It's a book with a big goal.
A group of London-based scientists has compiled its research with real stories and program information to be used as a new resource to help communities combat loneliness among the homeless.
“The pandemic has highlighted the issues of isolation and homelessness, and we know there is a connection between mental health and poverty. Unfortunately, right now, many people don’t see solutions in sight,” said Dr. Cheryl Forchuk, assistant scientific director at Lawson Health Research Institute. “Our new resource offers an expanded understanding of isolation and homelessness based on a very broad view and many different perspectives. We have taken it a step further and given examples of solutions that are working.”
More than 35 community partners and people with lived experience provided the research team with input for the new publication from Canadian Scholars: Poverty, Mental Health, and Social Inclusion. Many of the chapters include a wide range of co-authors including psychiatric consumer-survivors, academics, students, and front-line service providers.
“After five years of funding and several published research papers, we wanted to pull the findings together as a whole so that it would be more easily accessed and implemented by a wide range of people and organizations,” said Forchuk, who co-edited the book with Western University professor Dr. Rick Csiernik. “Our hope is that other cities and service providers can pick up this book to see what we’re doing in London, and consider ways that they may reach out to their citizens to address social exclusion. It is also an academic tool to prepare the next generation as they continue to tackle the wicked problem of homelessness.”
This group of researchers previously uncovered the issue of hospital discharge to homelessness, which led to change at the London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph’s Health Care London. It also raised more awareness surrounding the challenges of homeless youth, tailoring more specific interventions to help young people on the streets.
Connect for Mental Health, Canadian Mental Health Association Elgin-Middlesex, and Goodwill Industries were among the community partners that provided insight included in the book.
