Despite the struggles and health risks, Horizons for Youth’s frontline workers have continued to do their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Without our workers, our shelter could not operate and at-risk youth would not have a safe place to call home.
Abdul Khan is one of our amazing frontline heroes. He is the Day Program Coordinator at Horizons for Youth and has worked at our agency since the beginning of 2020. Before the pandemic, Abdul organized and led daily life skills education programs for our residents. In addition to leading workshops at our facility, he regularly took the youth offsite to play basketball at the community centre or attend workshops at other social service agencies.
Now, he finds himself focused on caring for the new emotional and mental health needs of our residents and enforcing health and safety practices to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks.
We asked Abdul what the transition has been like, and the most significant challenges of working on the frontlines during the pandemic.
What are your biggest fears about working at Horizons for Youth during the COVID-19 pandemic?
My biggest fear is catching COVID-19 and getting my elderly parents, wife and baby sick. I love coming home to my baby every day, but it’s also very nerve-wracking. I don’t know what I could be taking home. I’m also worried about our residents. Some of them have underlying health issues and we do not know how sick they could become if they get COVID. It’s scary.
How has your role changed during the pandemic?
Before the pandemic, I was responsible for organizing the daily life skills programs at the shelter for up to 45 youth. I planned and led many programs, but I also worked with different community partners that offered valuable workshops and services. These programs helped youth develop the skills and connections they needed to be successful at Horizons and to prepare them for independent living.
The health and safety measures put in place during the pandemic have significantly changed daily programs. I can now only offer programs to three youth at a time. Even with only three youth in a room, they still have to maintain social distance and wear masks, so we’re limited in the activities we can do.
As much as I still try to teach important skills, the programs are really flexible to accommodate what the youth need each day. Sometimes we will do pre-employment training and practice writing resumes, or talk about different career paths. Other times, we’ll watch a movie or documentary together and afterwards, have a discussion where they can share their opinions and debate. I also organize times for them to paint, draw or do certain crafts. The youth also appreciate when we unpack the news together so they can learn more about current events.
Although we’re limited, these programs are important to the youth during lockdown. These programs offer a space for residents to safely interact with one another and reduce social isolation. Many of the youth who live with us do not have a social life outside the shelter. There is a stigma associated with being homeless, so many of them struggle to develop friendships or romantic relationships because they do not want anyone to know that they live in a shelter. These programs assist them with building social skills.
Right now, we are having our first COVID-19 outbreak, so we have not been able to do any small-group programs for a few weeks. The residents have told me that they miss programs, so I’m looking forward to starting them again soon once it’s safe.
What are some of the challenges you have faced working at a shelter over the past year?
Aside from trying to keep my family and myself safe, the biggest challenge is seeing everything the youth are going through during the pandemic. Even before COVID, they were already struggling and the pandemic has put them in a worse spot.
Every time there is a lockdown, many of them lose their jobs. Because of this, they can’t save money and they have no idea when they will be able to move out of the shelter. One of our residents, for example, finally got a job after many months of looking and he was so excited. I helped him create a savings plan and he was really optimistic about the future. Then, there was a COVID-19 outbreak at Horizons. He told his employer that he could not go to work for a few weeks because he was exposed to the virus, but his employer let him go because he asked for too much time off. This was a huge setback and the youth lost a lot of confidence.
Our residents are not in careers where they can work from home. They work in the service industry, at factories or construction sites. When factories shut down or construction sites scale back, these people are the first ones out of a job. It’s really stressful for them.
Even though the pandemic is also stressful for our staff, at 4pm every day, I get to go home to a comfortable and safe house. The youth are still here. They are in a facility where the next person that walks in the door could bring COVID. As a staff member, it’s really hard to watch the youth go through this.
What actions has Horizons for Youth taken to make you feel safe?
I would never come to work if I felt like I was posing a significant risk to my family or myself. I’ve felt very safe working here, all things considered. I have friends that work at other shelters or social service agencies, and Horizons for Youth’s measures are so much stricter than other agencies. The management team has really done everything they could to make the workers and residents feel safe. For example, every new resident has to quarantine. This isolation period is important because we do not know if the new residents have been exposed to COVID before coming to HFY. Also, Horizons hired a service to disinfect the shelter every week. This service is really expensive, but it has been effective in preventing outbreaks.
There has not been a day at Horizons since the pandemic started where I felt like the management team missed certain steps or failed to institute certain safety protocols. I can’t think of anything else that they could do to make it a safer environment.
How have the needs of Horizons for Youth’s residents changed during the pandemic? How have you learned to better respond to their needs?
I’ve noticed that the residents’ mental health needs have increased because of the lockdowns in Toronto and not being able to find jobs. We have no idea when this pandemic is going to end. A lot of them have started to think that their life is always going to be like this – they are feeling more hopeless and less optimistic about the future. The worst part is that it is going to take them longer than the general public to get back on their feet after the pandemic. Our youth deserve everything they want, so it is hard knowing that things will continue to be difficult for them for a while.
Since we have fewer youth in the building due to COVID, I have had the chance over the past year to zero in on each youth and do more one-on-one work with them. The youth have responded well to more individual support and it has helped them keep motivated in pursuing their goals. With one resident, for instance, he really wanted to find work. But, he had no identification, no immigration paperwork, no resume and no experience doing interviews. Our team members worked with him one-on-one to help him access identification, fill out the necessary immigration documentation and prepare to look for jobs. He got a job after a few months. He then saved enough money to move out earlier this year.
In your role as Day Program Coordinator, what are you looking forward to most when the pandemic ends?
I’m looking forward to the shelter being full. Since all shelters have reduced capacity during the pandemic, there are so many youth without somewhere to stay. I will be happy when more youth have access to our shelter and programs. I’m also excited to see the shelter more lively. I want to see kids hanging out in the backyard together and playing music. I’m also looking forward to planning bigger workshops with the youth when it’s safe.
What is inspiring you and giving you hope these days?
I am inspired to keep going when the youth have days when they’re happy. The things that make them happy are pretty small, like when they have opportunities to safely hang out with each other for a while, when a staff member makes them a special grilled cheese just for them, or when Horizons receives a really good meal donation from a restaurant. These small gestures make a difference. So, seeing or doing these things keeps me going.
What do you wish people knew about the youth homelessness crisis during the pandemic?
It’s hard for people outside the shelter to understand what the youth go through every day. Even as a staff member, there is only so much I can relate to in the youths’ lives. I want people in the community to take time out of their day and think about what it would be like to be a teenager living in a shelter during a pandemic. Most of these kids are really isolated. Many do not have family support. The only people rooting for them every day are Horizons for Youth’s staff members. Imagine what that would feel like.
I think taking time to reflect on this is really important and will inspire people to support our residents.
Written by Stacey Murie
Questions about this article? Comment below.