Who We Are/Our Young People
For those of us who grew up in healthy happy families, it is difficult to imagine what years of abuse and neglect can do to a child. Even those of us who had our "fair share" of family turmoil know how difficult it can be to transform ourselves from angry edgy teenagers to prosperous stable adults. Needless to say, the road from adolescence to adulthood can be a bumpy one.
The young people who come to Covenant House face many obstacles to achieving independence. The majority of street youth have experienced physical, sexual and or emotional abuse, often at the hands of the adults that were responsible for taking care of them. Likewise, Vancouver's downtown streets can be dangerous. Sexual exploitation, drug abuse, poverty and illness are commonplace on the streets and many of our youth are re-victimized there, having fled one unsafe situation only to find their circumstances often worse.
Combined with these traumas and often because of them, is the prevalence of mental illness amongst our youth. A wide range of mental illnesses ranging from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to bi-polar disorder to drug-induced psychosis plague our youth in growing numbers and are often left untreated with devastating impacts. In addition to mental illness, our young people also struggle with substance abuse. Homeless young people often use drugs and alcohol as a way to "numb" the pain they experience in their lives and to help them forget.
Drugs and alcohol often become a method of "self-medication" that temporarily helps a young person deal with the emotional trauma associated with abandonment, abuse and in some cases, serious underlying mental health issues. On their own, mental illness and addictions are challenging enough to overcome, but presented together, as it often the case with our youth, proves to be extremely debilitating.
Covenant House Vancouver exists for those young people for whom there is often no one else - young people who have either willingly fled physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse or those who have been forced from their homes.
Often broken-hearted, the young people who come to Covenant House face many barriers to independent, healthy living. Many life threatening situations await kids who end up on the street. Substance misuse, disease and violence are a daily reality of street life.
Covenant House welcomes young people aged 16 - 24 with open arms. We bandage their cut-up feet, we give them hot food and a warm bed and we support them in their choice to change their present circumstances while helping them heal from past traumas.
We understand that life changes are challenging and do everything in our power to ensure that young people succeed at whatever plan they have chosen for themselves. As long as genuine effort is demonstrated, so is our commitment.
Alaska (Anchorage) California (Los Angeles, Oakland Florida (Fort Lauderdale, Orlando) Georgia (Atlanta) Louisiana (New Orleans) Michigan (Detroit) Missouri (St.Louis) New Jersey (Atlantic |
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Stats
Covenant House was incorporated in 1972 in New York City. Since then, more than 20 sites have opened in 6 countries. As of 1997, Covenant House programs have supported over 400,000 young people.
Covenant House Vancouver provides food, shelter, clothing and counselling to the estimated 500 - 1,000 street youth in Vancouver.
Most of the young people we help have fled unspeakable abuse at home. Physical, sexual and/or emotional abuse have forced these young people on to the streets, in search of a better life. But the streets are no place for anyone, let alone our nation's youth. Violence, poverty, sex trade involvement and addictions are just a few of the horrors associated with street life. Life on the streets is a dead end.
Covenant House Vancouver opened its doors in September, 1997 in response to a study that revealed that there are over 10,000 (now 15,000) runaways reported in BC annually. The study also revealed that street youth were in desperate need of short-term transitional shelter and long-term supportive housing.
