Confessions of a youth serving organization: An agency's journey of change

With the launch of Calgary's 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness, Boys and Girls Clubs of Calgary Youth Housing & Shelter Programs began a change management process which reviewed how we worked with young people experiencing... [ view full abstract ]

With the launch of Calgary's 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness, Boys and Girls Clubs of Calgary Youth Housing & Shelter Programs began a change management process which reviewed how we worked with young people experiencing homelessness. Following a review of our program outcomes, gathering feedback from youth, engagement with other youth serving organizations and analysis of the services we offered, we begain to shift our approach from “managing” to ending youth homelessness. We began by asking this question for every youth we served: “What would it take to end this youth’s homelessness with this experience”. It was through this process that we were able to identify many of the barriers that young people faced in trying to exit homelessness. Our learning was that many of these barriers were created by ourselves, agency policy and procedures. Through adopting a strength-based relationship, stages of change, trauma-Informed, client-centered approach in our Youth Housing & Shelter Stream we began to see a shift the outcomes youth were experiencing.

Today, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Calgary Youth Housing & Shelter Stream offers a unique and innovative continuum of services for youth who are at-risk of or are experiencing homelessness. The continuum bridges family based case management to prevent homelessness to Housing First for youth. Our goal in every program is to end each youth’s experience of homelessness with the current episode. This means the adoption of an individualized “do whatever it takes” approach in supporting our youth. As such, we have committed to guiding principles that together as a stream ground our work in this unique philosophy of practice.