Outreach Street Work

Understanding Community Needs

Many young people and vulnerable individuals in the West Island require daily support for a wide range of reasons: homelessness, substance use, mental health challenges, social exclusion, violence, sexual health concerns. AJOI’s outreach street workers meet people directly in their living environments—parks, shopping malls, schools, community organizations or wherever they naturally gather—to offer a listening ear, a steady presence and meaningful support.

Outreach Street Work is the repetition of ordinary gestures that few people bother to do.

What Is Outreach Street Work?

Outreach street work is based on a go-to approach, designed to reach individuals who are struggling or disconnected from traditional social structures.

Outreach street workers are generalist intervention professionals who integrate themselves into the daily lives of people of all ages facing difficult or complex situations. Through consistent, compassionate presence, they build authentic relationships and create trust over time.

Despite the perception of affluence in the West Island, the reality is more nuanced: more than 17,000 individuals aged 0 to 34 live in areas experiencing social or material disadvantage. In this context, street work becomes an essential form of support within the community.

A Human and Consistent Presence

Outreach street work is made up of simple, human gestures that many people may overlook—being present, listening, accompanying, and supporting.

AJOI’s outreach workers travel through parks, malls, schools, community spaces and other meaningful locations to be exactly where needs naturally arise.

Rooted in compassion, availability, and respect for each person’s pace, outreach street work promotes autonomy, safety, and well-being. Through a flexible and adaptable approach, AJOI provides a full range of outreach services to youth and vulnerable individuals across the West Island.

Our Services

Accompaniment

Accompaniment consists of helping a person to resolve the difficulties they are facing by leading them to use their own resources, which are often simply unused or misused. Thus, the presence of an AJOI outreach street worker allows the person to carry out the procedures in their best interests, whether in the hospital, judicial, community or with government services. Through the support he receives, the user can gradually regain a significant place in their living environment, break the isolation and begin to develop their autonomy.

References

Another dimension of the assistance provided to people who visit the organization is the referral to professionals and/or services offered. The workers direct people at risk to the services they need: housing, detoxification, food bank, acquisition of a methadone maintenance program or others.

Emergency Services

AJOI workers have a street budget and a bank of references allowing them to offer emergency food services, as well as furniture and clothing repairs, in cases of emergency.

Mediation

If an individual, with whom we have a relationship of trust, requests impartial mediation that respects the confidentiality of the parties, we can offer this service to them in order to improve inter-family or other communications.

Help Finding Accommodation

Faced with growing demand, we offer, from time to time, a housing search assistance service. Depending on the case, this may involve support for visits to accommodation, consultation of advertisements, negotiations with landlords or even referrals to accommodation centres.

First Aid

Being in environments frequented by young people, we are faced with first responder situations. Thus, we are all trained and accredited as first aiders. We are equipped with a CPR mask and a first aid kit.

Distribution of Prevention Material

Each worker has in his possession among his work tools: a wealth of information related to sex education, condoms, clean syringes and clean crack pipes. In a harm reduction approach, we inform and educate young people about healthy sexual practices. We also educate drug users to do so in a safe and responsible manner.

Crisis Intervention

Circumstances where a person's life is deemed to be at risk are rare, but they are part of the reality. We are trained and able to deal with the grey areas of crisis intervention.