Patient care at the heart of CUPS’ interior layout changes
Seeking help has never, and will never, be easy. When people experiencing homelessness, poverty and trauma arrive at CUPS, it can be that first step to the better health outcomes they want for themselves. CUPS is a safe haven to build a trusting relationship, Carlene Donnelly, our executive director, said.
Thus, a new warm and welcoming access point for services is just one part of our Expanding Impact capital project that will streamline CUPS interior layout with further capacity to serve integrated care.
Fourteen thousand square feet, undeveloped due to the 2012 economic slowdown, will be built out, providing a new waiting area, welcome desk and connections to external partners on site.
“Having somewhere that they can come in and someone is greeting them, immediately this is a pleasant exchange,” Donnelly said. “It settles people and reduces their stress.”
How CUPS services are accessed will also change to best reflect trauma informed care. People currently enter our building from street level into a stairwell and make their way to the top floor. Yet, there can be inherent anxiety in receiving help and, historically, some people have not known where to go, she said. This new plan puts the central service desk on the main floor, providing more efficient access to the CUPS team.
“The more you can start that first, initial meeting off on the right foot, honestly, that does make people more open to disclose what’s going on, and more committed to working with us on solutions,” she said.
With the new reception area, more people can wait inside, especially during winter. Care coordination at the welcome desk will assist current CUPS clients with programs and services, use the Integrated Care Assessment Tool (ICAT) for new people or connect them to a community provider.
By fully developing our 52,000 square feet, CUPS will expand upon existing partnerships with service providers, and offer them space on site for up to five days a week. These ‘pods’ are the next step in thoroughly providing support and helping people address their immediate needs and what other concerns might act as a barricade to improved health outcomes. When we refer a person to an external service provider for an appointment, follow through has been hard to track even though CUPS teams are trained to ensure both parties connect.
“Unless somebody gets in touch, you never really know,” Donnelly said. “It’s always this big unknown.”
A move to have partners at CUPS aligns with brain science. Research shows the damage from a traumatic upbringing can negatively affect the development of executive functioning (ie. following through on actions and plans). We anticipate that if clients can meet with providers on site, it will improve how often appointments are adhered to, support information sharing and assist with people meeting their self-identified goals.
“The more answers we have on what actually happened to them within other partnerships, certainly helps us do a better job of trying to continuously move people forward,” she said.
CUPS will also benefit from these changes by having more resources at our fingertips. We’ll be even better equipped to provide the integrated, trauma-informed care that is proven to increase wellness. Donnelly said CUPS is working to reduce the stress levels of team members who find solutions for clients and patients with complex needs, and often have the “weight of the world on their shoulders.”
“For the client, it will be faster and more efficient to get their own needs met,” Donnelly said.
By combining the Family Development Centre (FDC) and the Child Development Centre into its new space on the main floor, mental health, as well as the health clinic will expand onto the second floor. This move essentially doubles the available space for mental health programming at CUPS.
“How things are laid out physically changes how people see programs and services,” she said.
Elaine Wilson, senior director of operations at CUPS, said the new development will solve current space issues for the health clinic, in that additional rooms will be provided for service delivery. By expanding that space for CUPS health teams, Wilson said there will be opportunities to seek out program funding.
Always looking toward the future, Donnelly said CUPS is constantly evolving and refreshing itself. She said CUPS teams will never get comfortable in believing they always know what the clients need.
“We will always keep going, learning and developing through the environmental needs, what our clients and patients tell us and what our teams know to be true, working directly on the front line,” she said.