Happy National Volunteer Week, Calgary!

The kitchen and the laundry rooms are where you’ll find most of our volunteers, but we also have a few out-of-the-box opportunities for people to get involved! Our Detox program brings in volunteers for different types of programming like yoga, acupuncture, and art therapy. We caught up with several of our regular volunteers as well as one of our newest volunteers who’s been teaching yoga classes for our Detox clients to hear about their experience volunteering with Alpha House.

Detox Volunteer

Julianne, hosts yoga classes for clients in our detox program. We asked her what inspired her to start teaching yoga in this setting:

“I was always so amazed at how much better I would feel by doing yoga, and how efficient it was at radically changing my mood and calming me down. At some point, around 2012, I remember thinking that if this is so helpful for me, then there must be others in the community who could benefit from it, that don’t have access to yoga— it’s very expensive and can have an elitist image attached to it, which I find really unfortunate because it is so simple.”

Why Alpha House, we asked:

“I’ve always wanted to volunteer with the homeless community, and I thought this could finally be an opportunity to teach yoga to those in need like I wanted to all those years ago. I live in the Beltline and Alpha House is very active in this community. When I was working downtown, I would see so many people on my walk to work who were struggling— I just felt so helpless, and I wanted to be able to do something to help them. Alpha House was the first place that I thought of, and I wanted to help within my own community so it was a great fit.”

Julianne has taught a number of classes at Alpha House, which means her experience has been good…. Right Julianne?

“This will be my third class today. It’s been really positive. (Excellent!) I can tell you a story. (Please do!)

So, my first class, I had four students, and we were working on balancing with the tree pose. I was impressed with how solid their balances are and how present everyone was during the class, given that this isn’t a formal yoga studio.

While I was teaching, I related balancing to conquering a fear, conquering a fear outside of this room. Whatever that is for them, whether it’s coming to Alpha House or another fear that they’ve conquered in their lives. With balancing, the worst thing that can happen is that you’re gonna fall on your face, and really, is it that bad?

Even for myself that day, I had realized that I needed to push myself to face the unknown in my personal life, and get out of that state of fear where you feel like the worst thing is going to happen.”

That’s such a beautiful message, especially for a group of people who are currently in phases of their life where they are facing the unknown and probably are experiencing some fear around that. What’s been the biggest challenge, we wondered, since this is a new population for Julianne?

“So, my first class, I did have an individual who wasn’t able to follow along because he had a recent back surgery. He told me that he had done lots of yoga in the past, and when he wasn’t able to follow along, he was able to trust his own body and not push himself. There’s never any expectation to follow along with what I’m doing physically or what I’m cueing.

That’s what I teach, and I think we did talk about that in my last class as well. I try my best to empower my students to trust where they are at, and trust their own body. My mission as a teacher is to instill the idea of getting my students to be their own guide one day, and I think that’s especially important at Alpha House.

I usually only see a student once, so I only get that one opportunity to give them something that they can take away, and I would love for it to be that— to help them tune into their ability to listen to their own body and take care of themselves.”

We have such respect for the work Julianne has done with our Detox clients and we are so lucky to have her calming presence in our space every single week!

If you have a specific skillset, you think our Detox Clients might benefit from and you’re interested in donating your time, please get in touch with us!

 

Kitchen and Laundry Volunteers

A really helpful (but common!) way for people to volunteer at Alpha House is in our Kitchen or Laundry Rooms! If you’re not sure if this would be a good fit for you, check out what some of our current volunteers had to say. Our favourite part of these interviews was how obvious it was that all of our volunteers care deeply about the population Alpha House serves:

 

 “A family friend’s daughter used to work here, so I heard a bit about the work from her and then I looked into what Alpha House was all about, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to get some experience in the field that I’m wanting to do.” – F

“I am in social work, and I want to work in the addiction field, so I wanted to do something related.” – HR

“I have little kids, so I’ve always been involved. Volunteering through school and sports. I used to volunteer with Alpha House 18 years ago, and now I’m back again!” – D

 “I was living in BC, working at a consignment store, which was a huge resource for a lot of the unhoused people in Vernon, of which there were a lot. They had a really good relationship with them and would welcome them with open arms, let them hang out as long as they wanted, and hook them up with whatever they needed— clothing and stuff like that. It just had a really good approach. I’ve lost quite a few friends to overdoses, and a lot of family members that have been homeless long-term, so I’ve always been interested in working with this population.” – H

There are a lot of reasons people choose to volunteer but we pushed a little to hear what made these four choose Alpha House specifically:

“I wanted to get into social work for school, which is what I’m doing in September. There’s also a personal experience with having a sibling that experiences with mental health and addiction challenges.” – F

“The first way I heard about Alpha House is from one of my friends that used to work here. I learned a bit about the work from her, and I liked the autonomy that it gives clients. So when I wanted to volunteer and get some experience in the addictions field, Alpha House came to mind.” – HR

“I’ve been wanting to volunteer in this kind of capacity for a while, and I’ve got some family members that have used different resources in the city. Alpha House was definitely the preferred one, just as far as the approach goes and with interactions with staff— it was all positive experiences from people I know.” – H

Our clients express themselves in a lot of different ways, we know. This might be in the stories they share or the art that they make. It’s apparent while talking to our foursome that they notice this when they interact with our clients.

“Everyone has their own story. We’re showing up here, being together— showing up for each other in whatever way we can.” – F

“We all come with stories, we all have our histories. It doesn’t matter who we are, we show up. Just like they need to be seen, we need to be seen. We all need to be acknowledged.” – D

“I really like the art that’s around here, and I was told that it was made by the clients. It’s not soulless, it’s not hotel art— it’s very personal.” – HR

The truth is sometimes volunteering at Alpha House is a bit repetitive – there’s only so many ways to make cutting vegetables or scooping potatoes or folding laundry interesting and different. But you just might make connections that last a lifetime with our staff or other volunteers or, maybe, if you’re like our volunteers, by reconnecting with someone you didn’t expect.

“I work downtown on 12^th Ave, and I used to live right off of 17^th Ave, so there’s a lot of clients here that I was familiar with, and used to see around a lot. I don’t live downtown anymore, so seeing people here that I haven’t seen in a while is like reconnecting with people I feel like I used to know. It’s nice to see them getting the help they need.” – H

 

Email us at info@alphahousecalgary.com if you’re interested in getting involved as a volunteer and Happy National Volunteer Week to all the amazing folks donating their time and energy!

 

In honour of World Health Day (yesterday) April 7, 2025, we’re talking about the challenges of achieving and maintaining well-being for the homeless population.

“Feeling good and functioning well” is the most basic way to describe well-being, a topic comprised of many interwoven factors including: personal life circumstances, gender, ethnicity, and trauma. The real-world implications of maintaining one’s well-being are extremely complex.

Let’s consider the personal life circumstance of being without consistent, adequate housing. Homelessness impacts every aspect of your health and wellbeing. Lack of mental health supports, discrimination in healthcare and housing opportunities, and lack of access to basic hygiene or ongoing exposure to the elements are only some of the factors that make maintaining well-being so difficult for those without housing.

Challenges to maintaining well-being and the consequences that follow can be understood through the “upstream/downstream” metaphor.[1] This is based on the idea that well-being in childhood can be used to predict future well-being in adulthood.[2] These findings are in-line with what we see among our clients, in which certain events or incidents or experiences are still causing trauma or challenges in their current lives. Think of a river where the upstream is current life circumstances that impact our well-being, and the downstream is the consequences of the upstream determinants manifesting later in life.

In the context of homelessness, the upstream determinants can be living in poverty and/or living outside, experiencing ongoing discrimination, or experiencing traumatic events. These manifest in the downstream outcomes as mental illness, substance use disorders, impaired cognitive processing, extreme depression and anxiety, or other diseases that impact physical health. Another example might be an individual who has experienced domestic violence, or someone who has faced discrimination/family conflict based on their sexual orientation— a turbulent/unsafe home life and lack of a support system can directly result in trauma, other serious mental health challenges, or homelessness. Upstream and downstream causes are unique to each individual and the life experiences that have shaped them but the concept of well-being building on itself either positively or negatively helps us understand the importance of maintaining our well-being and ensuring everyone has access to the supports they need to do so.

Discrimination in healthcare can manifest in a number of ways— it can be based on appearance, ethnicity, and even mannerisms. Looking “rough” due to lack of housing can impact the quality of healthcare one receives— it takes longer to get the care that you need, and sometimes health concerns are downplayed or downright ignored. Discrimination based on ethnicity due to language barriers, stereotypes and prejudices, or ingrained biases based in racism results in poor healthcare outcomes and can cause people to avoid seeking healthcare all together. Another layer of discrimination is revealed when the individual seeking support is a drug user, especially so if they are displaying certain mannerisms (i.e. looking fidgety, agitated and restless presenting as drug seeking behaviour), making healthcare professionals skeptical and assume that their health concerns are just “drug seeking” behaviours. This means that a drug user who suffered an injury or health complication can have trouble accessing the medication that they need to improve their current health circumstances.

Many homeless people suffer from chronic conditions like respiratory issues and diabetes, conditions that require consistent access to healthcare providers and medication. It often takes advocacy and persistence to receive proper treatment and care even without the additional stressors of being on the street. Homelessness impacts the physical and psychological bandwidth available for focusing on things other than short-term survival, leading to worsening health outcomes.

People experiencing mental illnesses are severely overrepresented among the homeless population. Researchers from the University of Calgary found that 66 to 75 per cent of people who are experiencing homelessness have an underlying mental health condition. Unhoused individuals have few opportunities to interact with psychiatrists and other mental healthcare providers to address these issues. Mental health professionals working in the public sector are relatively few in number, and those who do work in the sector are often overworked with the overwhelming demand for their services.[3] When unhoused individuals are taken to a hospital or holding cell, they are often released back to the street due to a lack of other supports; this cycle makes it very difficult for someone experiencing homelessness to make any strides towards well-being.

At Alpha House, we believe the answer lies in supporting local programs and services that can intervene and help unhoused individuals secure stable housing, access the proper supports, and ensure that people have a place to stay after a hospital or prison visit. Permanent-supportive housing is one of the ways to support this population. Housing that offers 24/7 onsite supports for individuals who can’t live independently and might need interventions for mental health episodes, overdose, and physical ailments. Other interventions such as improved access to mental, psychological, and physical health supports before people become entrenched in homelessness is key. This could mean additional poverty reduction strategies, improved health resources in schools or within employment sectors, and increased social service provisions in hospitals and jails. More understanding and acceptance, and less shame, for the challenges vulnerable populations face is necessary among service providers and the general public so that we can work toward systemic change, and a world where nobody is left behind.

[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41572-020-00241-2

[2] https://hqlo.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12955-020-01423-y

[3] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7525583/#:~:text=Homeless%20men%20and%20women%20have,are%20brief%20encounters%20at%20best.