Wayne’s Way Off the Street

“At the Mission, I got mental health care treatment, a bed to sleep in, three meals a day, medical check-ups with a nurse and, on top of it all, help from a counsellor to look for an apartment,” explains Wayne, an SII (Suivi Intensif en Itinérance) participant.

The SII team’s outreach work involves hitting the pavement to find chronically homeless individuals suffering from mental illness. The goal is to get them into a support environment where these vulnerable individuals can stabilize their mental health and transition into permanent, adapted housing.

Wayne lived for almost four years on the street. It was a hard life, and he ran into some trouble with the law and struggled with paranoia and schizophrenia. Once at the Mission, Wayne received regular check-ups with a nurse and a mental health evaluation with a psychiatrist. He also spent time at Café Mission Keurig® using the free computers and internet access to look for supervised apartments, accompanied by a Mission counsellor for visits.

Today, after stabilizing his mental health, Wayne has moved on from the Mission and is currently living in his own apartment with continued follow-ups from the SII team. Now that he’s found a place of his own, Wayne’s next goal is to find work and maybe even to go back to school. We wish Wayne the best of luck in his plans for the future!

On the photo: Olivier Charron, Psychiatry Resident at the CHUM and part of the SII team at the Old Brewery Mission (left), meeting with Wayne (right) to assess his needs during his transition towards stable and permanent housing.