Areas of Focus

People are at the heart of everything we do at Distress Centre. Supporting our people internally is essential to providing support for our service users. This year, we strengthened our people pillar through a number of initiatives across the organization.

We worked on fostering a culture of community, health and wellness with a focus on occupational health and safety this year, formalizing our health and safety procedures and standardizing them across the organization for more consistency between locations.

We continue to build a strong employee value proposition by introducing an agency orientation to enhance the experience of people who are new to Distress Centre or transitioning into employment with us. Through our Supervisor Community of Practice, we continue to raise the bar for the quality of guidance and supervision our employees receive.

We made enhancements towards a thriving volunteer program by launching new volunteer opportunities with our Coordinated Entry team. We also put a lot of work into recreating our mentorship program to drive connection, growth, and appreciation for our volunteers. Volunteerism across the sector continues to struggle as more demands are being placed on people’s time and financial resources. We continue to look for ways to better support our volunteers and provide a great experience through volunteering with Distress Centre.

In 2023, we made significant strides in enhancing our programs by incorporating trauma-informed principles into our daily work, deepening our understanding of our client journeys and needs, adding crucial programs such as 988, and piloting new ways of accessing our services such as closed loop referrals between community professionals and 211. These actions underscore our dedication to ensuring our programs remain a robust and response element of our strategic plan, capable of adapting to the evolving needs of those we serve.

In order to develop a person centered, trauma informed approach to care, we set a requirement for staff to complete Brain Story Certification, a course designed for those seeking a deeper understanding of brain development and its consequences for lifelong health. We also placed a DC representative on the Trauma Informed Care Collective Committee. We developed training for staff on the role of language in trauma informed care.

In our efforts to customize programs and services to improve client and service user experience and outcomes, we made significant progress in the development of the Community Information Exchange model. This work has included client journey mapping to understand the needs and barriers experienced by people seeking support. We also launched 988 services in late 2023. Distress Centre is a 988 Partner for the three-digit national suicide prevention service.

In our efforts to encourage innovative and disruptive mindsets across programs and seek more collaborative service delivery models, we piloted 211 closed loop referral projects with the Foothills Primary Care Network and Integrated School Supports Program funded schools to create simplified pathways for people to connect with 211 and enhance collaboration and knowledge sharing between 211 and community professionals.

In 2023, the Coordinated Entry program experienced both successes and challenges, showcasing our adaptability and commitment to our mission. Guided by our Strategic Plan, we maintained focus on our objectives throughout the year. We expanded volunteer opportunities and onboarded two new members, laying the groundwork for further growth, including plans for tax clinic volunteer expansion in 2024. Additionally, we enhanced our trauma-informed approach through specialized trainings and immersive learning experiences, such as an Elder-led tour at Blackfoot Crossing and a two-day training: “Other & Self-Care: Trauma Informed Practices.”

In response to emerging needs, we piloted the role of a Coordinated Entry Trainer, empowering Housing Strategists citywide with consistent, person-centered support, enhancing the experience for people requiring a housing assessment and housing plan. Furthermore, our participation in Coordinated Community Extreme Weather Response allowed us to innovate our service delivery for ID Replacement, making it mobile and extending support to partner agencies’ housing programs.

Despite successes, we encountered challenges alongside our community partners, notably the escalating housing crisis and a surge in newcomers and refugees seeking assistance. As demand for our services spiked by nearly 50% in early 2024 compared to the same time in 2023, we saw this as an opportunity to reassess our processes, pilot new roles, and forge stronger community partnerships.

Looking ahead to 2024, we embrace the chance to explore innovative solutions and foster new collaborations in response to evolving community needs.

The CIE has truly been a collaborative effort from a number of community partners including:

Kindred Connections Society, The Alex, CUPS, Aventa, Inn From the Cold, The Drop In Centre, The City of Calgary, Calgary Homeless Foundation, United Way Calgary and Area, Calgary Police Service and Alberta Health Services. Through this wide range of committed partners coming together we have been able to lay the ground work in building and implementing this model in Calgary.

In 2023, we focused on the development of the CIE model through the engagement of network partners, exploration and development of shared language and social determinants of health screening tools, finding the right technology platform, and tackling information sharing. We are thankful to Converge Mental Health for the development of an Information Sharing Framework that we have been able to adapt and start to operationalize into our planning.

2024 is the year where the CIE becomes something tangible and we are excited to dive into this work.