The Okanagan’s boys and girls’ clubs on Thursday announced a new initiative to tackle youth homelessness in Kelowna.
The program, called Upstream Kelowna, focuses on three goals: reducing early school leaving, reducing youth homelessness, and reducing the number of young people suffering from mental health problems.
The initiative is led by the Canadian Boys and Girls Clubs in partnership with A Way Home Kelowna, Arc Programs, Bridge Youth and Family Services, Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society, Kelowna Foundry, and School District 23.
The program will use a locally customized screening tool to identify youth at risk and the confidential assessment of students’ needs will help identify the youth before they enter a crisis.
The initiative originated in Australia, where it has shown great success in reducing youth homelessness by 40 percent and dropping out rates by 20 percent.
The survey will be conducted on 8th grade students before they turn 16.
“There is a national survey on homelessness found among chronically homeless adults. 40 percent of them experienced their first episode of homelessness before the age of 16. Our ideal is therefore to interview young people before the age of 16 to determine these risks, intervene and turn the tap on homelessness together if we can, “says Sarah Mackinnon, Head of Youth Services BGCO.
The program is able to identify up to 50 percent more young people at risk than previously known.
Before participating in the survey, young people are informed of the purpose of the survey and are assumed to answer truthfully.
“What they found in Australia is that students find that they have needs that won’t be met if asked the right questions,” says Mackinnon.
So what happens after teenagers take the survey and are classified as at risk?
“So they’re classified as at risk, they say they want support, and then we have a number of community partners. We determine which program is best suited to the needs of these young people, connect them to this support and then close it. Ideally, the young people and their families are in the process of giving them the support they need to remain resilient “she adds.
A Journey Home’s five-year strategy to tackle Kelowna’s homelessness identified the Upstream Kelowna Pilot as one of the top ten actions to take. Some of the services offered under the initiative are family mediation, systems navigation, mental health, addiction, and life skills.
