About Rooted in Recovery
Rooted in Recovery is an emerging CWCLN initiative, which responds to gaps in culturally-safe, anti-racist, harm reductionist, trauma-informed care. This program will focus on the needs of Black and racialized women and femmes, recognizing the intersectional experiences of race, gender, migration, and social determinants of health that shape recovery outcomes.
The overall goal of the project is to improve access, equity, and outcomes for Black and racialized women and femmes affected by substance use through community leadership, culturally relevant education, and sustainable peer-support systems. This new program will centre system navigation, wrap-around support, as well as provide referrals and outreach.
This initiative will be led by the System Navigator & Community Support Lead, who can support with:
Connecting to CWCLN offerings and peer support groups
Linking Black and racialized women and femmes to CWCLN programming that fits their immediate social support needs, such as workshops, Creative Expressions and peer support groups.
Supporting with system navigation
Acting as a bridge to connect Black and racialized women and femmes to services across the City of Ottawa, by building lasting partnerships with community organizations, networks, groups, and businesses and other unique services.
Providing warm referrals, referral pathways and wrap-around services
As partnerships and relationships are built, working to refer Black and racialized women and femmes to community supports they need, to best support with wrap-around care and and access to information.
Community development and outreach
This can include educating and training both staff from agencies and community members, using a trauma-informed, anti-racist and harm reductionist lens. As well as supporting and leading community tables and offerings to inform and respond to emerging needs and trends, to inform future offerings.
Social prescribing
Connecting community members to art, wellness, harm reduction and social spaces related to their needs, niches and interests, to increase their access to a continuum of care supports.
This aims to support emergent and ongoing needs related to addiction and wellness, especially for Black and racialized women and femmes.
Pillars
Rooted in Recovery is grounded in cultural safety, collaboration, and community cohesion, and these pillars will be the bedrock in future supports and offerings:
Cultural safety
Rooted in Recovery embeds anti-racist and trauma-informed practices, ensuring culturally-safe care that acknowledges the lived experiences of Black and racialized women and femmes.
Collaboration
Rooted in Recovery responds to gaps in care for Black and racialized women and femmes in the City of Ottawa. Creating cohesive partnerships with community organizations via coordinating referrals, sharing training resources, and strengthening culturally responsive pathways to recovery to lay the foundation for a continuum of wrap-around care.
Community Cohesion
Rooted in Recovery strives to create safe(r) spaces for Black and racialized women and femmes to connect, reduce stigma and isolation, share lived experiences, and strengthen coping skills to foster belonging in community spaces.
Partnerships
The System Navigator & Community Support Lead also works to build cohesive relationships with community partners to ensure Black and racialized women and femmes are supported in their navigation of supports across the City of Ottawa. We welcome partnerships that support our pillars mentioned above.
What we do:
- Enhance culturally-safe access to care
- Build peer and community leadership capacity, through training peer facilitators
- Reduce stigma and isolation by creating safe(r) spaces for community members
- Generate evidence and learning to inform future programs and policies
What we don’t do:
- We do not replace the role of healthcare providers or social workers
- We do not provide ongoing case management – our aim is to provide community members with connections to resources and services
- We do not focus on providing services to male-identified folks
System navigation process
- Fill intake Form
- The System Navigator will connect with you to book an appointment
- With the information from your Intake Form, the System Navigator will compile resources
- In your appointment, the System Navigator will take notes and create a folder for you, using your initials (for privacy)
- You will have a maximum of three (3) opportunities to connect back with the System Navigator for follow-up. There will be a separate form to fill out
- After fourth check-in, there will be a last check-in and closing of your file with the System Navigator
More information
If you would like to learn more about Rooted in Recovery, please send us an email at systemnavigation.cwcln@gmail.com or fill out the following form.