We used the best practices guide from Women's Shelters Canada right from the beginning in regard to programming or what our rooms looked like. There's quite a bit to do on harm reduction. There's the ideal, which I hope we get to someday.
As for what we are doing currently, for instance, when I set up a woman's goals with her as she comes into the second stage, we look at our relapse prevention. We have a document, and we'll work with the woman to say, for instance, “I've had a slip with my substance use. Here's what you're going to see. Here's the plan I have for myself. How will you know if I'm not able to incorporate that plan?” That was extremely useful.
There was a whole conversation around a pet policy. I have a no-pet policy, but there were lots of conversations about what kinds of pets...comfort pets and those kinds of things.
The policy development gave us key points and links to be able to do that.
On second-stage housing, for us, my board built this. The women and children going into that will be women and children who work with Faye Peterson House, so we have lots, for sure. We are going through what we determine in an assessment, based mainly on risk. Marginalization is another one, and so is the ability to live communally. Women come in here first. They get to know each other. We get a bit of an idea of whether they could live with another 55-year-old woman. As it has already been articulated, differences happen at that age.
Can I meet the demand? No, I don't think I'll ever be able to meet the demand for safety. For people who leave the shelter right now, they're here about three months. That might sound like very little to the people in Toronto, but that's double the amount of time we used to have a wait-list for.