Mental Health | Nellies

Posts Tagged ‘Mental Health’

Our weekly food program gets a brand-new home

Posted on: April 18th, 2024 by Nellie's No Comments

At the end of January, our weekly food program moved to a new location inside the Kimbourne Park United Church in the East Danforth neighbourhood, and our team is feeling so fortunate to be able to run our program out of this beautiful, spacious spot.

“The church has been such an amazing partner in helping us along the way — they’re super supportive,” says Amanda Nobile, our Community Support & Outreach program coordinator. “And the space itself has been great. It’s so nice to have a larger space where we can spread out more. It’s been very smooth in the way that we’ve set it up to hand out food to our clients. It’s also just a beautiful, calm space, with a really nice energy. It feels very nice to be in this beautiful place that we’re so welcomed in.”

Every week, 120 families rely on our food program to access a basic human need — that’s as much as double the number we were serving just a year prior. And there are another 60 families we could be serving if we had the resources. Our new, larger location provides the space to potentially expand our program, but in order to do so, we’ll need to secure additional food donations, and have the people power for client administration, food sorting, and cleaning. Currently our team is working on grant applications to help us purchase fridges and freezers for our new location, which would allow us to store more fresh food, and start offering weekly milk, eggs, meat, and bread for our clients.

As with most food programs, we depend on donations from our community and agencies. Every Tuesday morning, our friends at Second Harvest — a food rescue charity — deliver fresh, frozen, and packaged foods. From week to week, we fill food baskets with a wide variety of foods, like fresh fruit and vegetables, pasta and rice, peanut butter, and milk. We round out each basket with stock from our own non-perishable food pantry to ensure that each family receives a nourishing mix of protein, canned and boxed goods, and produce.

While we work towards adding more fresh food to our offerings, Amanda hopes that we’ll be able to start increasing the amount of food we can provide to our clients each week. “I know a lot of our clients go to more than one food bank,” says Amanda. “I’m hoping we’ll be able to eliminate that, that they’re not going to have to run around and go to multiple different food banks — they’ll only have to do a one-stop shop and have enough food for the week.”

Now that we’ve settled in our new location, we’ve been thrilled to see the many ways this larger space can enhance our food program experience and increase the number of families we support through this crucial service. “[In our previous location], we used to only be able to have a few volunteers, especially since the space was small,” explains Amanda. “But now we’ve been able to get volunteers through the church as well, and they’ve been such an amazing help. It’s way less stressful and the whole production of everything is just so much quicker.”

Thank you again to Kimbourne Park United Church for being such an amazing partner, and helping us provide an enhanced food program experience for our Nellie’s clients!

To make a secure online donation to our food program, please donate here.

Providing support through our Senior Socialization program

Posted on: February 1st, 2024 by Nellie's No Comments

Launched in November 2022, the Senior Socialization program at Nellie’s is one of the newest ways that we’re continuing to look outside our shelter walls and be a force for change in our community. The program was born out of a need to provide further support and connection for the seniors living in our community, most of whom we connected with through our food program. Amanda Nobile, our Community Support & Outreach program coordinator who runs the food program, began to notice that many of the older women who were visiting our food program every week were very lonely and isolated — a situation that worsened with the pandemic.

“We noticed that even though the food program doesn’t open until 12:30pm, a lot of them would come by around 10am to just hang out,” says Amanda. “It became a place for them to socialize with each other and make some friends in their community. So we wanted to expand on that because we saw that it was definitely a need for them.”

From there, the Nellie’s team applied to, and ultimately received funding from, a New Horizons for Seniors grant, which aims to promote healthy aging through the development of community supports for seniors. Our goal is to increase both educational and social programming for seniors to reduce social isolation.

The true highlight of the program has been group trips to Toronto attractions, such as the Royal Ontario Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and Ripley’s Aquarium. “We’ve done quite a few trips now, and they’ve been received so well — the seniors love them!” says Amanda. “I wish I could run them way more often, and every week have somewhere to go, but they’re definitely a lot of work to plan, and it’s hard to get affordable tickets.” We’re incredibly thankful to the ROM, the AGO, and Ripley’s, all of whom have given us either free or heavily discounted tickets.

“I like to pick places where we’re not just socializing and going to have a coffee, but we’re going somewhere that our clients typically wouldn’t be able to afford,” explains Amanda. “A lot of these people have lived in Toronto for their whole lives, and many of them are immigrants who came to Toronto and have lived here for the past 20-30 years, and they’ve never been able to visit these major Toronto attractions because they can’t afford it.”

Amanda explains that typically the group will do a one-hour tour together, and then if they want to stay and explore the rest of the attraction, they can do so on their own or in smaller groups or pairings. “It’s really sweet to see them pair off with someone that they just met, and ask if they want to go to an exhibit together, or go grab a coffee, or travel back to the east end together,” says Amanda. “They start pairing off and making friends, which is the whole point of the program. Seeing that actually work has been really heartwarming.”

The educational part of the program focuses on digital literacy, which originated as group workshops and has now transitioned into private or semi-private tutoring sessions, where senior women can bring their device and get all their questions answered in a supportive environment. “This has been even more impactful than the more broad workshops,” explains Amanda. “We’ve had seniors that love it and keep coming back, and they’re super excited to have this space where they can expand their learning opportunities.”

Another element of the program has been a bi-weekly yoga class, run by an amazing teacher named Kristen who has volunteered her time as an instructor. A core group of approximately 20 participants attend each session, where they focus on breathwork and light stretching in a very mindful practice catered to the seniors’ abilities.

As the Senior Socialization program expands, Amanda plans to still feature special trips, but she’s also hoping to start up a weekly or bi-weekly seniors drop-in, providing the women with somewhere to go on a regular basis to meet people and socialize more often. These drop-in meetings would also allow Nellie’s to meet more of the community’s needs, by bringing in experts or hosting sessions that they specifically request, such as a financial expert during tax season, or running a games day or a movie night.

“The participants are always asking me: ‘what’s the next thing? When can we get together again?’” explains Amanda. “I want to be able to provide them with a space where they can come if they have any issues or just want to meet new friends, and we will do our best to be able to provide that through the drop-in program.”

Introducing our new substance use and addiction program

Posted on: October 26th, 2023 by Nellie's No Comments

As we work toward a future free of gender-based violence, here at Nellie’s we’ve been working to build new ways for us to better support our community of women and their children fleeing violence, trauma, and homelessness. And thanks to a financial contribution from Health Canada, we’re currently developing a brand-new substance use program to provide even more women with the help they need.

There’s a major intersectionality between substance use and violence against women — an average of 63% of women seeking assistance with violence issues are also struggling with substance abuse. Many women in addiction recovery also report experiencing some form of abuse in their lifetime. But until now, there’s been a lack of holistic support for women in need of both of these services.

Enter our new substance use program, which aims to increase the knowledge of and build additional capacity for harm reduction services within violence against women shelters. Toni-Ann Allen, Nellie’s Substance Use and Addictions supervisor, has been tasked with creating this expansive program, which she recently launched with a presentation to the Violence Against Women Network (VAWN) about how the program will be integrated across all women’s shelters within VAWN.

Although the program is being developed at Nellie’s, the goal is to create a standardized practice within all VAWN women’s shelters to address and support individuals who are experiencing both gender-based violence and substance abuse. Toni-Ann is working on building this program from scratch, and she’s currently in the research stage and working on building out the assessment framework. “The assessments will help us evaluate and see where each organization is currently at with substance use, addictions, and harm reduction within their shelter,” explains Toni-Ann. “Once all the assessments are finished, I’ll take all the information and then give each shelter feedback.” Working alongside Toni-Ann are peer volunteers who have lived experience with gender-based violence or substance use — they’ll be providing feedback on all steps of the process, as well as joining Toni-Ann on the in-shelter assessments starting in January.

After Toni-Ann and her team finish completing the assessments and providing feedback, the next step will be to provide essential training to frontline shelter workers to help them better support their shelter residents. “Because of this intersectionality [of women experiencing substance use and gender-based violence], we’re finding that individuals aren’t accessing services as they should, and it’s creating barriers for women,” says Toni-Ann. “We want to bridge that gap and prepare the workers and VAW shelters to deal with this complex issue.”

Another element of the program that Toni-Ann is looking forward to exploring is how nutrition can be used as a form of harm reduction. “I don’t believe there’s enough conversation around nutrition and how it helps individuals who use substances, wherever they may be in their journey,” explains Toni-Ann. “From a community standpoint and a harm reduction standpoint, I haven’t seen that — so that’s really exciting.”

We’re proud to be starting this innovative and transformative program, and we’re eager to soon be supporting the women at Nellie’s even more effectively. Our goal is that the impact of this program goes far beyond the direct support we provide to our clients — it’s also about challenging the stigma surrounding substance use and harm reduction. “I think it will change a lot within the community, and I think it will change perceptions on harm reduction and substance abuse,” says Toni-Ann.

An interview with Nellie’s former staffer, Kristyn Wong-Tam

Posted on: October 12th, 2023 by Nellie's No Comments

2023 marks 50 years since we first opened our doors. It is an incredible milestone, and a reminder of the shelter and support we have given to thousands of women and their children fleeing violence, trauma and homelessness since 1973.

In an occasional series, we’re highlighting stories from 50 years of Nellie’s, including former board members, volunteers, staff members, and more.

Kristyn Wong-Tam, Toronto Centre’s current Member of Provincial Parliament, was an overnight relief worker at Nellie’s in the early 1990s. As a first-year university student, Kristyn started working at Nellie’s somewhat by chance — they were already working at another women’s shelter downtown from 4pm to midnight, and so when they heard Nellie’s needed an overnight relief worker from midnight to 8am, they were keen to pick up an extra shift and earn some more money.

Although they were new to working in shelters, this wasn’t Kristyn’s first experience with homelessness. “At age 16, I came out to my parents, and after that I didn’t feel safe staying home anymore because there were threats towards me,” explains Kristyn. They spent the next two years trying to finish high school while sleeping on friends’ couches, in shelters, rooming houses, and even on the streets. “My story wasn’t unique — this was so prevalent, especially back in those years. But I was able to see first-hand what a difference it made for me to have a safe space and a bed of my own at a shelter, even if only for a night. I really quickly had a deep understanding and appreciation of what it means to have a safe space. And I know personally how quickly someone can lose their home. Because it’s not something I had anticipated. I come from a very tight-knit, small immigrant family. The last thing I would’ve expected was that I would’ve been on my own at the age of 16.”

In some ways, the women and their children coming into Nellie’s reminded Kristyn of their own experience — except now they were on the other side as a shelter worker. “I was able to see early on, the very deep care from Nellie’s in how they treated their clients,” says Kristyn. This was highlighted by how extremely disparate their experiences were in working at two women’s shelters at the same time. Kristyn recalls that at the other shelter (which is no longer in operation), the work was very impersonal. Part-time relief workers, most of whom were university students like Kristyn, would complete intake forms, dispense medications, and prepare food like scrambled eggs from a bag. “I’m pretty sure that during my entire time I was there, I never saw fresh fruits or vegetables,” remembers Kristyn, who was visibly moved by this strong memory. “When I saw the crates of fruits and vegetables come in at Nellie’s, that really struck me — because at the other shelter they were given nothing but frozen vegetables and canned foods. I’ll always remember those fruit and veggie deliveries. You don’t get that level of care at all shelters.”

Kristyn didn’t fully realize it then, but when they reflect back on their time at Nellie’s now, they understand that this experience helped them develop their values and lead them towards a path of political advocacy. Working at Nellie’s was eye-opening for them as they learned about systemic structural violence against women. Although they only were able to work at Nellie’s for a year, they refer to it as a “year of tremendous growth” for them.

“Working with homeless populations and women fleeing violence absolutely informed my political thinking,” explains Kristyn. “It helped me see the inequities and injustices of the world. It put it all in sharper focus. I translated my working and lived experiences into a desire to make policy and legislative change. To compel decision makers to do things differently. Those formative years, working in the shelters, opened my eyes to the structural changes that are needed.”

Thirty years later, Kristyn is proud to have played a role in Nellie’s history, and wants more people to understand the importance of the work that we do. “Nellie’s is meeting the response to homelessness by providing women with dignity — the dignity that they deserve and the care that they deserve,” says Kristyn. “It’s not just that Nellie’s is helping women rebuild their lives by directing them to a counsellor or a housing worker, but they’re also healing them while getting them back on their feet. Nellie’s has been a model of what shelter programming could be.”

As part of this interview, the Nellie’s team took Kristyn on a tour of our new shelter building, which just so happens to be in the same neighbourhood they grew up in. “Going back into the house, taking a tour, and our conversations today…it helped reinforce in me why I’m here doing this work,” says Kristyn. “I’ll always be so grateful that Nellie’s showed me another world was possible.”

World Mental Health Day: Miriam’s Story

Posted on: October 10th, 2012 by Nellie's No Comments

All over the world on October 10^th, people will celebrate World Mental Health Day, organized bythe World Health Organization (WHO), a facet of the United Nations. The purpose of the day is to raise public awareness of mental health issues. This year’s theme is Depression: A Global Crisis. Please see WHO’s website for more info.

At Nellie’s, we have developed a position paper on our analysis and understanding of mental health. We understand that women experience an intersectionality of oppressions, including racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, poverty, classism, oppression based on place of origin, immigration status, age, appearance, record of offences and mental and physical dis/Abilities. We understand that these systems of oppression, including a history of violence can have differential impacts on different women. Women cope with these barriers, lack of access to resources and different forms of stigma and discrimination in various ways. Sometimes, when women survive trauma, they use different strategies to cope, in order to stay alive. Sometimes these coping strategies appear to be symptoms of mental health.

However, we work from a framework where counselling and support and an identification and understanding of the impact of different systems of oppression, along with an unraveling of the traumatic narrative through counselling are the most effective tools to support a woman. Women often come to the shelter with mental health diagnoses and we support them to understand their diagnoses from a feminist framework and provide options and support.

Miriam is a woman who lives at Nellie’s. She arrived in Canada two years ago and brought her daughter with her, but had to leave her son behind due to immigration. Although she speaks to him on the phone daily, being separated from him causes her great pain and she cries often. She will sponsor her son as soon as she can. Her daughter constantly asks her when she’s going to see “Daddy” again and Miriam finds it painful to answer, since he is the abuser and one of the main reasons why she had to flee the country. Also, Miriam grew up in a place where there was civil war and she witnessed unspeakable horrors and genocide.

She went to visit her lawyer a few weeks ago and her lawyer told her that her refugee application was denied, but that she is in the process of filing for an appeal. After hearing this news, she started to feel sick, as she feared for the lives of her children and herself, should she have to go back. Miriam felt so saddened and numb that at one point, she was unable to get out of bed or shower. She also started having flashbacks of the genocide that she witnessed as a child. So, Miriam went to her doctor at the Community Health Centre and asked to speak to a psychiatrist. She explained to the doctor how she felt but left out the part about the flashbacks, which were just too horrifying to talk about. The psychiatrist gave her a diagnosis of major depressive disorder and wrote her a prescription for anti-depressants.

She came home to Nellie’s and told the staff about her diagnosis of depression, sighed, and slumped back in her chair. “I guess there really is something wrong with me”, she said. “The doctor told me that it’s just a chemical imbalance and that these pills should make things better.” How will the pills change her immigration status?

Don’t you think that Miriam has reason to be sad? Stressed? Upset? Wouldn’t anyone feel a similar way given this scenario? The reality is that women who have experienced violence and oppression are often given mental health diagnoses due to a lack of understanding of how trauma and oppression can impact a person. This can create stigma and create barriers to understanding the effects of trauma and oppression.

Join us on World Mental Health Day in increasing awareness and understanding and decreasing stigma associated with mental health. To read our Position Paper on Women and Mental Health, click here.

Women Enjoy Yoga with Sangha of Hope

Posted on: March 15th, 2012 by Nellie's No Comments

Nellie’s has established a partnership with Sangha of Hope to offer a yoga program to our clients. Sangha of Hope is a non-profit yoga outreach organization dedicated to offering yoga and meditation workshops to women in transition and women survivors of physical, mental and sexual violence. According to this article from Yoga Journal, yoga can be a very important component of healing as it helps survivors work through panic attacks, flashbacks, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

We are currently in week 6 of our yoga program and it is at full capacity. During the sessions the facilitators create a safe and healing space for women as they embark on their journey towards self-empowerment, resiliency and self-awareness. Throughout this process clients begin their healing process and in turn, cultivate a sense of empowerment and awareness of themselves and their bodies.

Last week we asked the women to share their thoughts about the program. This is what they had to say:

“If only I knew the benefits of Yoga I would have started a long time ago.”

“I leave feeling so relaxed and at peace.”

(Women Enjoying Yoga at Nellie’s.)

Introducing Nellie’s Social Justice Series

Posted on: January 26th, 2012 by Nellie's No Comments

Nellie’s mission reflects our vision for social change through education and advocacy, to achieve social justice for all women and children. This year we’re very excited to launch a new blog series that will focus on this work through the action and accomplishments of Nellie’s Social Justice Committee.

The Social Justice Committee is comprised of staff and community volunteers who bring a wealth of knowledge and experience in areas such as feminism, anti-oppression training, counselling, education, advocacy, business, law, program management, and journalism. Members meet every month to: discuss relevant issues; conduct research; develop Nellie’s position papers; plan and attend social justice community events and action; work with various community partners to build coalitions; engage in public policy consultations; and raise awareness on racism, classism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, colonialism, and sexism and how these issues impact women and children.

In 2011, some key committee accomplishments of the committee included:

– Attendance at Community Events including Take Back the Night, International Women’s Day March and Fair, Dyke March, and Toronto Pride Week

–Community Election Forum and Poverty Reduction Forum for women at the shelter and in the community

– Presentation of Nellie’s Women and Mental Health Position Paper at the Psych Out Conference in New York

-Research and writing of Nellie’s Women & Accessibility Paper that is scheduled to be released in April 2012

All the work done by the committee is rooted in the community and informed by the experiences of the women and children we work with. The events we participate in and plan seek to engage and empower residents and clients of Nellie’s to use their voice to speak out and participate in change, all while moving towards our goal of economic and political equality for all women and children.

This year Nellie’s Social Justice Committee will be providing a formal blog update once a month on Thursdays. Our first blog series will be out in February for Black History Month.

Stay tuned! If you want to make sure you don’t miss any of our posts, you can subscribe to our blog by clicking the link on the right.