‘It’s about creating space for honesty, connection, and support — without stigma or shame,’ say shelter officials
These columns are written by staff from The Lighthouse to help the community better understand people experiencing homelessness and those who support them. This column appears every other Monday.
Last week, May 5 to 11, was Mental Health Awareness Week, centred on the national theme of “Unmasking Mental Health.”
This theme invites us to look beyond appearances and break the silence around mental health challenges. It’s about creating space for honesty, connection, and support — without stigma or shame.
Despite continued efforts to end stigma around mental health, there’s still a long way to go. Imagine facing those same struggles while also experiencing homelessness. Being without a home is difficult on its own, and being in survival mode every day compounds the stress and can have a serious impact on mental health. The impact of stigma in that situation isn’t just isolating; it can also be deeply traumatizing.
According to the 2022 Simcoe County enumeration, 73 per cent of people experiencing homelessness self-identified as having a mental health issue. This impacts people of all ages, and due to the toll of physical and mental health challenges, people experiencing homelessness are considered seniors at age 55.
At The Lighthouse, we work diligently to ensure participant needs are met, including mental health needs. Our on-site mental health staff support participants in moments of crisis, offer appointments to help them work through struggles, help develop strategies to cope with emotions, and provide referrals and connections to other services in the community. Partnerships in the community are key to ensuring when someone does find housing, they have mental health support in place and are not left to navigate their mental health journey alone.
In addition to The Lighthouse’s mental health workers, each of our front-line staff members has the skills to work with participants and support their overall well-being. To ensure our staff stay up to date with their skills, we provide a variety of training such as de-escalation, non-violent crisis intervention, and mental health first aid. This, in turn, provides effective and supportive services for participants.
Working in a shelter environment is demanding, and burnout rates can be high. The mental health of our team is also a priority. Our goal is to create a supportive and encouraging atmosphere for staff through consistent team connection, a comprehensive benefits package, and debriefing support. Keeping our team healthy is the best way to keep our participants as healthy as possible.
During Mental Health Awareness Week, our mental health team created meaningful opportunities for reflection and connection. We introduced a space where participants, staff and volunteers could share words of hope, posted slides with inspirational quotes, shared materials about mental health support services, and launched a new mental health resource board with a variety of accessible tools and information.
Creating a safe, non-judgmental environment is at the heart of what we do. It allows our participants to not only find housing, but also to thrive in our community. Together, as we invest in our community’s mental health and homelessness crisis, whether it’s through volunteering, events or donations, we can help each other find hope, home and a future.
The Lighthouse is keeping hope alive in Orillia. Go to orillialighthouse.ca/keeping-hope-campaign to join us.
Linda Goodall is the former executive director at The Lighthouse. For further information contact Dale Rowe, Executive Director at dale@orillialighthouse.ca
Rosemary Petersen is the managing director at The Lighthouse and can be reached at rosemary@orillialighthouse.ca.