The City of Askatoon Community Development

Community Development

Community Development

Executive Summary

Askatoon is a fantastically vibrant city struggling with and fighting against many social and economic issues; homelessness, family violence, drug addiction, and mental health (O'Reilly & Gray, 2014). As a result, I have been hired by a local school district to be the new community outreach coordinator through my agency called Self-Care. In response to these inequalities, Self-Care will offer support services for the whole family by providing education on health and wellness. The goal will be to promote well-being where people are experiencing pain or illness in their lives by fostering healthy food systems, physical activity; restful practices like yoga; volunteering opportunities for their kids and families to give back to the community.

In addition, Self-Care is a community-based organization that will work in Askatoon. The self-Care initiative has developed a vision and mission to create programs, services, and activities that promote health and well-being for people in Askatoon. It will provide access to healthy food systems, physical activity; restful practices like yoga; volunteering opportunities for their kids and families to give back to the community. Self-Care is located in Askatoon, and its program will be offered within the community to connect, organize and build self-confidence for all community members. Its purpose is to involve everyone to have access to these programs. These programs will be accessible without being excluded from other programs. The community member's needs, desires, and attitudes shape our practice. Self-Care's future vision is to challenge these norms by assisting people who do not have access to or cannot afford programs like support groups (for instance) or therapy. The Self-Care committee will explore what can be done to change these norms.

Statement of Need

The askatoon Self-Care project under my coordination will commence because there was a need in the community for increased access to mental health resources. The project's goals will be to decrease isolation and move people off of harm's way by providing basic self-care information about healthy living, tips for excellent nutrition, and treatment options around addiction. It will also offer spiritual care at different points in life and consultation on what might be causing symptoms like depression, anxiety, or PTSD and how these can best be addressed. The project began as a need from the local school district aided by a bonus, a generous, anonymous donor who contributed $100,000 to this initiative since many people could not access yoga classes and other healing modalities like art therapy, music therapy, etc. The local school district saw a need in the community so that they could begin outreach focused on those who could not afford or were not eligible for services. They saw many potential reasons that someone may not be eligible for benefits, such as an inability to pay fees or lack of appropriate diagnosis. Thus the need for accessible and affordable programming for the larger community became apparent.

Askatoon Self Care will be an outreach initiative that stands for self-care, community care, and care of the caregivers. The target areas for Askatoon Self Care will be people in crisis and at risk of harm or isolation. The people of Saskatoon Self Care will target those who have limited access or resources for support. It will include sex trade workers, people living with mental health issues and addictions, the working poor, especially Indigenous Canadians, refugees, and international students. The people living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), individuals who are alone or without family/support networks, such as the homeless and incarcerated, are also included.

Mission Statement

There will be three objectives for Saskatoon Self-Care. The first will be to promote the idea of self-care and create a campaign that gets people talking about it. The second will be to create an introductory guide for people in Askatoon on how to practice self-care. The third objective will be to advertise the campaign in various areas around the city so that more people can talk about it and more organizations and companies will notice. The Askatoon Self-Care Project was born out of the idea that self-care needs to become a way of life in Askatoon through the local school district and proposed that I be the agency coordinator. Self-care has been defined by the World Health Organization as the management and prevention of illness, injury, and disability. Still, it also includes promoting optimum health and quality of life (WHO, 2014). It will be essential to the physical, mental, and emotional health of the Saskatoon residents. The majority of people in Askatoon do not know about self-care, nor do they practice it because they are unaware that it is something that can help improve their lives.

Self-care will bring benefits in many forms, such as better sleep, increased energy, and better mental health. Self-care is more than eating healthy food and getting enough exercise - to practice self-care, you have to evaluate yourself to understand yourself and live your life that way. Self-care will involve paying attention to body awareness and how you're feeling. One way of implementing self-care will be to take care of yourself because people don't take care of themselves when they are sick or need help from others.

In summary, the goal will be to offer resources and programming to increase the awareness, understanding, and use of self-care as a healing mechanism among individuals, families, and communities in Saskatoon and the area. We believe that there isn't one right way to care for oneself or one right way to be cared for. Instead, we're inviting you to explore your own needs/desires in this project as they pertain to self-care.

Community Change

Under my coordination, the Askatoon Self-Care project is a set of self-directed social services that will objectively provide intensive, individualized community support for people experiencing chronic homelessness and mental health issues. In conjunction with other City programs, the Askatoon Self-Care project will objectively promote stability, reduce involvement in the criminal justice system and help people achieve their goals. The project also seeks to enhance individuals' healthcare and quality of life experiencing homelessness and mental health issues (Patten, 2017) by combining individualized services, case management, and a focus on health promotion with peer support, outreach, and community education. The project will provide services for people experiencing homelessness, mental health issues, and substance use disorders. The Askatoon project also has an objective to begin initiatives to improve the livability and safety of neighborhoods in Saskatoon. It also has the enterprise with the hope of providing social, community, and supportive services to those experiencing homelessness and who are at risk of homelessness. They could help individuals get off the street and maintain stability. Through these initiatives, known as the Askatoon Self-Care Project objectives, the whole project hopes to reduce street-based services within Saskatoon. It will be by providing temporary housing solutions for individuals who are homeless or at risk, thereby reducing overcrowding in emergency shelters during the winter months.

Self-care programs will be a great way to bring peace of mind and stability to the life of the Saskatoon community. Askatoon Self-Care will be an initiative to help people find ways of self-care that work for them by providing free events and workshops in Saskatoon. Askatoon Self-Care will focus on assisting people in finding ways of self-care that work for them. By providing a space to learn from other people in similar situations, we hope to help people realize that different techniques (TEOH ED., 2018) can be used to achieve similar results. We will aim to build trust between the other groups we have been working with and help them build upon the knowledge they have already established within their communities.

We will also aim to create an environment of collaboration, empowerment, and inspiration so that one person can help another find ways of leading a healthy life. Eventually, we hope to see an effect on the community. Askatoon Self-Care could potentially help people move past their negative symptoms and find meaning in their lives again.

Our goal will be to build trust between the different groups we have been working with and assist them in building on the knowledge they have already established within their communities. Through this process, we hope to create an environment of collaboration, empowerment, and inspiration so that one person can help another find ways of leading a healthy life (TEOH ED., 2018). Askatoon Self-Care will aim to help people find ways of self-care that work for them by providing a space to learn from other people in similar situations. We will measure our impact by exploring how well the multitude of different programs are helping individual participants, how many people are attending events, and how much they benefit from them each month. Eventually, we hope to see an effect on the community. Askatoon Self-Care could potentially help people move past their negative symptoms and find meaning in their lives again.

This project will require a lot of coordination from management to the intervention in the problems and find money to cover all overhead. As a bonus, a generous, unidentified donor has contributed $100,000 to this initiative to aid in the process. Coordinating with external organizations and different people who have a lot of expertise in various areas will be critical, and we're hopeful that our success will help us attract more funding for future projects. Since our focus is on building trust between various groups, it is possible that we may not be able to help all people in every situation or area of need. We will primarily work with people facing mental health issues, so we must consider whether people can participate in programs. Another risk will be if we don't manage to create a strong base in the community and experience high turnover. This project will require passion and patience to make sure it's sustainable, so we're hopeful that we'll have enough external support from our funding partners and participation from the community so that it stays alive.

Potential benefits could include a more open conversation about mental health and how Askatoon can help its hurting citizens. We hope to help people move past their negative symptoms and impact the community. Askatoon Self-Care received funding from an anonymous donor who has contributed $100,000 to mental health initiatives in Askatoon. It will also be possible to create a stronger bond between different groups within our community and provide positive outlets for people to alleviate any stress or anxiety they may face.

Action Plan

For the project to be of success, I will provide full help. It could be as simple as helping those we will work with brainstorm ideas or plan out the steps needed to ensure success. If they are more advanced in their skills, I will have a hand in running the project. I would schedule when work will be completed and provide help along the way with questions. I would be able to help through the trenches of a project and provide resources, encouragement, and support for the project to be a success. I will also help evaluate progress and ensure that I'm getting closer to the project's goal. I will also be able to do things on my own so that, eventually, I won't need any person's assistance anymore. I will also enhance coaching in the process of the project's success which is a process that helps an individual better understand themselves and develop habits that will lead to success. In the process, I will find out strengths and weaknesses while also learning how to deal with life situations where they may have little or no control over the outcome

The following is a list of how $100,000 will be spent for the Askatoon Self-Care project intervention:

$5,000 - three hours of therapy per week (low input)