Team Highlight: Facilities

Team Highlight: Facilities

Our Facilities team is essential to the functioning of YESS Programs. Through their hard work, our spaces and buildings are kept clean, safe, and maintained. We talked to Darin Maxwell, Operations Manager, about his team and the impact they create every day.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your role at YESS!

For the past 25 years my career has been in Information Technologies supporting educational organizations, initially with K-12 learning and then with training in the Oil & Gas sector. In April of 2020 my position, which I had held for 14 years, was eliminated due to restructuring during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was this event that opened up the opportunity for me to bring my organization and team building skills to YESS in the role of Operations Manager: a completely new career path with the rewarding opportunity of supporting vulnerable youth within the community in which I was born and raised.

What are some of the responsibilities of the Facilities team?

The facilities team maintains, cleans, and cares for YESS’s properties. We make sure our youth have access to clean secure sleeping quarters, shower and laundry facilities, and sanitized spaces in which to access the many resources YESS provides, all while minimizing their exposure amidst a global pandemic.

How does the work the Facilities team does contribute to the YESS mission to walk beside youth on their journeys towards healing and appropriate community integration?

My team’s work provides the physical elements our city’s most vulnerable youth need in order to bring their best selves forward into our programs. We provide the resources for them to continue their journey towards healing and appropriate community integration rested, clean, and fed.

What is one thing you wish the community knew about YESS youth?

How quickly they respond with the delight and enthusiasm of kids everywhere when provided with secure, safe spaces in which to heal and grow.

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Long View Systems & SkipTheDepot

Last year, Long View Systems wanted to do a fundraiser to support YESS and youth in their community, but the pandemic made it difficult for them to work together when they couldn’t get together. They contacted our Community Engagement team for more information on fundraising options that would be accessible them, and we helped them find a solution with SkipTheDepot!

Tell us a bit about yourselves! Long View is one of North America’s fastest-growing IT Solutions organizations. We are one of the largest privately-owned IT services and solutions companies in North America, with offices across the continent. Our people-centric approach allows us to employ and retain many of the world’s leading enterprise technologists. We support the world’s dynamic businesses by bringing agility, simplicity and insight to your people, so they can serve your clients.

What made you choose YESS for your fundraiser? We chose YESS as an organization to donate to as we wanted to support our local youth in need and work with an organization that focuses on improving youth homelessness. SkipTheDepot has made fundraising easy during these challenging times. The process was simple and safe, with COVID-19 here we needed to find a way that everyone could donate without leaving their homes.

Thank you so much to Long View Systems! They raised $344 through their online bottle drive with SkipTheDepot!

 


 

Let SkipTheDepot make recycling easy for you! This made-in-Alberta initiative provides an awesome service picking up bottles from you front door, and you can even choose to give your refund to your favourite charity!

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Message for Youth

Our Programs team wanted to make it clear to youth how we can empower and support them with these new banners in program spaces.

 

Do you know why we called ourselves Youth Empowerment & Support Services?

It’s because we are here to support you and empower you.

Sounds simple enough, but what does that really mean…              

Empowerment means we ask you what YOUR PATH is and we WALK BESIDE YOU.

It doesn’t mean we’ll do the work FOR you.

We don’t pick your goals for you, and we won’t push you towards what we think is best for you.

YOU are expert of your life.  Our staff are the experts in resources available for you.

Together we can overcome obstacles and barriers.

We are a TEAM.

Supporting means we KEEP YOU GOING.

Sometimes this means being your cheerleader.

Sometimes this means holding you accountable.

Learning from mistakes or decisions can be a messy process and sometimes has negative consequences.  We don’t follow through on these because we’re mad at you, we do it to help you learn and grow.

You won’t always get it right and neither will we.

And that’s ok, that is human.

We GROW together.

Having the tools and experiences to meet your goals makes you stronger.

You set the GOAL, we’ll help you get there.

Shower? Laundry? Job? School? Healthy relationships? Housing? Leadership?

Whatever your goals are, big or small, we are here to connect you to resources and coach you through it.

We are here to advocate for you and help you navigate tricky systems.

You are an important part of YESS, the city, and your community.

You deserve RESPECT and OPPORTUNITY.

We are actively fighting against structures and stigmas that divide society instead of unite it.

Your experience is unique and we believe that diversity strengthens us.

Your contribution to society is important, your voice matters.

In short, Empowerment & Support means that we care about you.

It means that we are in your corner and we are rooting for you.

Whether you’re here for a few days, a few months, or a few years, please know that YOU are why we exist.

You are welcome here.

– The YESS team

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Cohort Independent Living Program

Cohort Independent Living at the HI Hostel

YESS’ new Cohort Independent Living Program is a one-year pilot project to address some of the direct barriers and stressors affecting youth in shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through Federal Reaching Home Funding administered by Homeward Trust Edmonton, YESS is leasing the Hostel International Edmonton Building in Queen Alexandra to provide youth, aged 18-24, who are ready to practice independence and transition to other housing, the opportunity to live together in “youth cohorts” of up to three. The creation of these youth cohorts allows youth to be unmasked and to not be physically distanced from each other for the first time in 12 months. The hostel is also divided up into four wings, which have been allocated to specific demographics, such as Tier 1 and 2 Isolation Wing; Sober School and Employment Wing, etc. We have already seen success with this program as youth have been able to relax and build stronger relationships with their cohort. Youth have co-created this program along with Manager of Shelters, Tessa Mulcair, and have created many of the rules and processes in the program. Youth also fill out a self-assessment of knowledge and life skills when they enter this program and then choose a key support worker to help them work on a personal plan throughout their stay. The program started April 12, 2021, and will end March 31, 2022.

 

Nexus Shelter moves to 24/7

The Cohort Independent Living Pilot Program has also opened up beds in the Nexus shelter and created the opportunity to make the Nexus Shelter 24/7. Since April 12, 2021, the Nexus shelter is open day and night for drop-in youth. For the first time in Edmonton, youth have a safe, youth-worker supported place to sleep during the day. To accommodate day space at the shelter, it has changed capacity from 24 to 16 beds, with 2 staff. The intention is to keep the Nexus shelter 24/7 and improve the process as we learn what is needed.

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Safety at YESS

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a huge importance of safety in YESS programs, following health and safety guidelines that created physical safety in an unprecedented time. Of course, physical safety has always been a priority of YESS programs as we provide access to basic needs like shelter, food, clothing, etc. We also have an aspect of providing safety that is less immediately, but no less important. We also have an aspect of providing safety that is just as immediate and important as physical safety: we have to create a sense of “felt safety” for the youth, so they trust us to help them with their trauma. This critical work comes from a focus on building healthy relationships and trust, that they will feel safe in our programs.

Director of Program Innovation, Jessica Day, answers some questions about both kinds of safety, how important they have been in the pandemic world, and how we evolve practices that continue to meet youth where they are at.

 

Tell us about the current day-to-day realities of YESS programs, a year into the pandemic?

We are open and we are available, and we are adapting to meet the youth needs. That’s been the motto of YESS since the pandemic started and we continue to be predictable and adaptable for the youth and with the youth as it continues on. Every day, in every capacity, our youth are mandated to wear masks, socially distance, and comply with regulations. Their world is smaller now because all their safe spaces (not just agencies but homes, families, friends, buildings) are all closed to them and they have no access to any sort of reprieve. Groups and activities that helped motivate them are slowly coming, but the constantly changing AHS restrictions are creating instability for the youth. At YESS we are watching and listening to the youth as they adapt to their new world and we are trying our best to respond to their new needs. A pandemic does not slow down the need for youth to be supported as they transition through trauma—it increases! Family violence and domestic disruptions are a real and intense side-effect of the pandemic world and we have new youth who cannot “hide” at school or in day programs or avoid home life at the rec center or a friend’s house. So at YESS, we immediately responded by opening our doors and allowing youth space to exist and spend their day in safety. A year later, we are now starting to adapt our programs to focus on the life skills, self awareness, and community integration work we had in place before the pandemic. Why? Because our youth do not want to sit still. They are tired and drained and mentally unwell in this pandemic and, sadly, many of them are hitting rock bottom as they simply exist. Youth need hope and purpose and possibility in order to keep moving forward and this disappeared as the pandemic grew. We are now opening up the Armoury Resource Centre to focus on accessing community resources and building up trust with the community supports. We opened our sleep shelter to be a 24/7 sleep shelter where youth can come and go as they need sleep, and not be restricted to sleeping within set hours. And we are opening up transitional homes that focus on introducing youth to case planning, goal setting, and creating environments of growth.

 

What particular practices are used in YESS programs to create a safe environment for youth?

What set us apart in the pandemic was the immediate and non-negotiable approach for staff and youth to comply with AHS protocols. We were open and honest and consistent with our approach and it worked. Having already spent many years focusing on building trust and relationships, we were able to receive compliance from the youth with very little struggle. The youth understood, very quickly, that there were very few places left open to them with the pandemic closures and our overnight shelter and our daytime resource center adapted immediately to meet their needs. We opened to cover 24 hours between the two spaces, and this allowed the youth a reliable and predictable space to exist. Now, we are focusing on adjusting our programs again to help our youth have more than a place to exist, but a place to build hope and possibility again. We are showing them that it is possible to believe they can thrive, to have hope they can get out of this existence, and create space for them to have self-awareness and confidence. Whether is it space to complete school online, space to build up independent life skills, or space to practice their culture and spirituality, we have morphed back into the programming that our youth are asking for. These practices were in place before the pandemic but now, the youth are more motivated. And the need is even greater.

We now have a 24/7 sleep space at the Nexus Overnight Shelter that is open to the youth, whenever they need it, as often as they need it. The drop-in approach to sleep has given our youth the safe space to sleep when they need it most, not when it’s expected of them. Some kids need to sleep for 2-3 days to catch up with the amount of sleep they are missing. Youth are trying to survive and stay alive to stay safe, and we are gently telling them it’s okay to sleep and rest. And it’s working because when the youth get the sleep they need, they are more motivated to achieve their goals.

We also opened up a Cohort Living space that gives youth an individual room and an individual cohort within which they can unmask and breathe. Youth need social interaction and peer support, as much as they need resources, and this cohort space allows them to reconnect with similar youth and have those home-like interactions that were missing in the restrictions. Now they can unmask to watch TV, or cook together, or complete work together, just as our community does.

 

What is the difference between safety and “felt safety”?

Safety focuses on being protected from harm or hazards. To be safe, we implement processes and protocols and tools that will prevent accidents, exposures, or harmful situations. Every home and organization and workplace has safety protocols to help avoid injury or various levels of risk—fire extinguishers, eye washing stations, first aid kits, drills or alarms, etc. These are necessary to help individuals feel safe and protected from potential risks and allows them the capacity to do their work or live feeling protected.

“Felt safety” is subjective: it focuses on creating an environment where an individual feels safe, but is not necessarily physically safe. For our youth, who are in survival mode, where they “feel safe” is not necessarily a safe and appropriate environment. They are lacking trust that adults will “take care of them” or “keep them safe and protected” and yet, instinctively and developmentally, they need to be taken care of. When a youth is traumatized, what feels safe changes for them. “Felt safety” is built on emotional and psychological trust. When we are feeling unsafe, we are scared and anxious and fearful and our bodies are in a tense state of survival. For those who are on healthy developmental trajectories, we can recover and adapt quickly to feeling unsafe and manipulate our bodies and spaces to align with our sense of trust and our well-being. Our youth, who are traumatized and not on a healthy trajectory, adapt in unhealthy ways and manipulate environments and their bodies to align with their broken sense of trust and well-being.

To truly create a sense of “felt safety” for youth, staff, or community members, we have to follow our trauma-informed care framework. We have to be predictable, consistent, and transparent. Our policies, protocols, interactions, and expectations have to be non-judgemental and tailored to what each individual youth is feeling or needing. “Felt safety” is NOT universal: it is unique to each person. Therefore, we have to be open and honest and empathetic to the youth and their individual experiences. As “felt safety” is subjectively emotional and psychological, we have to give space and compassion to each youth as they define, redefine, and comprehend their own safety.

If we want to truly walk beside the youth as they transition through their trauma, we have to establish safety on both levels. They have to learn and trust that we will keep them safe from harm and risks, even if self-induced. They have to learn and trust that we empathize with their survival mode and mental health needs, even if dark and heavy. They have to learn and trust that we will be open and available for them when they need us, whether for sleep, mental health support, food, basic needs, independence, or pandemic reprieve.

Trauma broke their trust and took away their safety. We have to work to help them build it back.

 

What is one thing you wish the community knew about the work being done at YESS?

I wish the community knew how scary and hard this pandemic has been for our youth. They have had no reprieve from the mandated restrictions, no safe space to take off the mask and reset themselves. Their world has closed in on them; jobs are gone, school is gone, families are not stable, agencies are closing down or restricting services, the community is in lockdown, and they are not safe or really welcome in the adult homelessness sector. They are scrambling to find hope and purpose in a world that is already difficult and full of barriers.

I wish the community understood that YESS is working tirelessly to support the youth and adapt our programs, but we are not alone. Collaboration is no longer an idea that may work to help reduce barriers, but a necessity to surviving this pandemic. We are working with other agencies to align our available services and create a network of support and open the world of hope, trust, and potential back up for our youth.

We need the community to remember that they are a really important part of the youth’s success. I know the pandemic has made it hard. We are restricted into our individual bubbles and our scope of empathy is focused on our own families and our own circumstances. Now, more than ever, we need to remember that we ARE a community. That we need each other and the only way to survive the pandemic and restore trust and faith in our future is to collaborate, connect, and find ways to be compassionate as a whole. Whether it’s donating money to support our work, reaching out to find ways to virtually support, or whether it’s shining kindness and empathy on new people in our neighbourhoods… we have to come together and heal together in order to thrive together.

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