I think there are times in all of our lives when we can feel disconnected from one another & it’s easy to overlook the power & positivity of community.
Sore Spots is a community-minded clinic in that we are members of the community & we also are care providers for our community. Dealing with patients on an individual, in-depth level everyday gives us a unique bird’s eye view of the world & keeps us mindful of the social & economic elements at play when it comes to the collective health of our society.
As many of you know, our clinic is next door to what was previously the DoubleTree Dartmouth Hotel which had been acting as a shelter since early 2020 for overflow from various shelter supports across HRM. Now this facility has been officially transitioned to ‘The Bridge’ ~ a shelter facility with wraparound medical supports. While a large shelter of 200 hotel rooms is not an ideal model to address the unhoused population in our community, it is a short term measure currently used to help fill the homeless & emergency medical gap by the province. This facility aside, the lack of supports for houseless people has presented challenges for our business & neighbourhood as well as the surrounding neighbourhoods. We are asking our community of clients to stay supportive of our clinic & engaged with your downtown districts.
The growing unhoused population in Nova Scotia is an issue that is intricately woven into the fabric of our society. This is an expanding issue that hits very close to home. These are our neighbours, our family members and our friends. For this reason I feel it is important to speak up, as there is power in the collective voice. It is our hope that in spreading awareness, we can spread compassion.
In 2019, Halifax started to see a large upward trend in the number of individuals experiencing homelessness and home insecurity. As reported in April of 2019, 106 individuals were reported as being unhoused. This number has since increased to 930 individuals as most recently recorded on June 27th, 2023 (AHANS, 2023). That's an increase of 777% in 4 years.
Home insecurity is not going anywhere. As a community we need to keep this issue cradled carefully at the forefront of our minds & heart. We know it can be so easy to walk past someone blindly or ignore a friendly hello while walking down the street or passing by to enter our clinic. We want to challenge you to walk in warmth & whenever you may pass by someone affected to use these silent street exchanges as an opportunity for quiet reflection on the humanity of homelessness.
Perhaps there’s an element of this "that makes me uncomfortable". At this time, imagine yourself in outside shoes. For many, being homeless was or is a slippery slope & closer than we think. Showing up to really ‘see’ this issue may be uncomfortable, but being uncomfortable is part of how we grow. To see a change, we must be the change. We encourage you to spread awareness in your close circles of families, friends, and colleagues & maintain compassionate conversations. Read more and educate yourself on the topics that so closely impact our communities.
NDP Leader & MLA for Dartmouth South, Claudia Chender, speaks out about the changes in this newsletter and shares her concerns in another blog post blog post that you may find informative for continued reading. From our perspective, to work towards healthier homing for all humans, there needs to be dimensional supports that go beyond blanket, short term measures. 36% of individuals across Canada have personally experienced homelessness or know someone personally who has. This issue is not something to glance past, but rather something to stay curiously informed about, seek opportunity to expand your viewpoint & support those with ideas that align with the health of the whole community.
Written by Jamie Lynn Chediac, RMT/Owner of Sore Spots Massage Therapy with contributions by Courtney Olmstead, RMT & Erica Cherry, AT.
Special thanks to Sue Siri for use of her photos in association with Shelter NS.