day before and had virtually no relationship built with the youth) used sincerity and empathy to communicate concern for the youth's well being and succeeded in getting her to commit to abstaining from any alcohol or substance use for the night.  Additionally, the youth worker was able to check in with the youth frequently throughout the evening to gauge her feelings of safety and security and process any emotional distress she was experiencing. 

Covenant House Vancouver is always trying to support youth in getting their health back on track. Living on the streets really wears down both your emotional and physical self and we support our young people in seeking medical help often for the first time in a long time. If our youth need a prescription for a health concern we can help them to get it and pay for it. When youth are physically healthy it makes it easier for them to tackle other issues in their lives.

Below is a story about a young man who had some serious health issues that we were able to help him with:

A young lad came to the shelter a while back and he was stumbling and slurring his words and that kind of stuff. So we were wondering if he was under the influence or what was going on for this guy? So we did a quick assessment and started to realize something; we asked him what medication he's on and as it turns out he was on insulin – he's diabetic.

I asked him to quickly check his blood to see at what his blood sugar level was, or if he was needing any insulin. As it turns out his numbers were very, very, very high – hence the slurring of words and that kind of stuff. So I tried to call a taxi to try and get him to the hospital and decided that trying to get a taxi on a Friday night was far too difficult. So anyways, as it turns out the staff took him down there, he got in to see the doctor, they sorted him out, and he was on track once again.

This is what the card says:

"Merry Christmas Covenant House Staff,

Thank you for all the help and support you have given me to get back on my feet…

You gave me hope and strength to be strong and giving me anything I needed and gave me a sense of community. Also, all those bus tickets and helping me overcome my addiction and just making me a responsible young man.

Happy Holidays
J"

With Christmas quickly approaching, some of the youth in the shelter have been contemplating what to give this year. Many of the youth have shown that despite their circumstances, giving a gift is very important to them. The team at Covenant House works together to find items that have been donated that are appropriate for youth who want to give a gift for someone else, rather than spending the money that they had worked hard to earn for their future outside of the shelter.

One youth proudly told his youth worker that he had visited his son for six hours recently and that he wanted to wrap some presents to his son for Christmas. This youth was surprised by his own skill level of wrapping these gifts as he laid everything out on the floor. I looked out the office window to see him focused; taking great care to do his best job wrapping these gifts, even getting help from another resident. I'm always surprised when, after awhile of relationship building with a youth, we learn they have children. It's inspiring to see how they have so much care and support for other loved ones, even as they struggle to get their feet on the ground while making the best of finding themselves in a crisis shelter. 

Every week Covenant House hosts a weekly Art Group. The group is open to every single youth who accesses our programs.  This is nice because it is a weekly opportunity for youth to connect with us even if they may not be staying with us at the moment. We held an “Art Group Christmas”!  We had a station for making gingerbread houses, a station for cookie decorating, and a station for Christmas crafts.  As we set up the stations, I discovered that the dining area was equipped with surround sound, and we had Christmas music playing in the space.  The youth trickled in and soon we had over 35 architects!  The room was filled with positive energy!

We were photographing the event, and soon it became a full on model shoot!  I loved watching the youth shout out to our volunteer to get a picture taken with him; a very meaningful way for the youth to express their appreciation when it might be difficult for some to articulate this sentiment.  The group ended with the youth arranging themselves in group photos, posing with all of their houses and cookies. The most beautiful part was watching how conscientious the youth were in making sure that everyone was included.

For a lot of the youth, emotions are intensified during the holidays, and a lot of them do not have a lot of positive memories around the holiday season.   It was wonderful to see the youth make new positive memories of Christmas, and to embody the spirit of the season; to be inclusive, encouraging and supportive of each other.  It was a wonderful Christmas celebration!

Today, I came on shift to witness 4 youth being incredibly animated in the common dining room as they played a modified game of Cranium with one another. The youth workers were a captivated audience! They were basically playing a game of charades – and were having an awesomely fun time doing so.  It was good to see all these youth getting along at what can be a very tough time for some of them, especially being away from their families.  It was a treat to have them invite me into their game and to share a few laughs and moments of fun acting out different scenarios.  If felt a lot like playing board games at any home…

The 4 youth around the table each are at a different places in their lives – while one has been steadily going to a job training program, committed to staying sober, saving up money and applying to Rights of Passage (our transitional housing program), the others are trying to stabilize their mental health, get a grasp on their addiction, overcome an eating disorder or find a job or job training program.  It’s nice to see them find common ground here while they struggle with these issues, I’m glad we try – especially during the holiday season, but of course all year long,  to encourage them to try and have fun along the way.

We have a young couple who are both very new to Covenant House, having never stayed in shelters before.  They had been “couch surfing” – sleeping at different friend’s houses, and were looking for a safer and more supportive living situation.  Like most “first-timers” it has been a bit of a process trying to build a trusting relationship with them.  It has proven difficult because they have not been very forthcoming or honest with us up to this point.  At their intake they told staff they were just friends, but later it was discovered that they are a couple. When we tried to verify their identification the following day it turned out that they had given false names and had not been forthright about having bank accounts. 

The first night, after getting them settled in their separate rooms, a youth worker spoke to the young man, who the youth worker noticed was holding back tears.   Just after everyone had gone to bed the young man came back out into the hallway and asked to speak to his girlfriend as he was having second thoughts about staying at Covenant House.  We tried our best to send the youth to bed with the idea that perhaps he could sleep on it and figure things out in the morning.  Thankfully he decided to take our advice and sleep on it.