In celebration of the 12 Days of Casey House Christmas
1st day: One Inhalation SCS booth. Casey House was proud to open the first indoor supervised inhalation space for substance use in the province. Adding the option to smoke illicit drugs to our other supervised consumption services (SCS), allows people to use safely with privacy and dignity, and helps prevent overdose deaths. SCS is open to inpatient clients 24 hours a day, and from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on weekdays for outpatient clients.
2nd day: Two streams of service (inpatient/outpatient). Our hospital provides care to the community in two different ways. Our traditional 14 inpatient rooms are for those needing 24/7 nursing care and daily access to a physician. Outpatient clients can access the nursing clinic, supervised consumption services, individual appointments with a range of clinicians, and group programming.
3rd day: Three pressing issues for Toronto. Casey House is advocating for the City of Toronto to address three pressing issues that impact people in high need: deep poverty; toxic supply of unregulated drugs; and criminalization of drugs and the people who use them. Learn more about these issues and our recommendations here.
4th day: Four Intro to Harm Reduction Education videos. Our four-part Harm Reduction Capacity Building Training series helps health care and support service providers caring for people affected by HIV contextualize unique lived experiences. Originally created as an internal learning resource for staff , the limited series was repurposed to share our principles of trauma-informed care and harm reduction widely. The series features members of Casey House’s network of community organizations.
5th day: Five episodes of Positively Speaking. Our audio podcast Positively Speaking launched in 2020 and shares first-person accounts of life with HIV. Each episode discusses how living with HIV impacts other facets of one’s life, like relationships or mental health. We’re excited to announce that season 2 is set to release in early 2023, making now the perfect time to catch up and relisten to season 1. Positively Speaking is available wherever you listen to podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or on our website.
6th day: Six real stories of stigma. Alongside our release of Others, the dramatic short film, we created six short documentaries featuring real people recounting real stigma. Peter, Alphonso, Amutha, Ower, Brenden, and Alex shared their experiences in dealing with HIV stigma and overcoming it. Watch them all here at SmashStigma.ca
7th day: Seventh local hospital to receive a sacred Indigenous hand drum. In April, Casey House was grateful to receive a sacred drum for clients, staff, peers, volunteers and families to use for ceremonies and spiritual practices. The drum was gifted by The Toronto Central Regional Indigenous Cancer Program (TCR-ICP) in recognition of Casey House’s ongoing work and commitment to build relationships and improve the care and experience of Indigenous staff and community members.
8thday: Eight featured storytellers at Voices for World AIDS Day.On World AIDS Day, we were honoured to hear from eight incredible Black women who have made strides in the HIV sector. Artists, advocates, and community health leaders, we were moved by stories from d’bi.young anitafrika, Jully Black, Racquel Bremmer, Sane Dube, Muluba Habanyama, Molly Johnson, Marvelous Muchenje, and Lena Soje.
9th day: Nine new outpatient group offerings: Pantry builders, Housing Information, Navigating Grief, The Heart of Art, Winter Warm-up, Pet Therapy, Indigenous Cultural Fridays, Indigenous Grief and Healing, and Indigenous Drumming Circle are nine new programs being offered in our Winter season. We applaud the day health team for continually creating new and exciting programs for our clients.
10th day: Ten co-authors on the MRAT poster: This summer, the Casey House research team presented their Multipurpose Resilience Assessment Tool at the AIDS 2022 conference in Montreal. This integrated client engagement, assessment and follow-up tool that also generates holistic health data was designed by an interdisciplinary working group.
11th day: Eleven o’clock healing drum circle on Tuesdays: Each Tuesday afternoon from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. Rod Michano, Spiritual Advisor from PWA, hosts a circle for learning about Indigenous identity and to support our Indigenous clients’ health. Check out our Winter DHP schedule for more info!
12th day: Twelve o’clock lunch program: Every weekday at noon, staff and volunteers provide hundreds of hot meals for our client to provide nourishment and an opportunity for socialization. In the first six months of this fiscal year, we provided 7,911 lunches!
December 23, 2022
Casey House’s 12 Days of Christmas 2022
In celebration of the 12 Days of Casey House Christmas
1st day: One Inhalation SCS booth. Casey House was proud to open the first indoor supervised inhalation space for substance use in the province. Adding the option to smoke illicit drugs to our other supervised consumption services (SCS), allows people to use safely with privacy and dignity, and helps prevent overdose deaths. SCS is open to inpatient clients 24 hours a day, and from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on weekdays for outpatient clients.
2nd day: Two streams of service (inpatient/outpatient). Our hospital provides care to the community in two different ways. Our traditional 14 inpatient rooms are for those needing 24/7 nursing care and daily access to a physician. Outpatient clients can access the nursing clinic, supervised consumption services, individual appointments with a range of clinicians, and group programming.
3rd day: Three pressing issues for Toronto. Casey House is advocating for the City of Toronto to address three pressing issues that impact people in high need: deep poverty; toxic supply of unregulated drugs; and criminalization of drugs and the people who use them. Learn more about these issues and our recommendations here.
4th day: Four Intro to Harm Reduction Education videos. Our four-part Harm Reduction Capacity Building Training series helps health care and support service providers caring for people affected by HIV contextualize unique lived experiences. Originally created as an internal learning resource for staff , the limited series was repurposed to share our principles of trauma-informed care and harm reduction widely. The series features members of Casey House’s network of community organizations.
5th day: Five episodes of Positively Speaking. Our audio podcast Positively Speaking launched in 2020 and shares first-person accounts of life with HIV. Each episode discusses how living with HIV impacts other facets of one’s life, like relationships or mental health. We’re excited to announce that season 2 is set to release in early 2023, making now the perfect time to catch up and relisten to season 1. Positively Speaking is available wherever you listen to podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or on our website.
6th day: Six real stories of stigma. Alongside our release of Others, the dramatic short film, we created six short documentaries featuring real people recounting real stigma. Peter, Alphonso, Amutha, Ower, Brenden, and Alex shared their experiences in dealing with HIV stigma and overcoming it. Watch them all here at SmashStigma.ca
7th day: Seventh local hospital to receive a sacred Indigenous hand drum. In April, Casey House was grateful to receive a sacred drum for clients, staff, peers, volunteers and families to use for ceremonies and spiritual practices. The drum was gifted by The Toronto Central Regional Indigenous Cancer Program (TCR-ICP) in recognition of Casey House’s ongoing work and commitment to build relationships and improve the care and experience of Indigenous staff and community members.
8th day: Eight featured storytellers at Voices for World AIDS Day. On World AIDS Day, we were honoured to hear from eight incredible Black women who have made strides in the HIV sector. Artists, advocates, and community health leaders, we were moved by stories from d’bi.young anitafrika, Jully Black, Racquel Bremmer, Sane Dube, Muluba Habanyama, Molly Johnson, Marvelous Muchenje, and Lena Soje.
9th day: Nine new outpatient group offerings: Pantry builders, Housing Information, Navigating Grief, The Heart of Art, Winter Warm-up, Pet Therapy, Indigenous Cultural Fridays, Indigenous Grief and Healing, and Indigenous Drumming Circle are nine new programs being offered in our Winter season. We applaud the day health team for continually creating new and exciting programs for our clients.
10th day: Ten co-authors on the MRAT poster: This summer, the Casey House research team presented their Multipurpose Resilience Assessment Tool at the AIDS 2022 conference in Montreal. This integrated client engagement, assessment and follow-up tool that also generates holistic health data was designed by an interdisciplinary working group.
11th day: Eleven o’clock healing drum circle on Tuesdays: Each Tuesday afternoon from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. Rod Michano, Spiritual Advisor from PWA, hosts a circle for learning about Indigenous identity and to support our Indigenous clients’ health. Check out our Winter DHP schedule for more info!
12th day: Twelve o’clock lunch program: Every weekday at noon, staff and volunteers provide hundreds of hot meals for our client to provide nourishment and an opportunity for socialization. In the first six months of this fiscal year, we provided 7,911 lunches!
More