If the profession of street worker has long represented a mystery in the eyes of the population, the context of the health crisis of the last two years will have shed new light on this crucial practice for the social safety net. In this National Street Work Week, what can we say about the contribution of these social practitioners who work day after day so that society leaves no one behind?
A practice of shadow intervention
While street work has existed in Quebec since the 1970s and is deployed in almost all regions, both rural and urban, recognition of the essential role of this practice is more recent. In this respect, the social consequences of the crisis for the most vulnerable will have forced the government to recognize the need to call on the expertise of these front-line teams. Coming from various training backgrounds, street workers in Quebec have a wealth of expertise while sharing a common skill: that of reaching out to people to help them meet their needs.
Since its origins, street work has aimed to get closer to people who are experiencing various forms of social breakdown in one or more spheres of their lives. This practice is characterized by the fact that it is deployed directly in living environments by taking the time to establish a bond of trust with people in order to accompany them towards a better life.
By going to meet people where they are, practitioners of street work develop a fine understanding of human realities. Armed with this expertise, these teams are able to act on several social determinants, whether in a logic of preventing difficulties or restoring weakened social ties.
Whether it’s listening to someone at the end of their rope, helping another to move or write a CV, co-developing a local action plan for food security, accompanying someone in court, to collaborate in access to health care, to find temporary accommodation for someone on the street, to mediate within a couple or family or even to offer syringes unique to an injection drug user, street workers are masters of versatility and adaptability.
On the front line during the pandemic
In the context of the pandemic, the intensification of social problems has multiplied the situations of vulnerability among the population and thus increased the support needs. In addition to the fact that the spread of the virus has directly affected the most disadvantaged living environments, many people have found themselves in difficult economic situations, unemployed and isolated.
Homeless people, whether visible or hidden, have been particularly hard hit. In addition to the obstacles that many were already encountering, certain measures, such as the closing of public spaces and the imposition of a curfew, have increased their vulnerability, and even endangered their health and safety. In addition, the pandemic has illustrated the major inequalities in the use of and access to information in an increasingly digitized society. The dematerialization of administrative procedures has posed obstacles to obtaining a simple identity document or a vaccination passport for those left behind in digital technology.
In addition to these multiple difficulties, a feeling of isolation, stress and anxiety has largely affected the populations. These symptoms of psychological distress, coupled with social distancing protocols, have led struggling youth and adults to turn to more harmful strategies, such as substance abuse with lesser quality drugs, in a context marked by an opioid crisis.
Faced with the intensification of the feeling of distress experienced by marginalized people and faced with the absence or inadequacy of responses to their needs, the community sector has been overstretched. Recognized for their ability to act in the heat of the moment and to adapt to all situations, street work teams have redoubled their efforts to reach people who are more isolated and affected by the situation.
As the premises of several organizations had to close their doors during the first waves of COVID-19 and as the temporary accommodations were quickly saturated, the teams had to rethink the organization of their services to continue to respond to the needs, for example by bringing food supplies to the doorsteps of isolated people, by visiting them outside, by finding accommodation solutions.
A demanding relational profession, which deserves to be recognized
If the pandemic has caused a lot of social damage, the weakening of a large part of society has also generated a part of humanity and a greater sensitivity among many citizens towards vulnerable people. In this respect, confinement has, for example, made it possible to become aware of the challenge that the obligation to stay at home could represent, when one does not have a home. Consequently, we were able to witness multiple gestures of solidarity in order to respond to the emerging needs of marginalized people.
So that this collective benevolence towards vulnerable people is not just temporary, let’s hope that we will continue, over the next few years, to be concerned about the fate of marginalized people. For this, the community of practice in street work promises to keep an eye on the grain and to continue to echo the concerns and aspirations of the left behind, whom we have a duty not to forget behind us!