A local women's shelter is unveiling a new resource aimed at making the transition into a shelter less intimidating.
The Welcome Centre Shelter for Women and Families have unveiled the 'Buddy Book' - a designated guide that offers clear and practical information to help individuals or families feel more at ease as the enter the shelter.
For many, the decision to access a shelter comes with fear and uncertainty, as well as many unanswered questions.
The 'Buddy Book' was created to address these concerns by providing straightforward answers to everything from daily routines, meal times, available services, among more.
Lady Laforet, Executive Director of the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women and Families, says it can be a lot of information during intake.
"Everything from where the laundry is going to be, to what it means to be a lower-barrier shelter. So, we decided to put together a resource booklet with the staff and our peers who got feedback from our clients on what they would like to see in it. The covers touches on everything within shelter operations to ease some anxieties for people who are coming in."
She says the response has already been great.
"We are starting our first initial 50 copies of it to go out for all of our new intakes this week. And then we will start handing it out to current clients who are in just in case there's stuff in it that they still are just not entirely familiar with for their stay. So it's been going really, really great so far, we're hoping that it's something that we keep and live update as things change."
Laforet says this is also a great resource for the community.
"I know that there's still a lot of everything from myths to just general lack of knowledge about what it means to operate a shelter, and what daily shelter-life looks like. And so we wanted to give that resource to the community as well so that you might have it when you're either referring a family or friend, or if you're just interested in what the shelter system looks like."
The 'Buddy Book' will be provided to every new shelter guest and is also publicly available on the Centre's website.
The resource also features staff photos, QR codes linking to additional resources, and it can be translated into over 30 languages.