"It's important that the community knows the incredible increase in the number of people coming through our doors."
Those are the words of Shirley Guest, chair of the board for Partners for Rural Family Support (Partners), based in Humboldt.
Their number of intakes went up 40 per cent in 2010, as compared to 2009 numbers.
"We served 1,049 individuals in one year," executive director Collette Lessmeister told the Journal recently. That's up from an average of 690 people in 2008 and 2009.
And their office is only open to the public 20 hours per week.
What are all of these people looking for when they walk in the doors?
About 18 per cent of their clientele are directly dealing with domestic violence, Guest said.
The other 80 or so per cent are dealing with other social issues - people trying to access social assistance, mental health and addictions services, child and family protection services, or newcomer and immigrant services. There are also a number who have housing problems, or are trying to get help with family issues.
"It's a wide gamut," Lessmeister said.
And they're coming from all over the east-central part of Saskatchewan, from Raymore to Wadena, Wynyard to Middle Lake, St. Brieux, Lanigan, Nokomis - the list goes on and on. In total, their area serves over 40,000 people
Why are they coming through Partners' door with these problems?
Because not a lot of places in the area do what Partners does.
Partners basically helps people access a lot of government services; people who might have trouble understanding where to go, or how to fill out the forms they need to. They also work with other agencies to bring in counsellors for their clientele, act as advocates, and run programs and groups out of their office.
"We're dealing a lot with clients who can't navigate the system themselves...We help them through roadblocks," Guest said, adding that each person has individual barriers or issues, and staff have to be creative sometimes in dealing with them.
Partners meets the needs of those who don't fit anywhere else, Guest explained.
For the past two years, that government department has rented offices within Partners' space, Lessmesiter noted.
"That certainly has made a difference," Guest said.
Child and Family Services also have an office in Partners' space.
But those employees are not always there, which means that Partners staff sometimes fills in the gap.
Partners, they said, has always helped people who don't know where else to go to access services.But they have never received funding for this work.
The little core funding they do receive, Guest noted, comes from the Ministry of Justice for victim's services, helping those who have experienced interpersonal violence or abuse.
Though the organization was not started nor is it funded as a crisis centre, they do play that role in this region.
They also fund-raise and apply for grants for programs.
But they need more financial support from government departments, municipalities, other community-based organizations and businesses in this region.
In preparation for asking for more support from the community, Partners has consulted with key stakeholders, analyzed its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and is currently coming up with a strategic plan. They may also undergo a name and logo change, with clarified mission and vision statements.
"Our vision for Partners is to be a hub of integrated services," Guest noted.
The organization is also doing a lot of planning, and program development and management. They want to develop some preventative programs, like self-esteem and assertiveness workshops, anger management and parenting classes, and programs to prevent things like bullying in schools.
But they need more time to do all this and respond to those in crisis. Which means they need more funding.
The number of people coming in to Partners has made it difficult for staff to get to other, more pro-active, parts of their jobs.
"A lot of people are asking about programs, but it's difficult to get to programming when you're having that rotation through the doors and trying to meet their needs," Guest said.
Humboldt, she noted, is "dreadfully" underserved in every aspect of social services, from crisis services to victim services.
"We need all these. As the population increases, we are going to need them even more urgently," Guest said.
Partners staff have had meetings with June Draude, Minister of Social Services, to help her become a little more aware of the issues in the area.
Draude, Lessmeister noted, was involved with Partners in its early years and was interested to see its development.
They plan to discuss funding with Draude, especially core funding for their programs and services.
Housing and other issues
Many of the reasons people are seeking help from Partners stems back to one thing: housing.
"The housing issue in Humboldt has created a crisis for many disadvantaged people," said Guest.
It is a huge area of increase for Partners, seeing people concerned with finding a place to live. They continue to help people experiencing housing disasters, she added.
Lessmeister is on the City of Humboldt's housing task force, and within that plan is creating a safe or transition house, as often even finding a woman and children escaping a violent home a place to stay is difficult.
"All of the shelters are full and have wait lists," said Lessmeister. "There's no place to go."
Safe houses are recognizing the fact that these people often have nowhere else to go, and have upped their limit of stay from one month to two years.
