Author Archives: The Ottawa Mission

Imagine a childhood marked by family instability, abuse and years in foster care. For Joel this was a sad reality.

By the age of 16, when Joel took to the streets, he had been through a lot. Even though his most recent foster home had been a good one, the years had taken their toll. But Joel wasn’t prepared to build a life on his own at such a young age, and he fell into addiction.

Joel spent many years in and out of shelters – including stays at The Ottawa Mission. It wasn’t until two years ago, now in his mid-forties, that he decided he really wanted – and needed – to make some major changes. He knew The Mission well by now, so he came to us for help.

Joel has since completed 3 months in our Stabilization unit, and 5 months in LifeHouse – our residential treatment program. He also spent about a year in one of our second stage transitional homes.

When it was time to move on, Joel worked with our housing support team who helped him find and furnish a bachelor apartment. Joel has now been living in his own place for more than four months, and he couldn’t be happier. He shares his apartment with a good companion – a cat named Molly – and, as he continues his recovery, he looks forward to returning to work in restaurant kitchen construction.

A wonderful footnote to Joel’s story is that he has reconnected with the foster mom who has been looking for him for over 30 years, and he is also rebuilding some family relationships that he thought were broken forever. He is also grateful for the ongoing support of his wife Linda. The final word goes to Joel – “I was hungry for a good life, and I’m on my way to achieving it. I finally have something to look forward to – I have hope.”

Lend a Helping Hand of Your Own, Visit Our Volunteer Ottawa Page

You’ll be hearing a lot about ‘GETTING LOUD’ in the next few days.

Monday marks the start of Canadian Mental Health Week and the Canadian Mental Health Association – an important partner of The Ottawa Mission – wants us to GET LOUD. It means speaking up to stop the discrimination and the stigma that often go hand in hand with mental illness.

People who come to The Ottawa Mission for help are already dealing with the stigma of being homeless. It can be overwhelming for them to ask for help with mental health issues when they first arrive at the shelter. We see a wide spectrum of mental health issues – from depression and anxiety to some of the less common, serious illnesses like schizophrenia.

That’s why The Mission is pleased to announce that it has recently enhanced mental health services for shelter residents. Thanks to our partnership with CMHA, we can now provide people in need with access to a full time staff person with expertise in mental health issues.  She will help people with complex needs receive the support and assistance they need to be able to live healthier, more independent lives.

As well, The Ottawa Mission is also benefitting from a partnership with the Royal Ottawa Hospital Outreach team. The ROH is now providing a part-time psychiatric nurse to enhance the mental health services it’s providing to residents of the The Mission.

Jordanna Marchand is The Mission’s full-time Coordinator of Mental Health Services. “Because of the diversity of people and needs at The Ottawa Mission, it’s imperative we establish working partnerships with agencies that have expertise in metal health support“ says Jordanna. “We strive to help shelter residents navigate through whatever crisis they are in and to help them feel valued, respected and understood throughout the process.”

Thanks to our great community partners we will GET LOUD for Canadian Mental health Week – we hope you will too.

Lend a Helping Hand of Your Own, Visit Our Volunteer Ottawa Page

How do you define leadership? How does one become a better leader? These are questions that everyone asks at one time or another – whether in a professional or personal context.

The Ottawa Mission is proud to be a beneficiary of an upcoming event focusing on leadership, called Leadercast®.  This one-day event on Friday, May 6^th will give you the chance to hear firsthand from several well-known leaders from around the world.

Keynote speakers include, among others, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak; Leadership expert and best-selling author Dr. Henry Cloud; and President of Focus Brands, Kat Cole.  Their inspiring speeches will be broadcast LIVE from Atlanta, Georgia to hundreds of people watching around the world, including here Ottawa.

Leadercast 2016 will focus on what it means to be a ‘visionary leader’ – someone who works tirelessly to empower those around them to bring a vision to life.  The Ottawa Mission’s leaders – whether they’re on the Board of Directors or the management team – work towards the vision that one day in the future everyone will have access to a home of their own. What’s more, proceeds from Leadercast will go towards providing more mental health supports to people in need including clients of The Mission.

Some of the capital’s leading organizations have bought a table at the upcoming Leadercast event at ottawa’s Hellenic Centre. There’s still time to book your seat at Ottawa’s leadership table – go to https://leadercastottawa.com/ for tickets and all the details.

This past week at The Mission we celebrated the achievements of 47 men who have reached important milestones in their road to recovery from addiction.

For Bill, it was recognition for 3 consecutive months of daily attendance at our drop in Day Program – something that seemed unattainable at this time last year and is such an important first step towards changing his life.

For Warren, it was completing 30 days in our Stabilization Program, staying sober and gaining the strength he needed to commit to long term addiction treatment. It was the first time in many long years that Warren had achieved sobriety for any stretch of time and now he’s ready for the next step.

For Pierre, it was finishing five months of intensive residential treatment at our LifeHouse facility, and moving back into the community – yet another step towards regaining a full and productive life.

For these three, and all of the others being recognized and celebrated yesterday, it was a time to pause with pride and celebrate the hard work they’ve done on their recovery journey, and look ahead to a future filled with hope.

Congratulations to all!

Next week is National Volunteer Week – a time to recognize, celebrate and thank Canada’s 12.7 million volunteers, including some very special people we see every week at The Ottawa Mission. Our dedicated, compassionate army of volunteers – an average of 250 a week! – help to care for hundreds of people every day of the year at our shelter.

You feed the hungry, by helping to prepare and serve an average of 1,300 meals every day, and by giving us great support at our special holiday dinners at Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter.

You help organize and distribute hundreds of items of clothing, bringing warmth and a sense of pride to people who have so little.

You give your time to individuals in the Stepping Stones Learning Centre, working one-on-one with students who are trying to reach educational goals that will help them find good jobs.

You bring smiles to the faces of those who often have little to smile about, by pitching in to help run our special bingo and movie nights.

You come by yourself, with your family, or your church, school groups, or co-workers. You give the precious gift of your time. But what this really means is that you are giving the gifts of kindness, compassion and hope to so many who would otherwise feel forgotten – and these gifts are priceless.

Thank you, dear volunteers, for all that you do.

Kevin’s life is in transition. For the past 4 months, he has been drug and alcohol free after battling addiction for many years. And now Kevin’s recovery journey is also in transition.

At The Ottawa Mission, the addiction and trauma team try to meet people where they are in their journey. Some are still actively using drugs and alcohol and are contemplating treatment and looking for information about what options are available to them. Some men have been in recovery and have relapsed and need help getting back on track. Others are in recovery and are working very hard to overcome the triggers that might cause a relapse.

Kevin’s addiction cost him his family, his job and he says he was almost out of hope too. He came to The Mission’s Day Program first, which is for men who may still be using drugs and alcohol, but want to stop. When he made the decision to stop using, he transitioned to our Stabilization program. The 13 beds in Stabilization are for men who want to pursue treatment and need a few weeks to determine what treatment options they can access. Sometimes there is a waiting list to get into a program and The Mission helps support men in recovery until a spot opens up for them.

Kevin was eventually able to move from Stabilization to The Mission’s LifeHouse program – a five month residential addiction treatment program. Now, two weeks into LifeHouse, he’s amazed at the progress he’s made since he first came to The Mission, and the support he’s getting from staff as well as other men in the program.  “There is always someone at The Mission I can talk to when I’m sorting things out,” he says. “That has helped change the way I look at my addiction and my life – I have hope and I’m very grateful for that.” 

Easter is almost here!  At The Ottawa Mission’s celebration on Monday, March 28 we expect to serve more than 2,500 meals to people who have nowhere else to go.  Our hope – and our goal – is that anyone in need is taken care of and given a special Easter dinner.

Our kitchen is a busy place all the time, with an average of 1,300 meals served every day, but on holidays like Easter we make an extra effort.  The dining room is decorated, our generous donors have written their greetings on the place mats that will be used on the day, 2,400 pounds of roast beef and all the trimmings are being prepared, and the many volunteers who will be serving meals throughout the day are ready to roll.

It’s always so gratifying to witness how much events like this mean to the people who attend.  There is a special feeling of joy in the room – a feeling, for many, that means they matter – that they have not been forgotten.

So, at this blessed time of the year, we extend to all of our donors and volunteers our deepest gratitude for your support – at Easter and throughout the year. We thank you for bringing good food, fellowship and hope to so many.

P.S.  It’s not too late to help with our Easter dinner.  Click here to give a warm meal and the gift of hope.

Every weekday at 10:55 a.m. a general announcement is made over the intercom at The Ottawa Mission by our Chaplain, Cosmas Ajawara: “Chapel service begins in five minutes. Everyone is welcome.”

People staying at the shelter, and people who live in the community join together to routinely fill the fifty chapel seats for this daily half hour of prayer, bible readings and song, and it’s always a special treat for staff and visitors to hear music and singing voices throughout the building.

The Lenten season leading up to Easter is an especially important time of the year for those who attend chapel. This year there will be special services on Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Chaplain Cosmas has also selected bible readings and songs for the daily services that focus on the suffering Christ endured, and how people can offer up their own suffering as disciples of Christ.

A lot of us observe Lent by making a personal sacrifice of some sort – like giving up special treats. For those who are homeless, hungry and hurting, sacrifice and suffering are constants in their lives, something they live with every day. And the strength they show in enduring many hardships, in always trying to make better lives for themselves, and in maintaining their faith throughout, is something we can all learn from – during Lent and all year round.

The season will culminate in a special celebration of the risen Lord on Easter Monday, March 28 when we expect to serve 2500 meals to anyone who is hungry or alone. The gratitude of those who attend this celebration is something our staff and volunteers carry with them in their hearts through Easter and beyond.