Catch up with Covenant House NYC & Toronto

While I’m now in the UK, I’ve been slotting in a few online meetings I couldn’t manage in-person while in the US. And I am glad I did!

One was with Lisa Crook from Covenant House New York and another with Covenant House Toronto. They are part of a network across 34 cities in five countries, all of which have a mission to end homelessness. While each site is unique and delivers innovative programs for young people, they are supported by Covenant House International, which has developed foundational training and guidelines to operationalise their mission.

The key components of their model are:

1. Foundational approaches – at the core of which is developing meaningful and transformational relationships. Some of the elements of the program that caught my attention were: open intake and low barrier; relentless engagement; trauma-informed; harm reduction; strength-based; youth voice and choice; and using tools like motivational interviewing and what they call ‘stages of change’.
2. Residential programs – with support to build trust and engage, and as they experience setbacks and achieve outcomes. There’s a recognition that the journey is unlikely to be linear but there is a clear first 30 days roadmap, designed to bring some structure and offer different levels of care, depending on their needs and where they are.
3. Core outcomes – the five outcomes they strive for are: stable housing; education; employment; social and emotional wellbeing; and social and permanent connections. While the focus is on ending youth homelessness, noting the importance of education and employment in making that a reality, there is a recognition that stability can only be achieved when young people address trauma, build wellness and resilience and are socially connected.

They track data on the first three core outcomes and work is underway to standardise measures across wellbeing and connections, and around ‘relentless engagement’. I was really excited to learn about this model, as it feels like there’s so much that we could adopt to support those affected by violence in Victoria. Again, the pictures below highlight the value of well-designed space.

While their focus is on homelessness, youth come to Covenant House for a variety of reasons including family and domestic violence, intimate partner violence, system involvement, LGBTQIA in acceptance, family conflict, housing affordability and more. However, others don’t seek help for fear of being sent back to abusive situations or a belief they won’t be seen as credible. Often, they are being influenced by their peers. To succeed, you need to meet them where they’re at.

Covenant House NYC offers a 120 bed emergency accommodation service near Times Square in New York. They try to be flexible, but of course have rules about what people can and can’t bring into the building. Despite the large numbers, there have been no major safety issues. The facilities were designed with lots of input from the young people it supports.

The service focuses initially on addressing their basic needs for food and shelter, before delving into what they want to work towards. They arrange access to clinicians and put in place concrete legal support and access to entitlements.

Whilst Covenant House, like many of the youth homeless providers I have visited, focus on basic needs first, Lisa and I discussed the limitations of only partially addressing WHY the young people are in crisis, often fleeing family, domestic or intimate partner violence. We discussed how the violence and youth sector needs to find ways to address the trauma young people have experienced coming into service.

A comprehensive approach to address all these issues and significant challenges and complexity is needed in responding to family and domestic violence, especially for older youth. This includes the need to address intergenerational trauma and family violence.

That might involve looking at family reunification pathways via family therapy / mediation and, if appropriate, pathways to semi-independent living, the role of child protection and the need to be classified as out of home care to access entitlements and the limitations of going into out of care group homes at that age.

Given their experience working with young people, I took the opportunity to ask Lisa’s point of view on the ideal set-up to support older young people affected by violence. It included:

• A drop-in centre that’s open 24/7, offering food, showers, video games, somewhere to chill – above all, a safe place for young people to go.
• No expectations that those attending will access services – i.e. don’t make the basic support conditional on anything – just provide what the young person needs, no matter the time of day.
• Social workers available to help those who want to access support and who can make referrals.
• Mental health support available on-site.
• Access to housing that is not conditional or requires parental involvement.
• Staff who are qualified for the job and trained – both social workers and frontline staff (who for Covenant House are mostly youth workers) – including understanding motivational interviewing. This involves meeting young people where they’re at, but also helping figure out ways to encourage support to push forward in whatever way they need. (Interestingly, Covenant House trialled a chat-bot to upskill staff in the interviewing techniques. They could have a typed conversation and get feedback on their use of the technique.)

Lisa emphasised that good staff are critical to the success of the facility and they say that the ‘secret sauce’ in their model is the relationships and rapport that youth and staff develop. Covenant House has a ratio of one worker to 15 young people, with at least two staff on each floor. It’s important that staff understand the young people’s experience. Even if they themselves have lived experience, it won’t be the same. Covenant House also look for people who don’t have a huge ego and are willing to learn. But perhaps the most important quality is awareness of boundaries, especially as the staff are often of a similar age to the residents and must balance empathy and assertiveness to keep youth safe.

Another interesting element is that they have onsite childcare, making it easier for young mums to go to work or school. Part of the program includes sharing videos with the parent of how they interact with and support their child, which also increases their parenting skills.

Best practices are collated across all the Covenant Houses by CH International and innovative approaches and successful ideas are shared across the network.

So, yet another inspiring and thought-provoking conversation. I hope that you too found it interesting.

Until next time

Chelsea