A new program designed to match County residents dealing with substance abuse issues and mental health challenges with people who have lived experience overcoming them now has a home base in Haliburton village.
Coming Full Circle is a two-year pilot that aims to change the narrative around supporting people in crisis, says David Barkley, project lead. He recently secured a space at 83 Maple Ave., Unit 7 of the Halco Plaza. The next step is hiring a team of seven peer support specialists who, he hopes, can get to work making a difference in the community.
He’s expecting the program to fully launch in late May or early June. “This is going to be a unique approach to supporting people – there will be oneon-one, drop-in, casual and insert-type programming. It’s all about fostering connections and finding ways to communicate with people,” Barkley said.
“We want to improve the resources in this community and be seen as a place where anyone can come for support, instead of being just another name or group that people don’t want to use.”
It’s a collaboration between Point in Time, Canadian Mental Health Association Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (CMHA HKPR), and several organizations representing the Haliburton County Connections Committee. It was made possible by a $800,000 grant from Canada’s Substance Use and Addictions Program.
Barkley has 22 years of experience working in the field, most recently with the Lynx Early Psychosis Intervention Program. He said he’s seen the peer support model “become a little more accepted” in recent years, believing it’s the key to unlocking doors, and barriers, for people needing support.
Breaking it down more, he said the program isn’t meant to attract professionals with fancy degrees or diplomas to serve in lead roles, opting instead for “real life” experience.
“We want a full complement of peers. We want people who are in different stages of their own recovery journey, because we want everyone to be able to learn from one another.
“Ultimately, we believe lived experience is lived expertise. If people have been there and it’s true, exposure to substance use and addictions, it helps foster connections with people just starting out on their own healing journey. They didn’t read it in a book, they didn’t go to school to learn about it. It’s genuine, firsthand knowledge. That’s the kind of thing that helps break down barriers, that people can connect with,” Barkley said.
All staff will be trained once hired and before meeting with would-be clients, on things like non-violent crisis intervention, verbal support, and communication techniques. Barkley said he’s still looking for candidates – pay is above market rate, for 21 hours a week.
He expects the drop-in centre will be open up to three days a week, though said that may change as the program develops.
Asked if he had a sense for how prevalent the drug crisis is in Haliburton County, and what the program expects to do numbers wise, Barkley said he’s less focused on statistics.
“We know it is an issue, but it’s an issue everywhere. It’s been expressed the County can really use some additional resources… it’s something that’s impacting a lot of people in the community,” he said. “Our goal is to improve things. If that’s one person at a time, that’s OK with me. Now is the time, I think, to try some different things… because the usual ways and models haven’t been working.
“We’re wanting to see people who have maybe connected with supports before, but it didn’t quite work for them. And it doesn’t just have to be drugs and mental health – we’re hoping people who have issues around food insecurity, housing and homelessness come to us as well so we can help them and maybe improve connections to other resources once people have developed a level of trust.”
If they can get a foothold, Barkley believes Coming Full Circle can change the way other agencies work and operate, too.
“This peer support approach can be effective, but it isn’t being utilized a whole lot. It’s going to take unique, almost outside the box ways of thinking and connecting to make a difference. We’ll be evaluating ourselves all the time to make sure we’re hitting the right mark, and hope to share what’s working for us with others,” Barkley said.
For more information, or to apply, visit cmhahkpr.ca/careers.
