Poverty & Social
Inclusion
A Community-University Research
Alliance (CURA)
Agenda
9:00am – Welcome
9:15am – Overview of Project
9:45am – A History of Partnerships
10:00am – Your Place in this Plan
10:15am – Break
10:30am – Conversational Café
11:00am – Book Presentations
11:10am – Cake cutting celebration
Research Team
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Dr. Cheryl Forchuk (UWO, LHRI)
Susan Ouseley (Can-Voice)
Betty Edwards (Can-Voice)
Stewart Perry (Canadian Centre for Community Renewal)
Mike Godin (CMHA-London)
Sheela Subramanian (CMHA-Ontario)
Mo Jeng (City of London)
Richard Csiernik (King’s University College)
Peter Hall (Simon Fraser University)
Michael Buzzelli (UWO)
Abraham Rudnick (UWO)
Mark Speechley (UWO)
Benita Cohen (University of Manitoba)
Jeffrey Hoch (University of Toronto)
Background: Poverty and Mental
Health
• In Canada, 27% of psychiatric survivors live in poverty,
compared to 12.6% of non-disabled persons
• A single person living on ODSP receives less than
$12,000 per year (63% of poverty line)
• 3 relational patterns between poverty and MH:
– ‘Additive’ relationship (poverty’s adverse effects contribute to
the poor functioning caused by illness)
– ‘Interactive’ relationship (poverty’s potentially negative
effects are intensified by presence of other illness factors)
– ‘Transforming’ relationship (poverty and illness’ interrelation
can result in each being different than when occurring
separately)
Background: Social Inclusion
• Individuals with psychiatric disorders experience
discrimination in the housing market, employment and
social relationships
• Loss of connections and housing are more related to
societal responses to psychiatric illness than the illness
itself
• Social exclusion and discrimination for this population
exacerbates the problems of poverty
• Greater impetus on social inclusion for psychiatric
survivors is still required to overcome the exclusionary
nature of current social policies
Current Project: Purpose and Goals
• Overall purpose:
– To better understand the inter-relationships between poverty
and social inclusion for psychiatric survivors
– To engender community-based initiatives to promote their
effects
– To identify and explore how psychiatric survivors can
overcome existing marginalization and social disadvantage
– To develop concrete data with community partners in order
to increase our capacity to evaluate successful policies
• Timeline: We have received a 5-year grant from SSHRC
(March 2011 – February 2016)
Components to Project
• This CURA will consist of 3 components:
1. Research
2. Training (e.g. in the context of research
projects, activities credited as part of
coursework, etc.)
3. Community Capacity Development (e.g.
workshops, seminars, publications, public
lectures, etc.)
Research:
Quantitative Component
• 380 individual interviews (190 men, 190 women)
– Individuals will be contacted annually to complete a total of 4
interviews
– Final expected (hoped for?) sample: 300 (Interviewing 380 in
first year to account for potential drop out rates)
• Representative of housing types (homeless/shelter,
group home, independent living) and employment
status as a proxy for a variety of economic situations
• 2-hour structured interview: quality of life, housing
history and preferences, community integration, social
support, experience of stigma, well-being, service use
Research:
Qualitative Component
• Open-ended questions in individual interviews
(experience of poverty, experience of stigma,
fairness of system)
• Focus groups with key stakeholders:
– Psychiatric survivors
– Family members
– Social service providers
– Employers
– Policy decision-makers
Research:
Policy and Ethical Analysis
• Policy analysis will address policy implications that
arise from the issues identified in the interviews
• Policy documents related to income, employment
and income support will be collected
• The project’s empirical findings will be compared to
ethical standards derived from welfare theory and
accepted ethical principles of service providers
Training Component
• Multiple opportunities for university students of all
levels to participate in CURA
• Represented disciplines: Planning, Law, Nursing, Social
Work, Philosophy, Psychology and Psychiatry
– Research assistant positions and practice placements will be
made available to students from all of these disciplines
• A new graduate level interdisciplinary course will be
developed
• Employment for students to assist in data collection
will be made available every summer of the project (6
employed currently)
• Opportunities for community engagement
Pulling it Together
• Community projects – specific needs and
solutions
• Annual community forums – help identify
emerging issues, feedback on research in
process, community capacity building, engaging
public
Expected Outcomes
• Increased understanding of poverty as experienced by
psychiatric survivors and the role played by inclusion
and exclusion
• New university-level curricula and positions for
students
• Community-based projects addressing poverty and
social inclusion on individual, community and societal
levels
• Critical assessment of current policies and
recommendations for social inclusion strategies
Contact
• Academic Director: Cheryl Forchuk
– UWO/LHRI
– Phone: (519) 679-2111 ext. 86591
– E-mail: cforchuk@uwo.ca
• Community Co-Directors: Susan Ouseley and
Betty Edwards
– Can-Voice
– Phone: (519) 434-8303
– E-mail: canvoice@gtn.net
Contact
• Project webpage:
– http://publish.uwo.ca/~cforchuk/cura2/
• CURA office:
– London Health Sciences – Research
– South Street Hospital, Room E208 NR
– Phone: (519) 685-8500 ext. 75896
– Project Coordinator: Amanda Kurtz
(email: Amanda.Kurtz@lhsc.on.ca)
A History of Partnerships
Partners from Previous CURA
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Alcohol and Drug Services of Thames Valley
At^Lohsa Native Family Healing Services
Can-Voice
City of London
CMHA-London
Concordia University
Crouch Centre Community Resources
King’s University College
Lawson Health Research Institute
Partners from Previous CURA
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London & Middlesex Housing Corporation
London InterCommunity Health Centre
London Mental Health Crisis Services
London Police Services
Margaret’s Haven Non-Profit Housing
Ministry of Health and Long Term Care
Mission Services of London
Ontario Works
Partners from Previous CURA
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St. Joseph’s Health Care
Street Connection
The Salvation Army- Centre of Hope
The Salvation Army – Men’s Hostel
University of Waterloo
University of Western Ontario
WOTCH (Western Ontario Therapeutic Community
Hostel)
• Wilfred Laurier University
• Women’s Community House
Partnership
• We can do a lot more together than separately!
• Our partnerships are a precious resource that we
need to treasure and continue to build upon
Partners for Current CURA
• Partners Involved in this Grant
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CMHA (Canadian Mental Health Association) London
CMHA-Ontario
CMHA-Sudbury
Can-Voice
Centre for Research and Education on Violence against Women
and Children
City of London, Community Services Department
Lawson Health Research Institute
London InterCommunity Health Centre
MerryMount Children’s Centre
Mission Services of London
Partners for Current CURA
• Partners Involved in this Grant
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Neighborhood Legal Services
Raising the Roof
Regional Mental Health Centre
The Salvation Army
University of Manitoba – Nursing
Western
WOTCH (Western ON Therapeutic Community Hostel)
Women’s Community House
Youth Opportunities Unlimited
Spotlight on: Can-Voice
An example of one agency
demonstrating a rich history of
research leadership & participatory
roles
Research History: Can-Voice
• Mid 1990s: Can-Voice began relationship with
Dr. Forchuk when they were invited to
participate in discussion for the next stages of Dr.
Forchuk’s “Bridges” pilot project
– This involved meeting with other consumer-survivor
groups
• 1998: 3-year grant for “Therapeutic Relationships
from Hospital to Community”
– Can-Voice had lead role for London peer support
Research History: Can-Voice
• 1999: United Way of London and Middlesex
funded a seed grant to explore a Connections
program with Dr. Forchuk
• April 2000-2003: “Connections”
– Trillium Grant for $655,000
– Can-Voice was the lead agency for this project & Sue
Ouseley ED was the PI
– Buddies were provided for individuals being
discharged from the hospital into the community
– Involved 11 CSIs from Windsor to Lindsey
Research History: Can-Voice
• 2000-2006: CURA1: Mental Health and Housing
– Margaret’s Haven started as the lead community
agency for this project
– Can-Voice became the lead for the final 2 years of
project (2005-2006) (S. Ouseley & B. Edwards co
community directors)
• 2003-2006: Can-Voice Executive Director Sue
Ouseley was co-investigator on CIHR grant
focusing on knowledge transfer related to
transitional discharge
– 40 hospital wards throughout Ontario and 26
consumer groups involved
Research History: Can-Voice
• 2003-2004: CIHR Travel Grant
– Can-Voice ED Sue Ouseley was part of research team that
traveled to Europe to assist in international development of
transitional discharge model (Finland, Estonia, Scotland)
• 2006-2008: “CIPHER-MH: Creating Interprofessional
Collaborative Teams for Comprehensive Mental Health
Services”
– Helped 15 professions learn to work collaboratively with
individuals with mental health challenges
– Workshops were main teaching method
– -Betty Edwards, Walter Osoka participated on steering
committee and several subcommittees, 12 Can-Voice
members were regular participants
Research History: Can-Voice
• 2011-2016: CURA2: Poverty & Social Inclusion
– Can-Voice is the community co-chair for this project
• Can-Voice has also participated in many other
studies with Dr. Forchuk. Over the last 14 years
these have included (to name a few):
– Preventing Discharge to No Fixed Address (pilot,
acute care, tertiary care and ER phases)
– Youth Matters in London
– Poverty and Mental Health
A History of Partnership
• Can-Voice provides one community example of the
growth that can occur with long-standing relationships
• Example demonstrates the greater potential by working
longitudinally on linked projects
• We have many other strong examples in our
community – the continuity between CURA1 &
CURA2 is a testament to this
• We are all interested in meaningful partnership &
involvement – not tokenism or simply endorsement
Your Place in this Plan
Your Place in this Plan:
Subcommittee Opportunities
Break & Conversational
Café
Feedback from
Conversational Café
Book Presentation
• Hot off the press
• Collection of articles
from our previous
CURA