Women and Harm Reduction Webinar: Housing as Harm Reduction for At-risk Women

The webinar held on February 9 lasted just over an hour and featured a presentation focused on Brigid’s Place, a transitional housing program in Ottawa, Ontario that provides housing to eleven at-risk women.

The mandate of this low barrier/harm reduction transitional housing program is to support the most marginalized and street-entrenched women who cannot access other housing options due to factors such as active addictions, mental health issues, past trauma, sex trade and other challenges. This presentation discussed the initial development of Brigid's Place, as well as the challenges and successes of this type of program.

Our first speaker was Joanne Hansen. Joanne is the Senior Manager of Supportive Living and Women’s Services with the Shepherds of Good Hope. Joanne has worked with the homeless population for the past 12 years. She has been instrumental in the planning and development of Brigid’s Place, a low barrier, housing-first transitional program for women. As well, Joanne has participated in the harm reduction practices within Women’s Services, a homeless shelter program for 80 women. Joanne discussed the challenges and success Shepherds of Good Hope has experienced during the initial phases of Brigid’s Place, including some of the lessons learned from the program.

Our next speaker was Heidi Klett. Heidi is the manager of Brigid’s Place. For the past seven years, Heidi has worked with women experiencing addictions, mental health issues, homelessness, and violence. In her work at Brigid’s Place and in Women’s Services, she has introduced anti-oppression practices, harm reduction approaches and feminist methods into programming, policies and staff trainings. Her ultimate goal is to provide education and easy-to-use tools that will create inclusive services for all women. Heidi also speak more in-depth about Brigid’s Place, its programming, tenant statistics and its future.

If you have any question about this presentation or about Brigid’s Place, please feel free to contact Heidi Klett at heidi@shepherdsofgoodhope.com.

For more information on this webinar or future webinars, please contact Brittany Graham, Canadian AIDS Society National Program Consultant at brittanyg@cdnaids.ca.

We welcome you to consult our PowerPoint presentation and to listen to an audio recording of the session:

Brigid's Place webinar recording Feb 9th, 2012.wav

Microsoft PowerPoint - Brigid's Place Powerpoint- CAS Webinar.pdf