The Community Based Peer Outreach Worker Project
The project is a project funded by the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) to engage peer workers in Drop-In settings offering peer support related to healthcare and assisting homeless or under-housed women and men who often end up in emergency departments due to precarious health, poor primary heath care, a lack of access mental health and addiction services, inadequate housing, poor nutrition, lack of access to and or/ insufficient income.
Through accompaniment, advocacy and empathy the Peer Workers assist service users to understand and navigate the health and community systems.
Questions and Answers
- What types of services do the Peer Support Workers provide?
- They accompany clients to and from appointments
- They visit clients in the hospital or at home (for those clients who are socially isolated)
- They offer support by listening to clients and providing empathy
- They offer support by assisting some clients to fill out forms
- They offer support by making telephone calls to the clients’ workers, etc
- What activities are Peer Workers not involved in?
- Peer Workers do not counsel clients
- Peer Workers do not clean homes
- Peer Workers do not perform personal support care
- Peer Workers do not move, carry or lift heavy objects for clients
- How does a Health Care or Social Services Provider make a referral?
- You can fill out the Peer Outreach Referral Form
- Or, you can contact the Peer Project Coordinator at the following numbers:
Telephone (land) : 416-589-3270 ext # 267
Telephone (cell) : 647-963-7204
Fax : 416-537-4159
Email : mhimid@parc.on.ca
Once the referral is made to the Peer Project Coordinator; the coordinator will discuss the referral with the case worker requesting support to get clear information about the support needed, then a peer support worker will be assigned to assist the client and the client will be informed and contacted to confirm the appointment and identify the pick up location.
The Project Coordinator will follow up to make sure the clients are successfully connected to the support they need in the community as well as follow up assistance they need from our project.
Peer Support worker hours
9 A.M. to 5 P.M. Monday to Friday
Transportation
Transportation is also provided in the form of tokens and/or taxi chit (for those clients with mobility issues)
