Time

Session

8:15 – 9:15 AM 

Breakfast Buffet

9:15 – 9:45 AM

Conference Welcome

9:45 – 10:35 AM

Keynote with Angela Marie MacDougall

Director, Battered Women’s Support Services Association

10:35 – 11:00 AM

Coffee Break

11:00 – 12:00 PM

Concurrent Sessions:

Intersectional and Anti-Oppression Approaches to Ending Gender Violence - Rosa Elena Arteaga, BWSS, Director of Clinical Practice and Direct Services

This Anti-Racism, Anti-Oppression and Ending Gender Violence workshop intends to deepen the application of an anti-racism and anti-oppression framework in the frontline work of women’s and inclusive organizations. Participants will learn to recognize both individual and systemic racism while building skills to help reduce barriers to quality anti-violence services and programs.

Introduction to Indigenous Cultural Safety - Samantha Jack, Len Pierre Consulting, Consultant

This session will seek to examine the emergence of Indigenous Cultural Safety  (ICS) in relationship to Reconciliation and equity-oriented approaches to client support. Conversations will dive into the purpose and significance of ICS as a structural initiative to mitigate harm. Additionally, examining the relationship between colonialism and state violence against Indigenous peoples and its implications for Indigenous cultural safety today. The intention of this workshop is to share knowledge with attendees in a meaningful way that will support the amazing work that frontline workers do.

Seniors Homelessness in BC Panel

The increasing number of seniors experiencing homelessness presents unique challenges for BC’s aging population as well as for health, housing, and community services providers. This panel will outline research on promising practices around delivering housing and services to older persons experiencing homelessness in Metro Vancouver as well as perspectives from peers and service providers about what does and does not work.

12:00 – 1:00 PM 

Lunch

1:00 – 2:00 PM

Keynote with Shelley Joseph

Ladders to Kindness, Owner & Lead Trainer

2:15 – 3.30 PM

Concurrent Sessions:

Updates from BC Housing on Homelessness and Encampment Response Programs

Join BC Housing and partners for a presentation and discussion on current and new homelessness and encampment response initiatives, including but not limited to updates on the new HEART & HEARTH program, Emergency Winter Response, Coordinated Access and Assessment and more.

Indigenous Leadership in Rural and Remote Communities

A panel discussion with Indigenous-led organizations and First Nations communities that are tackling some critical issues related to homelessness, including encampments, harm reduction and access to justice.

The Foster Kid Survival Guide

Hip Hop Artist, Youth Worker, and Former Foster Kid: Bryant Doradea aka "HK" details his experiences growing up on the streets and eventually working on the Frontline with at-risk youth. His workshop promotes trauma recovery, trauma informed practice, and insight into the darkness we must traverse in order to get back to the light!

 3.30 – 4:00 PM

Coffee Break

 4:00 – 4.45 PM

Fireside Chat with BC Coalition to End Youth Homelessness 

 5:00 – 7:00 PM

Social Reception 

 Join us for this social hour and enjoy a full reception menu while networking with other conference participants in the pre-function area. Return to the ballroom to experience a powerful opening by Spoken Word and Hip Hop artist, Bryant Doradea followed by Indigenous dance and story telling performances by The Dancers of Damelahamid.

Time

Session

8:30 – 9:15 AM

Breakfast Buffet 

9:15 – 9:45 AM

Morning Welcome

9:45 – 12:15 PM

Concurrent Sessions:

Introduction to Mental Health First Aid  - Donna Bonertz, CCDP, Employment & Rehabilitation Coordinator, New View Society

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is the help provided to a person developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis. Just as physical first aid is administered to an injured person before treatment can be obtained, MHFA is given until appropriate treatment is found or until the crisis has been resolved. Join this introductory workshop to learn how to recognize signs & symptoms and gain practical skills to support those experiencing mental health issues.

Introduction to Anti-Oppressive De-Escalation Skills - Randene Wejr, Executive Director, Turning Points

In this workshop, participants will explore ways to center clients and help them in ways that don’t perpetuate or exasperate power inequities. This session will offer opportunities to work through realistic scenarios and learn how to self-regulate, hold space for clients that may be displaying aggressive behaviours, and de-escalate intense situations.

Trans Inclusion for Low Barrier Services - Sara Gill, meaningful Inclusion Project Lead, Salal Sexual Violence Support Centre

This workshop addresses the specific considerations that might arise for trans inclusion in low barrier services and aims to build on skills and strengths that frontline workers already have, using specialised scenarios and accessible tools to increase trans clients’ safety. The audience for this is typically frontline workers, SRO workers and mental health and addiction workers.

10:00 – 2:30 PM

Tour:

Vancouver Tour

Join this tour to learn more about innovative approaches to addressing homelessness in Vancouver. This guided 4-hour tour will include site visits across the housing continuum.

Surrey Tour

This guided 4-hour tour will include site visits across the housing continuum including drop-in centres, shelters, temporary modular hygiene facilities,  integrated health hub and outreach models, supportive housing sites, a supervised consumption site, and one of the first purpose built enhanced health supportive housing programs in BC.

Please note: Tour spaces are limited, offsite lunch is provided.

12:15 – 1:15 PM

Lunch

1:15 – 2.30 PM

Concurrent Sessions:

Housing As A Human Right: The Power of Peer Support In Housing – Jonathan Orr, Jonathan Twilight Consulting

Jonathan Orr, project manager for the Provincial Peer Support Worker Training Curriculum, for an action-oriented workshop on how to harness the power of lived experience to better serve the needs of equity-deserving populations in the complex care and supportive housing sectors in British Columbia. Using the newest module from the Provincial Peer Support Worker Training Curriculum:  Housing As A Human Right: The Power of Peer Support we will learn about the importance of peers in the homelessness-serving sector and provide practical tools for peer engagement, support, and training.

We will talk about how peer support services can best be embedded in housing programs and the importance of ensuring that everything we do is person-centered, with clients at the centre of their own care. This is especially important when we consider how many of the people we support have been harmed by broken systems.

Peer2Peer Indigenous Society: Dedication, service, and hope

The Peer2Peer Indigenous Society is led by Metis peers with lived experience in substance use, poverty, homelessness, and mental health. This Victoria based organization brings cultural knowledge and healing to community members using an Indigenous harm reduction, health and housing approach.

Join co founders Karen Mills and Patrick May as they share reflections from the past and hopes for the future. This workshop will provide an opportunity to learn more about peer led programs that help build community connections, support Indigenous mental health and wellness, and bring culture back into people’s lives.

By Us For Us

This powerful panel discussion will highlight calls to action from the first of its kind, By Us For Us report. This unique Needs and Risks Assessment of Sex Workers in the Lower Mainland and Southern Vancouver Island, examines intersecting oppressions, risks, support needs, and strengths to ensure the voices of sex workers are uplifted in the right way. This session will support a deeper understanding of peer perspectives and outline recommendations to enhance health and security through safe work environments.

2:30 - 3:00 PM

Coffee Break

3:00 – 4:00 PM

Concurrent Sessions:

"This is what my spirit needed": Pathways to Housing & Healing Developed with the Indigenous Street Family on Vancouver Island – Fran Hunt-Jinnouchi, Executive Director, and Julia O’Quinn Equity Programming & Research Manager, ACEHS

Based on 5+ years of story gathering with the Indigenous Street Family on Vancouver Island, the Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness Society (ACEH) has developed culturally supportive housing, programs, and services toward ending Indigenous homelessness. With ongoing evaluation demonstrating promise in this practice, the ACEH looks to share knowledge and its Dual Model of Housing Care practice to inform systems-level transformation. These offerings continue to support Indigenous peoples across the housing continuum in Our Way – serving the youngest to the oldest, inclusive of our relatives with experience of substance use, gender-based violence, incarceration, foster care, 2SLGBTQQIA+ based discrimination, and colonial harm.

Grief and Loss: Bereavement Training for Professionals

This session will explore models of grief and griever styles, organizational/community grief, workplace loss, and death in the workplace. Participants will gain a better understanding of the impacts of primary and secondary losses and develop strategies for healing.

Mobile Primary Care: Meeting Needs in Community

This session will feature new programming that reduces barriers to critical primary care services through mobile outreach. Join guest speakers from The Vancouver Aboriginal Health Society (VAHS) to learn more about how the new mobile health unit van teams doctors, nurses and social workers with Indigenous knowledge keepers, elders, and healers provide care from an Indigenous perspective to vulnerable women in community.

Low Barrier Home Supports in Community Settings - Mariner Janes, FAHST Home Support Team Manager, Vancouver Coastal Health

The Flexible Adaptable Home Support Team (FAHST) is a new low-barrier Home Support team in Vancouver Community. FAHST home support workers are trained to offer trauma-informed, culturally safe services through a harm reduction lens. This presentation will outline an alternative Home Support model of care designed to offer flexible and consistent services to those with complex needs in community.

 4:15 – 5.00 PM

Keynote with Len Pierre

CEO, Len Pierre Consulting

5:00 – 7:00 PM

Social Reception – Game Night

Get ready to put that collection of random facts to good use and compete for prizes at our games night reception. Fuel up for fun with a full reception menu, network with other conference participants in the pre-function area then head to the ballroom for trivia night. Choose a team of those you know or connect with a new table of knowledge keepers and take home the win!

Time

Session

8:30 – 9:15 AM

Breakfast Buffet

9:15 – 9:45 AM

Morning Welcome

9:45 – 10:35 AM

Keynote with Dr. Christy Sutherland

Medical Director, PHS Community Services

10:35 – 11:00 AM

Coffee Break

11:00 – 12:00 PM

Concurrent Sessions:

In From the Cold, Community Perspectives on Rural Homelessness

This exciting session will feature the film In From the Cold, which invites viewers into the worlds of those experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity on Salt Spring Island. After the screening, residents and service providers from the film will host a panel discussion about the unique challenges and opportunities in rural communities.

Implementation of Complex Care Housing throughout BC

A panel discussion highlighting the different implementations of Complex Care Housing across the province and sharing promising practices that might be applicable across the Homelessness Services and Health sectors.

Sex Work Laws, Rights and Supports: Effectively Meeting the Needs of Sex Workers

This workshop will review sex work stigma, criminalization, rights, and provincial resources with the goal of reducing barriers to services within your organization and/or community.

12:15 – 1:15 PM

Lunch

1:20 – 2.20 PM

Concurrent Sessions:

Call For Action: Land Back

Join Kanahus Manuel and the Tiny House Warriors Movement as they share their mission to resist the Trans Mountain pipeline's encroachment on unceded Secwepemc Territory. Discover how ten strategically placed tiny houses along the pipeline route assert Secwepemc Law and jurisdiction, blocking pipeline access while providing housing to Secwepemc families affected by deliberate colonial impoverishment. Learn about their vision of re-establishing village sites and asserting authority over their unceded Territories.

Call For Action: Stop the Sweeps

Join the movement to halt the unjust practice of street sweeps in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Through narratives recounting experiences of harassment, intimidation, and the heartbreaking loss of personal belongings, Stop The Sweeps campaign sheds light on the pressing imperative to safeguard the dignity of unhoused individuals and ignite transformative empowerment within the Downtown Eastside community.

Call For Action: Being Actively Anti-Ableist

People with disabilities represent the world’s largest minority. In Canada, 30-35% of Indigenous people identify as disabled, for non-Indigenous 25% self-identify as having a disability. And yet we still experience barriers, prejudice, and bias on a daily basis. Our workshop challenges all to more fully address ableist notions of how we think about, and label, our bodies, minds, and senses. Our Disability Awareness workshops gives you the tools to understand what disability is, the types of disability, the current language of disability, what ableism is, how you can actively work to fight against it, and tips for disabled people and allies alike to better ensure equity in all that you do.

2:20 – 3.00 PM

Keynote with Light The Way Youth Homelessness Conference Leaders