Outreach Street Workers: a little-known yet indispensable profession across the province
- Tania Charron
- Jul 21, 2024
- 1 min read
Updated: Aug 14
Media:
Le Journal de Montréal
Summary:
Athéna Quesnel-Revelakis, 24, has been a street worker in Pierrefonds-Roxboro for four years. Covering a 40 km territory, she supports a wide range of people: families without housing, youth who have experienced sexual assault, isolated individuals, and more. Always ready with her backpack stocked with essentials (naloxone, fentanyl test strips, first aid kits, food, bus tickets), she even uses playing cards to help break the ice.
Street work is built on creating trust and knowing the community, which allows workers to connect people with specialized services. In Montréal, about 50 street workers practice this profession, and around 400 across Québec. Each maintains nearly 600 contacts a year, helping to weave a real safety net for the community.
According to Audrey Sirois, Executive Director of ROCQTR, needs are so great that the number of street workers in each organization should at least be doubled. The profession, which has existed in Québec for 40 years, has been receiving funding from the Ministry of Public Security since January 2023 for 40 organizations, granted for three renewable years.
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