Timeless Generation Podcast Special: Interview with LOFT Community Services

By -


For our third issue of “The Timeless Generation’s” special podcast on Senior issues, Jenna and Jessica visited one of LOFT’s offices to meet with program director, William Shin, and have a conversation about the agency and the work that they do.

To listen to the interview, click here:
https://www.regentparkfocus.com/radio/media/timelessgen/more/LOFT_2019-04-15.mp3

If you do not have time to have a listen, but are still interested to hear more about LOFT please read the summary below:

What is LOFT all about?

Loft is a community based social service agency that provides services for youth, adults and seniors with a focus on mental health and addictions services. Geographically, LOFT generally covers the GTA and York Region, with most supports being housing based.

Aptly named, LOFT stands for “a leap of faith together” and thereby seeks to serve historically underserved populations that have been afflicted with mental health and addiction challenges.

LOFT’s mission in a nutshell is all about hope and recovery for people. The notion that together, we can all live successfully within the community, and that this definition of success has a different meaning for everyone.

What kind of programming does LOFT have for seniors

LOFT has plenty of housing related programming for seniors, from short term respite (for both seniors and caregivers) to transitional housing, to permanent housing, where the goal is always to have people live independently within the community.

LOFT also has behavioural support services which seek to address underlining unmet needs that might be contributing to behavioural challenges in seniors, as well as numerous drop in programs that are very low barrier and don’t require registration.

LOFT seeks to approach all of their programming with a holistic approach, one that aims to cover social determinants of health in addition to the medical side of things.

In addition to this holistic approach, and a desire to integrate seniors into the community, other issues LOFT focuses on include social isolation in seniors, reconnecting seniors with their families, countering stigma (particularly in the older generations where mental health challenges were previously seen as a moral failing), and using an integrated treatment approach, rather than focusing on challenges in an isolated manner.
  
Why everyone should care about these issues, regardless of age? 

Will succinctly sums this up with a famous quote: “the greatness of society is determined by how we treat our weakest members.” Mental health touches all of us, and therefore, as compassionate, empathetic human begins (who all inevitably age), we should care.

Can a person become involved with LOFT?

In order to become involved with LOFT either as a service user or as a volunteer, the best way to go is to call the main line (listed below) where one will be connected to the proper channels.

--

To listen to the entire podcast, please visit: https://www.regentparkfocus.com/radio/media/timelessgen/more/LOFT_2019-04-15.mp3

For more information on LOFT, please visit: https://www.loftcs.org/
Or call their hotline: 416-979-1994



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Camping with the Divas Girls Group

By -
Image
This past week the girls group headed to Guelph for a three day retreat to celebrate the end of this year’s program. It rained almost the entire time, but we still managed to have a great time! For many of the girls it was the first time they had been out of the city. They were excited to go canoeing, take part in a scavenger hunt and spend time in the conservation area exploring and drawing in their sketch books. Because of the rain we also came up with lots of creative ways to have fun inside. We painted tote bags, learned to cook lots of delicious food, and put on a “Kids Canadian Idol” show. The girls all said they wished the trip could have been longer and were already planning next year’s trip on the way home.
Read more

Catch da Flava - Discussing Mental Helath and Peacebuilders

By -
Image
On today's Catch da Flava radio show for Tuesday, January 14, 2020, we focused on two separate but intertwined issues. They were youth mental health and the youth justice system. Our hosts were Shajuanah and Jamelia with co-hosts Kaila, Thalia, and Fazra. Our guests for the mental health segment was Michelle Cauch, a Student Success Advisor at Centennial College and Michelle Galeotalanza, a mental health professional and professor at Centennial College. They discussed what is mental health, why is youth mental health important, why is youth mental health different from the other age groups, what are the major youth mental health issues, where should the youth get help, how can they seek trusting professionals to speak to on issues of mental health? These were just a few of the many interesting topics and questions we discussed. Our guest for the next segment was Rachelle Bloomfield, a staff, leader, and counselor at Peacebuilders. Peacebuilders is a nonprofit organization
Read more

Catch da Flava - Pro-Life and Pro-Choice

By -
Catch da Flava’s topic for our third week was abortion, from how to get an abortion in Canada, the Unplanned pro-life film, and people’s personal opinions about pro-life and pro-choice. The hosting was done by André and Iman since I lost my voice, but I was still there listening to the conversation. Our 11 am to 12 pm timeslot was slightly hijacked in the beginning by our guest Minerva Navasca, who wished a very happy 19th birthday to our other guest Lorena Florea. Happy birthday Lorena, you’re finally 19! After we got the show back on track Minerva and Lorena gave their opinions about being pro-choice, and how the pro-life side is adapting to the times. We also discussed the Unplanned movie, an adaptation about Abby Johnson’s switch from pro-choice to pro-life. After Lorena and Minerva, we had Carolyn Egan from Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada to answer some questions about the current abortion system in Canada and what their organization is doing to help women. Carolyn also
Read more