EXPLORING EFFECTIVE SYSTEMS RESPONSES TO HOMELESSNESS

Systems Planning for
Targeted Groups
2.3
COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE AS LOCATIONS FOR
FACILITATING SERVICE SYSTEMS IMPROVEMENT
FOR NORTHERN HOMELESS WOMEN
Judie BOPP, Nancy POOLE
& Rose SCHMIDT
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the women who coordinated the communities
of practice (CoPs) in the three territories: Charlotte Hrenchuk (YK), Lyda Fuller
(NWT), Rose Youngblut (NWT) and Sheila Levy (NU). Catherine Carry (ON),
Lori Duncan (YK), Arlene Hache (NWT) and Courtney Henderson (NU) also made
significant contributions to the success of the CoPs which were held in the capital
cities of the three territories and virtually co-facilitated by the authors at the British
Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health and the Four Worlds Centre for
Development Learning. The project was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health
Research (CIHR) in partnership with the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
INTRODUCTION
Attention to the gender-specific needs of homeless
women in Canada’s North is crucial. The complexity
of the issues involved warrants a whole system shift in
social policy and service delivery, as well as in the way
that many individual programs and professionals work.
This chapter describes a participatory action research
project involving service providers, policy advocates
and researchers in the three northern territories who
had the goal of catalyzing health system improvement
to respond to the needs of northern women with
mental health concerns and who are homeless or at
risk of being homeless. The first section of the chapter
presents the context of women’s homelessness in
the North. Then the community of practice (CoP)
approach employed in the Repairing the Holes in the
Net project is described. The CoPs held in the three
northern territories supported shared reflective practice
space, where literature, women’s identified needs and
ideas for repairing the net of women-serving agencies
and policies could be collectively considered. The
chapter concludes with an assessment of successes and
challenges associated with system change in the context
of the North and the potential of CoPs in supporting
relational and programmatic system change.
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