Clinical Sociology and Community Interventions The Community Ideas Factory Life Skills Project
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At least 235,000 people experience homelessness in Canada each year, with over 35,000 experiencing homelessness on any given night (Gaetz et al. 2013a). For many, maintaining housing is challenging due to the absence of essential life skills. This paper departs from a community-identified problem with conventional life skills programming and uses sociological tools to address it. Community partners have expressed a need for a life skills curriculum that is inclusive, representing the intersecting needs and experiences of a diversity of clients, and that will address budgetary constraints of not-for-profit (NFP) organizations in the region.
The Community-Ideas Factory: The Life Skills Project consists of an interdisciplinary research team and 16 NFPs collaborating to build a comprehensive, inclusive, relevant, and effective online life skills intervention. Adopting a clinical sociological and community-engaged research approach, our findings emphasize the importance of recognizing that essential life skills are diverse and shaped by the larger social, political, and economic context, such as social inequities. Notably, social justice is identified as a crucial life skill, uncovering the intersectionalities that shape individuals' lives and that must be integrated into life skills programming. This ground-breaking finding is facilitated by our methodology, deviating from the positivist research approaches prevalent in life skills studies. Significantly, the entire life skills curriculum is Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI)-informed. The intervention addresses immediate financial strains for partner organizations. We anticipate that the intervention will interrupt current cycles of homelessness while holding promise as a preventative measure.
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Sara Cumming, Sheridan College
Sara holds a PhD in sociology and is an award-winning professor at Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada. As a certified clinical sociologist, she leverages her expertise to specialize in community collaborations, employing innovative approaches to effectively address various community problems.
DiSanto Julianne, Sheridan College
Julianne is a sociology professor at Sheridan College and teaches in the Honours Bachelor of Community Safety program and has developed several courses, including the Sociology of Community, Making Others: The Sociology of Deviance, and Community Engagement and Social Justice. She has a PhD in sociology.
Leah Burton-Saliba, MSW, RSW
Leah holds a BSW and MSW and is a registered social worker in Ontario, Canada. She currently works as a clinical counselor in outpatient mental health and addictions, with previous experience working as a front-line case manager supporting individuals exiting homelessness.
Chloe Shackelton, BA, SSW, CI, CYT
Chloe holds a BA in Cultural Anthropology and a Social Service Worker diploma. As an entrepreneur in Nova Scotia, Canada, she applies transdisciplinary approaches to collaborative community development & social justice driven projects.
Joel McLeod, BA
Joel is a current Master of Public Service student and government Policy Analyst. He received his BA in Political Science. Joel incorporates the use of data and statistics to assess solutions to high impact problem areas.