Blake Hunsley 0:00
Hello, and welcome to Season Two of Within Our Reach, a podcast all about accessibility, inclusion, and leveling the playing field at work and in our community. I'm Blake Hunsley, and I'm joined by my co-host, Shelley Alward MacLeod. And today we're joined by Rachel Avery, an occupational therapist with North End Community Health Center's Mobile Outreach Street Health Unit, or MOSH, which I hope I got all of that correct. Rachel, thank you so much for joining us.

Rachel Avery 0:20
Thank you very much for having me.

Blake Hunsley 0:22
So, for people who aren't familiar with MOSH, we'll start right from the ground up here. Why don't you tell us a bit about what MOSH is and what the mission

Speaker 1 0:28
is? Yeah, so MOSH is a part of the North End Community Health Center, or NECHC, and we are a primary healthcare team, but our model is to support people that aren't typically able to access the way our general healthcare system might work for the general population, and so we work primarily with people who are unhoused or insecurely housed, maybe they're housed in shelters, supportive living, couch surfing, and we use a primarily outreach-based model, which means that we, instead of having them come to the clinic, which is still an option, we actually go out in the community and meet them where they physically are at. So we have a van, actually we have a couple vans now that go out on a schedule to different shelter sites, different places in the community, like encampments, and then also on as need basis to different places where we know we might find some people in the community. It's primarily a nursing led model, so we have a lot of RNs on our team, but we do have some nurse practitioners, some doctors, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, health case management. I'm probably forgetting people. I apologize for the other allied health members of the team, but yeah, it's grown a lot. So we do offer like a lot of wraparound services to help meet people's primary care needs.

Blake Hunsley 1:57
Okay, and your role, you're an occupational therapy.

Speaker 1 1:59
I am an occupational therapist. All right, so for

Blake Hunsley 2:01
those lay people in the room, which would be me and Shelley over here, what does.. what does your role as an occupational therapist entail?

Speaker 1 2:06
Yeah, I feel like most people I meet have not heard of occupational therapy until I'm sitting across from them, so this is a very normal spiel for me to give, but occupational therapists are part of the rehab professions, along with like physiotherapy, speech language pathology, and audiology, but our focus is on function and daily activities, and so I like to refer to it as the so what profession. So you have a broken arm, so what? How does that impact your day to day life? You're dealing with some sort of mental illness, so what? How does that impact your day-to-day life, and so all of the work that we do with clients is focused on daily activities, either our goal is to get them back to activities that are meaningful to them, like employment, like schooling, like basic things like self care, hygiene, or leisure activities, or we might be using those activities to help manage the medical condition, so I have people that we get them into, like leisure groups and walking programs to help manage their mental health, or exercise to help manage their diabetes, but everything we do is through activity or for activity.

Shelley Alward-MacLeod 3:18
Okay, so that's great. I am familiar with occupational therapy because my field is employment law, so a lot of people coming through, let's say, workers' compensation, or need to come into employers' places for functional assessments. So, how long have you been with MOSH? And my second part to that is that would be a very, I would say non-traditional approach for an occupational therapy therapist. What made you decide to go that route?

Speaker 1 3:49
Yeah, I've been with Mosh for gosh like four years, like any day now. Happy anniversary. Thank you. Yeah, it was my dream since before I graduated grad school, for OT to actually work specifically with Mosh, not at all what I went into it for. I had worked with Special Olympics as a coach since I was a teenager, and had gone in being like, I'm going to do developmental disabilities in pediatrics, and had taken courses, well, you know, pick our courses, I guess, in grad school and undergrad, taking courses with that in mind, and then one of my placements was developing an alternative for, like, Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, which introduced me more into the addictions world of health, and then in 2020 this crazy thing happened where everything stopped, and including my schooling for a bit, and so I decided that I didn't just want to sit at home and figured, how can I stay involved with things, and I started working at one of the shelters. Was here locally in Halifax, and then this great organization called Mosh came in to support our clients, and I was like, 'Wow, I wonder if they have occupational therapists on the team, and turns out they do, and so I very quickly identified that that was something that I wanted to end up working in, and kept my eyes posted for job postings, and yeah, four years ago I was fortunate enough to be brought onto the team, and have been loving working there ever since. Amazing,

Shelley Alward-MacLeod 5:29
nice. We love

Blake Hunsley 5:30
to give everyone a chance to tell some success stories. I would love to hear what would constitute a particularly successful intervention with with a client from your work.

Speaker 1 5:39
Yeah, success looks so different in this job, and it was a huge mental shift to have to do, coming from the world of like workers' compensation and job site analysis, where does the person get back to work, that is success or failure, it's a very clear line, typically in this world, I really love that it is so defined by the clients. I don't have an insurance company that is setting what the requirements are, you know, it's great they're paying for the service and people are getting back to work, and that's a really meaningful occupation. That's not to speak negatively of that, but here someone's success might be that they're spending a little bit more time doing the activities that they love that they couldn't access before, or someone is able to be a little bit more independent in their day to day life because they have mobility aid. Even if we're looking at someone who is still going to spend the, you know, the remainder of their life in shelter and using substances, is the quality of that time better? Are they feeling better? Are they more engaged in activities? Those are all success stories, but you know, we've had some also just outstanding successes. I recently had someone who was quite young and dealing with alcohol use, and we were able to get funding for them to do like a three month rehab that they had independently selected and wanted to go to, but was out of province, and we were able to get the province to cover that.

Blake Hunsley 7:08
Amazing for them.

Unknown Speaker 7:10
I have had some clients that have multiple clients that have gone back to school, either to get their GED or to, you know, go to NSCC in the hopes of then pursuing a career afterwards. We've had a lot of people who have gone from living in shelter to living in more permanent housing, whether that be through provincial housing or having their own leases. And then again, just the day-to-day impacts. The biggest thing I hear is that people really feel supported and heard by our team, and are more willing to access health care, and I think that that is honestly actually the biggest take-home, the biggest win that we have is that clients that might not feel that the current system of health services in the province works for them are now feeling like that they have a safe way for them to access the health care that they need, that's

Blake Hunsley 8:04
really interesting. Because often what we hear from a lot of people, perhaps in a more mainstream sort of setup in this province, is about how difficult it is to access health care. I think a lot of us don't, maybe stop and think. Many people have a lot of stigmas against the healthcare system, and the health care system may have against them as well, that may give them a legitimate fear about getting involved. That's a perspective we don't hear about that often.

Speaker 1 8:25
I mean, I have a family doctor myself, and I have some basic healthcare needs that most of us do have to manage, and I find it difficult to navigate as someone who does have those supports and who works in healthcare, who knows how to navigate the system, and so I often reflect, if I'm finding this difficult, what are other people going through who don't maybe have those resources, and how are they getting the access to the health care that they need?

Blake Hunsley 8:50
That is something I wanted to ask you about, too. Is what sort of barriers are there stopping people from accessing healthcare who may be street involved, or maybe in a situation where they're unhoused right now that is far and far and above beyond what your average person, who is housed or even works in the healthcare system, is still finding, as well.

Unknown Speaker 9:08
You know, difficulty getting to appointments, be it from a transportation perspective, you know, their day-to-day routines are a lot less scheduled, typically than ours, as well. So, even just maintaining appointments and remembering appointments can be difficult. There's a lot of case managers through our team at MOSH, and also through a lot of the partner organizations at the shelters that help support and kind of scheduling and maintaining those schedules with clients. You know, a lot of our clients have again substance use issues that can impact how they're physically feeling or cognitively feeling on any given day, but also are typically dealing with a variety of other health issues as well that can impact their actual health on any given day and their ability to make it to an appointment, and then, as you mentioned earlier, that the stigma and whether. A stigma that is put onto them by healthcare workers, and doesn't have to be every healthcare worker, right? If you experience it one time from someone in the system, you're going to more likely feel that that's going to come from the system overall. And so there's a lot of reticence from some of our clients to actually access the public health care system, because they've had a negative experience in the past, and so having, you know, healthcare team where they can be very forthcoming about daily activities that might include substance use, that might include sex work, or other kind of, as an OT term, like unauthorized occupation, so things that are maybe seen more negatively in public society, but do really impact their day-to-day life and their health, and that they know that they can be really honest and actually get the health care that they need, and not have that judgment put on them, or have that perception of being judged well in the healthcare system,

Shelley Alward-MacLeod 10:54
right. So, how do people that are unhoused or couch. I loved your couch surfing, because we never really think about that, like exactly. And I think that's happening a lot. You know, when you really stop to listen, people are saying, how do people in situations like that? How do they find out about mosh?

Speaker 1 11:20
We've been around for, gosh, I know we celebrated 15 years sometime in the time that I've been working there, so, like, let's estimate, like, 17. So, we've been around for a while and have a really good relationship with a lot of the partner organizations, and even just the community itself. So, I find a lot of times people are referred to us by word of mouth, but you know, even the hospitals and stuff, if someone gets discharged and that they know that they are unhoused or otherwise street involved, then they might refer them to us. Income Assistance is aware of us and refers clients to see us. I've had referrals from, like, Legal Aid, from adult protection from a variety of organizations who recognize that not only are we here to support those clients, but sometimes we're actually in the best position because we're able to actually go out in the community and find them and have just a more regular involvement with clients who are facing the same type of difficulties to have the more of the expertise in that area, so a lot of times, if people are, say, coming from another province where they aren't as familiar with Mosh, another organization that they might have involvement with, or other people on the street that they might have involvement with, would be able to direct them to us. Plus, again, we have our schedule of outreach, and we do ensure that we're hitting spots where these people who might need to access these services are more likely to be, so that's again shelters and encampments, but this is also things like public libraries outside of, like, the housing hub in the North End, so areas that might be kind of a first catch for some people who are in this situation as well.

Shelley Alward-MacLeod 12:58
Okay, great, I love that you talked about, like, partner organizations. We, we, we talk a lot on our podcasts. Well, the fact that we're having you in here, right, is all of us not-for-profits, right? Do are able to be successful because often we partner with other organizations because we can't be the be all to

Speaker 1 13:22
absolutely

Shelley Alward-MacLeod 13:23
end all, so many of your partner organizations are the same partner organizations we have for very different needs. So, when you're, when you're thinking from a, from your position as an occupational therapist, what are some of the biggest needs that your, your clients are. Yeah,

Speaker 1 13:46
I mean, obviously healthcare is the first and foremost that I am seeing, because that's what they're being brought to me for. But housing, and it's not just housing, but it's appropriate housing, so we might be able to get someone into a shelter or a supportive living site, but it might not be the best fit for what their needs are. There is differences between each site. Some might allow someone to show up under the influence of substances, typically not used on site, but under the influence if they were to go off site and use it, and some are you can't be under the influence at all, because they don't want other people to fall back in those patterns, who are trying to get out of it, and there's a need for these types of differences, right? Some are going to have a lot more hands-on supports and resources on site. There's some housing sites that we actually have a clinic set up in, and some are going to have less of those services. So, there's times that we can get someone a roof over their head, and that's good, but it's maybe not addressing what their actual needs are, and so finding, yeah, appropriate housing is definitely quite a difficulty, and then you know, if there are things that we don't have these relationships with other organizations that people are able to offer, that there becomes like a financial barrier for. It can be quite difficult as well, so there's a lot of work that we've done with other organizations to access things like physical activity and gym spaces, but a lot of times there still is a price tag that comes with that, and accessing that for people who are on income assistance and don't have a lot of extra money at the end of paying rent, because a lot of these supportive housing sites do still charge rent, it can be really difficult for them to justify putting that money towards like a gym pass for the month, and so yeah, funding can be quite difficult, and then kind of looping back to health care, you know, income assistance is is great, and we are able to put in special needs requests to get equipment for our clients for their medical needs. So, if I have a client who needs a walker, I would assess that and get that funded through income assistance quite frequently, but that only covers people up to the age of 65 and we know that at 65 you don't magically get healthier, typically

Blake Hunsley 16:03
expected to happen to people after 65 when their needs for these things. Well, it's a big thank you for

Shelley Alward-MacLeod 16:08
addressing that. Continue, because, as Blake will hear, like that's a big

Blake Hunsley 16:13
flabbergasted over here. So, I'm going to be quiet and let you explain, because good heavens,

Speaker 1 16:16
yeah. So, after 65 they typically would transition to something like CPP, which, from my understanding, is a higher monthly amount, but there isn't this ability to submit for additional funding to get this type of equipment. So, if it comes to things like wheelchairs, we have the seniors wheelchair program through continuing care that we can apply for. There's other great organizations like Easter Seals who do also have equipment that we're able to access if there's anything that's available, but a lot of times we keep a little storage at mosh of donated items, and we try to save those for people who wouldn't be able to get funding otherwise for equipment or looking at grants or whatnot, there's a lot more administrative work trying to even find if it's possible to support these clients who are, you know, again typically in this more chronic homelessness type situation, and also going through the natural aging process that typically leads to more illness and chronic illness, because that's how time works. Yes, so

Blake Hunsley 17:21
I wonder sometimes if policy makers have the same blinders that I have. We had Kendra Libous from the Atlantic Community Shelter Society, was on the episode that aired, whatever today's date is, when we're recording this, may 22 and she was talking about a resident who was in her 80s, and as somebody who works with marginalized groups all the time, this is what we do. It still really kind of floored me that somebody was living in a shelter in their mid 80s, and I don't know why that was a particular blinder that I had on, but when I hear things that things are cut off like that at 65 I wonder if people are just assuming, oh, if you're home, if you are in a homeless situation, or if you're street involved, you must be a young person, and I would like to shake some of these policy makers and remind them that's not the case.

Shelley Alward-MacLeod 18:03
Well, to your age,

Blake Hunsley 18:07
which you've been reminding me of a lot, the majority

Shelley Alward-MacLeod 18:09
of people who are policy writers and policy makers, right, are thinking about, like, even 5, 10, years out, right? Like, what? How will this policy affect people, right? So, even if you're 40, you're still thinking at 50, right? You're not thinking about like 65 and you know, we, you know, we talk about like people aging out of certain systems, and then there's this huge need.

Speaker 1 18:37
This is a thing, actually, to your earlier question about gaps, is is long-term care, you can't use substances, and so if we have a client who is dealing with something like dementia or cognitive impairment, or even just really any medical need that goes beyond what a shelter is able to support, but there is some level of substance use, and that is, you know, potentially like a lifelong or a very long time occupation of theirs, and we know that sometimes just stopping these substances can be like quite medically serious, so we can't also just say, well, just don't, we can't typically get them placed in long-term care, and so, where do they go, but the shelters, right? So, there are again some other organizations, and we can look at things, and you know, again, a lot of the people who are working for these organizations under these policies are are trying to find any way that they can to support these clients too, but it does make it quite difficult, and same with the age thing. I don't work as much with youth, but the transition around the age of 19 out of the youth system into the adult system, and people might actually lose some of the health services that they had as a. Is transitioning to adulthood.

Shelley Alward-MacLeod 20:02
Yes, that is true. I sit on the board for the Boys and Girls Club, so we have a lot of outreach programs, and then at a certain age they try, and that can be quite detrimental to their success, like their progress, and then trying to get them care,

Speaker 1 20:19
and the access is much more difficult in the adult world of healthcare than it is in the pediatrics. I don't think pediatrics at the age of 19, but still kind of in that youth system. So, a lot of times it's not that they're transitioning to another provider in the adult system, it's that they're transitioning to no supports in an area that they previously had supports, right?

Shelley Alward-MacLeod 20:36
So, talking a little bit about, you've talked about, like, some of the supports, getting meeting clients where they're at, and we're very familiar with that, because while we offer many different programs here for clients, we were just talking about that, like, we have to be able to meet them, because not everybody's coming in presenting with exactly the same issue, so when you, when you think about the clients that you're supporting, what are some things that you do to help build better routines,

Speaker 1 21:16
like day-to-day routines? Yeah, again, it's going to be so variable based on the client and where they're currently at and what their goals are even at, to be right. Some clients are wanting to get into employment and get independent housing, and some clients are at the point where they want to remember to get to the pharmacy every day to take their meds, and that's what their goal is. And neither of these are better or worse, they're just specific to the client, right, but routine building really is a key part of what we do as occupational therapists, because if we're looking at addressing health through daily activities, typically it is something that we're looking at doing in a repeated manner, so with any intervention I take a very relational approach to it, so typically I'm going in and just spending time talking to the client, getting them to know me, getting them to trust me. I always say that you don't have to tell me anything that you don't feel comfortable, but I can't work with information that I don't know and don't have, and so I want there to be that relationship first, that they can feel comfortable identifying what the barriers actually are to them engaging in these activities, because a lot of times there is certain things that they might feel vulnerable or sensitive about, be it because there is some sort of substance use around it, or I've had, you know, multiple clients this year that brushing their teeth was their goal occupation, and there's a lot of insecurity about acknowledging to someone that they're not really familiar with, that they're not really brushing their teeth, or they're not showering. So, I always start with, like, let's just get to know each other, let's just talk and have a conversation. The other thing is, occupational therapy is really focused on being client-centered, and so I can talk to them and give them ideas of some things that we can work on, and I can ask different questions about different areas that maybe they're not thinking about, that they're like, "Oh yeah, you actually do want to work on this, but I'm never going to dictate being like, "Well, it sounds like we should be doing this, it sounds like you need to be adding this to your day-to-day activities. I really want it to be something that they want to work towards and is something that is their goal, and so you know, having them be the one to work with you to identify that goal, as opposed to like prescribing it to them, is a huge part of actually getting them to engage in the activity to work towards building that habit. Otherwise, there really isn't that same motivation. I was gonna say your success rate must be much higher when they're not involved in the process. Yeah, I

Blake Hunsley 23:41
think you've answered my next question too. Because when we were doing a little research before this episode, one of the things I read about Mosh was that you work on what you call a relationship-based care model. I'm guessing that's exactly what you're kind of talking about right now, is building that sort of personal rapport and trust, and then letting them sort of lead the process as well.

Speaker 1 23:58
Absolutely, yeah, we are again trying to address the way that you know typical healthcare systems might not be the best to support our client base, and you know, same to the point that I made with the housing, it's not to say that one is better or worse, it's just that different systems aren't going to meet everyone's needs exactly the same, and so you know, very relational, everything kind of similar to this conversation is very conversational with people. It's the way that we meet them, and we're sitting in a van, or like I'm often sitting outside on a park bench with people, or going for walks, right? It's not the same kind of me behind a desk, the client on the other side having us go into their space, so there's a little bit more ownership of the space that we're in. It's not my office, it's their space. Even the way we dress, you know, we're not there in scrubs or in suits and ties, which is quite formal, but typically in just comfortable like jeans and a T-shirt type look, so it's not this type of othering. Look, that we have with them, and it's the same people that they're seeing day to day as well. So, typically we have a lot of the same people going to the same sites, because we recognize that, and when I take students, I say this: the most important intervention you can do is to build that relationship, that's 90% of the work right there, because to get the other 10% done. You need to rely on that relationship, that they're going to trust that they can tell you things that they're going to trust you to actually make an attempt for this intervention, because they think that you have their best interest. We do in mind when you are making those recommendations. I have one client that I've been working with for a few years now for hoarding, so I was brought in from an eviction prevention, and when I first met her, she was hesitant to even let me into her place again, that vulnerability of letting someone into your space, and then I would have a student with me, and you know, always get consent before bringing them in, and so she was hesitant about that, and had some kind of rules around that, and student came, and the student was great, and I've, you know, refer to go see other people at Mosh, has a tint about that, goes to see them again, the people at Mosh are wonderful and have the same type of approach, and so she has a positive experience, and over time, what's happened now is, if I say, hey, I think that this resource will be really good for your this community thing. There's a lot less of that reticence to actually engage in it, because she knows that if I make that recommendation, I've vetted it, and then I trust that the people are going to treat her with the same respect that I'm going to treat her with, right. And so there's a lot more of that buy-in into, yes, I think that they are actually here because they care about me, and not just because I'm another person on their checklist to answer you today.

Blake Hunsley 26:44
This is a very atypical model, from what I think of when I think of the traditional healthcare system. What would you, and I - this may be difficult to answer - where you do work in an atypical situation, what would you like to see on the more typical healthcare provider system change to be more like your model or change in a completely different way that you think would make a benefit, not just for your clients, but for every Nova Scotian, because as somebody who is not involved with motion, who is not currently street involved, a lot of this sounds like things that would solve a lot of my own fears and reticence about engaging with the healthcare system.

Speaker 1 27:15
Absolutely, I think some of it is the realities of some of the limitations around access to providers. Right now we have a very GP-centered model where access to referrals and other providers has to go through this GP, as well as back to the policy piece. There are so many forms that have to be signed by GPS that the GPs do not need to be the ones to sign, if I like, if it's about someone's functional status, and I'm the ones who, in their home, assessing their function, I still have to go get my doctor,

Blake Hunsley 27:51
ludicrous, sign off, right?

Speaker 1 27:52
So there is a huge demand on time, which really reduces their ability to spend the time with clients to build that relation with them, right. It's I got to go and get my prescriptions refilled. Yep, here you go. And they need to be that way, because there's so many clients that are still waiting to even see a doctor, right. So, some of it is, can we get more doctors, get more nurse practitioners, but also can we offload some of the work that really doesn't need to be going through them to other allied health, and this is me being a little bit biased as an occupational therapist, but I do really love that our primary healthcare team isn't just doctors, because you know the doctors might say we need this intervention, this medication, this xyz to support the client in their health. Back to your earlier question, that's great, but that's a behavior change, that's a routine to build, and they leave the doctor's office, and then there's no support between that and their next visit for them to actually introduce that into their daily life. Right, you bring in occupational therapy, and we can help support with that. They're dealing with a physical injury, and they're, you know, prescribed painkillers, and it's like, oh, you should go, you know, exercise a little bit more. Well, now we have a physiotherapist that can actually help them as well, right. And so there's a lot more of these supports that can help integrate what is being recommended by the prescriber, but they can actually reduce the need for the person to actually see the prescriber, because hopefully we're seeing some of those benefits sooner as well, so I'd love to see a little bit more of this kind of like wraparound care model, as opposed to solely just type a prescriber based model.

Blake Hunsley 29:31
Well, it kind of reflects on something else here that you said that is a word I never hear mentioned around healthcare at all. I heard the word prevention, and I kind of just took a bit of an excited moment. You were talking about eviction prevention in particular, but one of the complaints we hear a lot in this province, and just generally in this country, about our health care system is that it doesn't consider prevention, it's all about treating after the fact. Yeah, it sounds like Mosh has has a different approach, and you actually have some, some preventive measures in this. This is,

Unknown Speaker 29:57
yeah, I mean, generally speaking. Yeah, and I can't quote any research articles, because I don't have them at the top of my brain, but anyone who works in healthcare can tell you it is cheaper to prevent than it is to treat, right? And so, if we can find a way to shift resources more into this prevention-based model, it supports people of not having to go through these illnesses and saves more money that we can put towards those who still have these like non-preventable type conditions that we can treat, and that's not to say that, you know, you like strip funding from people who are going through these things, but just obviously shifting the mindset and shifting the model would be great. It's difficult, obviously, we're dealing with clients who are typically, you know, unhoused and using substances because of stuff that has happened to them in the past, and there's a lot that by the time that they're coming to our doorstep that has already happened, and we can't prevent, right, a lot of mental illness, a lot of trauma, and then you know having a history of homelessness, even things like aches and pains from having to sleep in cars and sleeps in tents, foot care is a huge issue that we can't be, you know, 100% preventative about, but this is where, you know, through our organization, as well as, again, some of the partner organizations like the Street Navigators and stuff, we always keep water and socks and food to help prevent things like dehydration and keep feet warm and dry, and to deal with any like food insecurity. And then, yeah, obviously our doctors and nurses are the ones dealing with the medication side of any type of preventative health piece, so I can't speak too, too much to that, not really part of my role, but as an occupational therapist, absolutely. If that is a client goal, then we can do things like prevention of eviction, which can prevent them from falling further into that, like insecurely housed or under housed into actual homelessness pipeline as well, so it might not be the same type of clear cut prevention that we think of with like advanced screening, but there is a lot of those preventions. Although saying that, I actually just remembered we do have an event that we do every year, ish, Papapalooza, which is this huge women's health event, including pap testing, and I know it's great. Oh, they go all out for this, the like, yeah, it is. It is fantastic to remove

Shelley Alward-MacLeod 32:30
the stigma, not just for the people that you know, like your current clients, but yeah, the general public. Oh, it is. It is out there. There is,

Speaker 1 32:39
there's like music, and like, it is like it looks like a fair, but it's, it's a women's health event, but it is a fair, because there's tons of other people there, and it's just a really good vibe, positive experience, and they do paps there, and I don't have the exact number, I should have done my research before I came here, but I forgot about this, but there was multiple clients that came to this event last time that had findings that are now accessing treatment because they came to this preventative case and were able to be addressed earlier, so again, a huge part of this is also

Blake Hunsley 33:12
And something that you've made fun and made healthcare

Speaker 1 33:14
relational,

Blake Hunsley 33:15
yeah, I love that, yeah,

Shelley Alward-MacLeod 33:17
and then they're likely going to tell other people,

Blake Hunsley 33:19
yes,

Shelley Alward-MacLeod 33:19
get,

Speaker 1 33:20
oh yeah, no, we like let all our partner organizations know in terms of like housing to like send clients there, but then there's also other organizations that come and set up booths to provide other health information that's related to that topic as

Blake Hunsley 33:31
well. I was gonna say, when this happens, please give us some posters to put out. I think they're planning

Speaker 1 33:36
the next one for like sometime this summer, so I will absolutely send you guys the posters.

Blake Hunsley 33:41
Fantastic. All right, I wanted to ask from kind of the other side, and less from people who are using MOSH as services, but if somebody is listening to this who's not in need of Mosh's services but really wants to support the work that you're doing, what's the best way that an individual or an organization can potentially get behind Mosh and really lend some tangible support?

Unknown Speaker 34:00
Yeah, we do have a website, so if they look up the North End Community Health Center, we are under the umbrella of that organization, so all of our information would be on there. In terms of the appropriate contact, I'm not sure our organization has grown so much, so, like, oh gosh, I don't know if that should be someone downstairs, but what I would recommend is that they reach out to the manager of Mosh, so they can email Mosh Lead, so M O S C, no, wow, moshlead@nechc.com and if that is not the right person, I know that they will get redirected to the right person, but that would be the management who would be able to provide a little bit more information as well on what different support models can look like.

Blake Hunsley 34:45
Okay, fantastic.

Shelley Alward-MacLeod 34:46
That's great. This has been very interesting, as have so many of the different sessions that we've had this year, telling us about all these great things in our listeners that are actually happening in our community. That we likely have no idea about.

Blake Hunsley 35:02
It's nice to hear, because I think a lot of us can get a bit cynical and a bit sad when we think about, right? You know, looking around since the pandemic, the number we talked again with someone from ACSS the other week, and we confirmed, yes, the numbers are not going down, not close to going down. It's still an exponentially growing issue here in our city, so to hear from two people in with one episode in between them of a lot of the good things that are actually being done on the ground to make a real difference is making me feel a little less pessimistic about the situations, and

Speaker 1 35:34
I interact so much with other organizations, I'm out around in the community more than I'm actually at the clinic, and so I see people like you guys. I work with ACSS all the time, and it's, you know, the same type of approach that I would want to give to my clients that I see being given to them here. You know, we're in contact because I've, for the last four years, had clients that I've referred to Reachability, and I know that you guys have my contact as well, so absolutely, Marcus has

Blake Hunsley 36:02
sent people your way. Yeah,

Speaker 1 36:04
and there's still, you know, things that are being done here that I'm not aware of, and so I really think it's great that there is this sharing, and you're right, it's really optimistic to see, because one organization can't do it all, but then you find out that this thing that you think we really helpful, there's these other groups that are doing it. Yeah,

Blake Hunsley 36:20
absolutely. One of the things we say around here is kind of a guiding mantra, too. Sounds like something that you probably do as well, whether it's the exact term or not. Is we talk about many services to the few, so if somebody's coming in, you know, specifically for an employment workshop here, okay? Sit with us first, we're gonna get to learn about you as an individual and where you're at, and it turns out you have 75 other needs that we can help you with at least a dozen of those, and then we can call lovely Rachel over at Mosh, and a few other people to help, and

Shelley Alward-MacLeod 36:46
maybe it's appropriate that you, in some cases, you need to start here before you can start. Well, this is the thing,

Speaker 1 36:52
this could be the issue we're looking at with employment, but the barriers might actually be needed to address by another organization first, right? Or I've worked with someone who has now gotten all these pieces together, now they want to do employment, and I can help, but I'm not the best suited to help. So, let's get them that next support. What I always say to either clients or case workers who might be referring clients to me, kind of back to the early question of what even is OT, is if you have a concern, bring it to me. If it's me, I'm happy to support, and if it's not me, I'm happy to direct you to someone who can.

Shelley Alward-MacLeod 37:26
Right, exactly. Perfect. Well, this has been very great. And thank you so much for coming in.

Blake Hunsley 37:36
I learned a lot. Exactly.

Shelley Alward-MacLeod 37:40
Perfect. Okay. Wonderful, so So, thanks. Thanks again, Rachel, for joining us today. Thanks also to listening to Within Our Reach. Season two of our podcast is made possible thanks to the support of the Province of Nova Scotia and the Support for Culture program. If you have any feedback on an episode, an idea for future episode topics, or if you're interested in appearing as a guest, please write to us at WithinOurreach@reachability.org Thanks again.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai