Services
Mental Health Support
The mental health team has specialized training and experience in providing mental health assessment and treatment to our clients who live with significant co-occurring chronic mental illness, substance dependence and complex trauma histories. We operate with a harm reduction and trauma informed lens. We recognize that building relationship and rapport with our clients is the foundation to healing and recovery and that this process can take minutes, days or years with our clients. We also act as a support for our teams, offering debriefs to our programs after critical incidents.
Physical Health Support
The physical health nursing team offers supports to clients for all physical ailments in partnership with the wider team, and using an approach that also considers the mental health and substance use needs alongside the physical. Physical healthcare is offered in program and aims to reduce barriers that are faced in traditional healthcare systems such as hospitals or walk-in clinics.
Indigenous Supports
While we are not the experts, we believe strongly in providing access to land-based treatment, ceremony and traditional medicines. We are proud to partner with JennySawahnok of the Red Stone Snake Woman Healing Lodge to offer our Indigenous clients access to land-based treatment, ceremony and healing. We will continue to lean on experts, knowledge keepers and Healers like Jenny to guide us in making our programs accessible to and culturally appropriate for our clients who are First Nations, Inuit, & Métis. To learn more about Jenny and her offerings, please visit her website at https://www.redstonesnakewoman.ca/
Substance Use Support
OICH's substance use supports are client-centred and non-prescriptive. In the context of an opioid crisis, and a toxic drug supply, we are working harder than ever to be flexible and adaptive in meeting our clients' needs. OICH does not follow traditional notions of abstinence-based treatment. We understand that we cannot effectively address substance used needs if we do not also look at the mental and physical health in combination with the societal harms and oppression that our clients experience and have to contend with everyday.
Safer Supply
Safer supply is a harm reduction approach to combatting the unregulated toxic drug supply. Clients in this program are prescribed opiates in order to Reduce or eliminate their use of the unregulated toxic drug supply. This program targets clients who experience the most harms from unregulated drug use, such as repeated overdoses or other health harms. Clients in this program experience many benefits, including
- reduced unregulated fentanyl use
- reduced overdoses
- reduced criminal activity
increased access to other important services such as primary health care, case management, other social services and treatment.
Managed Alcohol Program
Ottawa Inner City Health and Shepherds of Good Hope are recognized internationally for our work in utilizing managed alcohol programs to improve the health of chronic street alcoholics. The Managed Alcohol program offers people whose lives are in peril due to their alcohol consumption with a chance to try the managed alcohol approach to determine if it might work for them. The program is “low threshold” and has an objective of simply helping people to drink less on the streets and reduce compulsive alcohol consumption. Many of our participants in this program go on to permanent housing in our Oaks program or, regain sufficient control of their alcohol use to live independently or enter other treatment programs.
Peer Support
OICH employes people who have lived or living experience as a fundamental part of how we run our programs. They are the true experts, the first responders of the toxic drug supply and their knowledge & expertise is imperative to our operations. They provide essential supports to the community we serve. Our staff who are PWLE help translate healthcare language to the floks we serve and provide guidance and support to our community in ways that meet the needs of our clients.
Partnership to other organizations
Info coming soon!