He chooses Gustav as his alias just long enough to explain how a new support service for users of the Drummondville Municipal Library has given him enough support to give him back the taste and the means to live better — and nothing less. .
“I showed up there one day in winter 2021, in the midst of a pandemic, in a situation of distress, explains the man at the turn of his thirties, calmly and expressing himself very well. I needed help, to talk to someone. I had come to the library looking for comfort, warmth, because I had experienced a lot of stress, rejection, painful situations. »
He had just spent the night in a refuge which evacuated its dormitories at 7 a.m., summer and winter. The doors of the warm library opened three hours later. He was waiting in the cold when Jean-François Fortin, head of the local Division, approached.
“He told me about the possibility of meeting a kind of psychologist or practitioner who could listen to me and take time with me,” says Gustav. I accepted. I met Célina, and the first discussion lasted an hour and a half together. I understood that I could be listened to and appreciated. If I hadn’t met that girl, I don’t think I would have committed suicide, but I might have been committed to the hospital. »
Célina André is not a psychologist, but a street worker and now a library worker. She is 26 years old and accepted this atypical and pioneering work after her diploma in delinquency intervention. She remembers her meeting with Gustav very well and is even happier to have helped him.
“I am in being,” she says to sum up her work. I’m present. I’m listening. People see me every day and understand that I can help. »
She gives concrete examples of her some 400 interventions duly listed with 127 individuals between October 2021 and June 2022, according to a report on the first year of the project for her professional integration at the library. The document also notes “a sharp decrease in the frequency and intensity of usage conflicts compared to previous years”.
Examples of concrete interventions? Mme André helped to find housing or shelter, prepare a CV, enroll in training courses, find a job, obtain a medical appointment, obtain a place in a detox centre. And then she can “just be there”, as she also says.
A third place
The library is the democratic public facility par excellence and “a powerful agent of transformation and social enrichment, because it reaches all strata of society without discrimination”, summarizes a brief from the Bibliothèques publiques du Québec presented to the Union of Municipalities in 2010. However, 283 Quebec cities still offer no such service and have no specialized equipment according to a survey published in October.
But not Drummondville. Its library was built in 2017 in the historic center of the city, on the site of a former marshalling yard. The exceptional quality of the Francine-Ruel-Jutras building (named in honor of the former mayor who ruled the city for 25 years) was highlighted by a Governor General’s Medal in Architecture and the Grand Prix d’excellence of the Order of Architects of Quebec. The translucent building, all in curves of ceramified glass panels, is the result of a competition won by the consortium Chevalier Morales and DMA Architectes.
The marvel attracts on average more than 1100 people per day, with peaks at 2000 users. “We hadn’t anticipated such a great success,” says Mr. Fortin, met under the two magnificent spiral staircases in the central hall of the library. We meet with many, many people. We are open, we are welcoming. Regardless of your background, your appearance, your socio-economic situation, you will be received here. But we needed a way to encourage everyone to live together. »
The hiring of a street intervention pro is inspired by models developed in the United States and in certain provinces. The pilot project was launched a year ago with La Piaule Centre-du-Québec. The community organization, founded in 1984, has developed expertise in working with people who break away from traditional support networks.
My work is demystified. I am not a security guard. I look a bit trashy with my facial piercings. Even today, some people may wonder what is my role in a library.
“We had already identified the library as a place to intervene, explains Francis Lacharité, director of La Piaule, also met in Drummondville. But we couldn’t delegate one of our five street workers here full-time. Célina André was therefore hired with a salary paid by the city.
The young worker benefits from the network of contacts and services of La Piaule, which has its offices nearby, in a former garage. During the visit of the premises with Mr. Lacharité, we discover a school for adults offering courses in French and mathematics, a center for access to injection equipment and even a medical clinic. A review of the first year of the intervention project at the library lists some specific issues, the same as everywhere: mental health, consumption, addictions, exclusion, social breakdown, economic difficulties, homelessness, violence, deviance and petty crime. Not really librarian material…
“My work is demystifying. I am not a security guard. I have one looks a little trash with my piercings in the face. Even today, some people may wonder what is my role in a library. My role is to talk, to meet people in this quite unique third place. »
In urban sociology, the third place designates a community space complementary to work and home, where citizens can exchange. The term appears in the report to designate an “open, democratic, living environment” space.
This third place becomes even more essential after the crises that accumulate. The COVID-19 pandemic has isolated many people. Mental health issues are on the rise. The housing crisis hits. Inflation is taking its toll. The decision will be made in a few weeks by the City whether or not to continue the collaboration between the Library and La Piaule.
“Emergency accommodation has been full every day for almost two years,” says Director Lacharité, aptly named. Demands have increased at food banks. Visible homelessness is increasing. The use of drugs and alcohol is therefore also increasingly visible in parks. »
Gustav, he came out of the street. He works. He has accommodation. He has a driver’s license. He quit smoking both tobacco and pot. He started his studies again at La Piaule a month ago to obtain his secondary school diploma.
“I want to get back on my feet and become a responsible adult,” he says, admitting to going back about once a week, but now with his head held high, to the library that changed his life…