During last year’s road trip I was honored to be introduced to two great men, Robert Egger of DC Central Kitchen and James S. Withers, M.D. of Operation Safety Net. Both men quickly became my heroes and friends. You can watch the original interview here .

I was also honored to spend a little time with Doctor Jim a few months back when the producers of @home gathered leaders in homeless services in New York City to help develop an outreach campaign and action items for the film. Both times I told Doctor Jim I was gonna someday visit Pittsburgh to help him tell his story. Well, I was finally able to make that happen.

There are no words to describe how much respect I have for this man. For more than twenty years he continues to go out into the streets providing healthcare to our homeless friends and neighbors. He may even be one of the most humble men I have ever met. Although he is brilliant, Doctor Jim’s heart of compassion makes him truly remarkable in the world of medicine.

Please watch these important interviews, and watch the trailer to “One Bridge to the Next”. Then, if you know someone in the medical field, or someone going to medical school, please forward this post to them. We need more people like Doctor Jim in this world.

The above video was recorded before we went out into the streets of Pittsburgh. We were having such a wonderful time with our new friends I asked them to join us in a retake. I know which one I like better, which one do you like best?

For more information visit please visit StreetMedicine.org

Because Foundation’s film on Doctor Jim’s work “One Bridge to the Next”

Dr. Jim Withers is founder and medical director of Operation Safety Net, part of the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System and Catholic Health East, sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy. To learn more or to make a donation in support the excellent work of Dr. Withers and his team at Operation Safety Net in Pittsburgh, visit www.pmhs.org.

By no means am I an expert, but I do believe aboriginal homelessness is what makes Canadian homelessness different than other countries. And I believe it is a serious social crisis that needs to be addressed as a priority when looking at solutions for Canada.  We started the conversation with Adrian Wolfleg back in Calgary. Many of you may remember Adrian performed a naming ceremony over me giving me an aboriginal name. Truly one of the greatest honors of my life.

I am not aboriginal, and I will never fool myself or others to believe I understand their gorgeous culture and struggles to survive.  That said, I felt the best way to share the aboriginal story of homelessness in Canada was to simply empower my new aboriginal friends to tell their own story. We met JR in Kelowna – a wonderful man who now survives by picking “empties”.  In Yellowknife we met Cassien, Gina and Clayton – each with a powerful story that not only shares the problems of aboriginal homelessness but the solutions. In Saskatoon we met Patrina and her daughter – their family separated because there is no support for family homelessness. In Winnipeg we met Alma - a courageous grandmother who came from the reserves to go to school and get her granddaughter back. You’ll be meeting more people on Invisiblepeople.tv soon.

Honestly, I was a little nervous in telling the aboriginal story. I wanted to help more than anything, and I wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing for everyone. As I traveled aboriginal leaders and people that I met thanked me for sharing their story. I am genuinely grateful and greatly honored to be given such a huge responsibility. But we have only just started. There is decades of destruction that needs healing and that’s not going to happen overnight.

The following interview is with Dave Ward, director of  aboriginal relations at Homeward Trust Edmonton. This is an important conversation. David talks about aboriginal culture and solutions to ending homelessness. Too me, I think the biggest is listening. We need to listen to their culture and include aboriginal people in the process of finding and implementing solutions.  Please watch and share this important video.

I have to start this post by first asking you all to keep an open mind. I understand often the harm reduction model is not easy to accept. I, myself, do not believe I would have found sobriety in such a program, but I was lucky. By the time I hit the streets I had gone through a detox. Some people are not so lucky and drugs and alcohol have complete control over them.

Trying to help a homeless friend in Los Angeles is what changed my mind, and why I requested to visit such a facility.  My friend has been homeless since his mother died.  After years of trying to drinking his pain away there is not much of my friend left.  Alcohol has completely taken over his life. His liver is damaged so much there are sores on his leg. The sores are so bad he cannot wear pants. He ties bandannas around his leg so the sores are not visible. Any normal person would have stopped drinking. But my homeless friend cannot stop on his own. He will die homeless because Los Angeles has yet to adopt the harm reduction model. Any absence based program WILL NOT WORK for my friend. It breaks my heart!

This week I visited an a managed alcohol program in Ottawa, Canada. The Oaks Residence is a unique partnership between the Shepherds of Good Hope, Inner City Health and Canadian Mental Health Association. Residents are given an hourly “dose” of alcohol in a clean and safe supervised environment. At first I was a little shocked walking in. All the residents were carrying cups, which I knew were filled with booze. But as I started to watch them I saw something gorgeous. The people who use and need this type program are the worst of the worst, like my friend in Los Angeles. They would be outside drinking anyway, and drinking Listerine and hand sanitizer. They would be DYING on the streets. Here, everyone was clean, and healthy, and safe. They were inside and not a burden to public safety issues. I was very impressed with the community there. What impressed me the most is I saw lives being saved (and money too).

This interview is with Joe, and manager at Shepherds of Good Hope. What follows is a story one of the clients wrote, and Billy ‘insisted’ I read it. Please watch this video with an open mind then read Billy’s story. Supporting managed alcohol treatment is a very good thing and we need more programs like this!

Hi, My name is Bill. I’ve come from the States to Canada. I’ve lived a rough life by my own choice. I’m nearly 39 years old. After all the street lives I’ve lived, I ended up finally, at The Oaks which has changed my mind about the government. I can’t believe they allow a piece of heaven for the lost. I’m an alcoholic in serious proportions and I need help physically and mentally. The Oaks and MAP and the WET program have provided the extreme positive and comfortable environment available to the public.

This program is based from the downtown core. -Not good-and moved to the West end of Ottawa away from the mess. By mess I mean alcohol, beer, drugs, crime, prostitution, anger, frustration, dependency, hunger, violence, police brutality and bothersomeness. Mainly I mean for everyone, basically stress.

At the Oaks I am a man who can think, concentrate, focus, make plans for the future, reflect on the past and myself. One day I may write a book reflecting on the things I’ve done and seen and probably sell it to High Schools to scare them straight. But for now, I’ll try to be a man trying to figure out a plan for my life. The World must thank the Inner City Staff for their dedication and care for all the ailments that alcoholics and addicts suffer from.

Bill T.

I have to admit that after the first national road trip I never thought a farmer donating land to feed people could be topped.  Then last year YouTube invited me to curate their homepage for a day, and I didn’t think anything bigger than that could possibly happen.  Well, what I am about to share with you may top both.

During my Winnipeg visit, CDI College of Business, Technology and Healthcare announced the creation of a “We Are Visible” scholarship, an award which will be presented at CDI College’s Winnipeg and Calgary City Centre campuses. The new scholarship covers full tuition (including textbooks and materials) at CDI College for those who might not otherwise be able to pursue post-secondary education due to financial hardship.

Honestly, I never thought I would influence anyone to do anything but lock their doors when I walk by. Now, because I started to help hurting people using social media, technology and storytelling,  people who may never have had the opportunity to get a college degree will get a full-ride  scholarship.  I am so honored, and actually blown away that this is even happening.  Also cool is that to qualify for the scholarship a person has to be low or no income and be using social media to help others!  Pinch me I must be dreaming.

I recorded the following interview with Tahl East, campus director of CDI College in Winnipeg, and Alma, a homeless student currently enrolled. It was an emotional night for me. After speaking, homeless student after homeless student came up to encourage me to keep giving homeless people a voice. And right before we started to record, I witnessed Tahl and Alma working with a young man to make sure he had other options than sleeping on the streets.

Put in simple terms harm reduction is meeting people where they are at.  In the homeless service’s space harm reduction also means being sober is not a requirement for services such as housing. My recent visit with Donny in Calgary is a near text book example. Donny was drinking and using on the streets for over 20 years, but when he got into housing and was given some dignity Donny got sober all on his own.

But Donny was also lucky. He never really got into very hard drugs, so it was easier for him to get sober. Often this is challenging for ‘normal’ people to understand: there is a point where drugs take over a persons life. They lose all reason and self-worth. Their whole existence revolves around getting another fix.  Often this path takes a person down an unthinkable path of self-destruction.  People end up doing things to survive that are horrible. HIV , Hepatitis C, and drug related deaths become a very serious public safety issue for all of us. One story I heard from a few different people is addicts using puddles of urine to “fix” their heroin. The thought makes me cringe, but I know what drugs did to me when I was heavily addicted. I needed drugs more than I needed air and I would do anything to get them.

My second city in Canada was Vancouver and I spent a day in Vancouver’s Downtown East side. I have always wanted to visit a “wet shelter” (a shelter that provides alcohol) to see for myself.  I call myself a ‘liberal redneck’ so I do lean towards a harm reduction model. Mostly because I work with homeless people that are so addicted they will never find help in an abstinence based program (shelters that you have to be sober to get in to) so they are literally dying on the streets. But still I wanted to see these models myself. I wanted to talk to staff and interview people being helped. Well, I never planned on this, but on that first day in Vancouver I found myself standing in the middle of Insite, a  supervised injection site. I’ll be candid, even as an ex-drug addict it freaked me out. Not so much because of watching people “shoot up”, but mostly because I didn’t expect it. I didn’t even know such places exist. I am actually glad it happened that way so I didn’t have any preconceived notions, which is actually why there is controversy around it.

The people who have problems with the harm reduction model just have never seen Hell like I have. It’s easy to judge from a distance, but once you’re on the streets of a ‘skid row’ type area watching addicts do unimaginable things to survive,  your eyes open up and perceptions change.  Please note I do understand why people have issues with harm reduction. And it’s not that people are bad or uneducated. They just have not had a personal connection to this issue like watching an addict shoot up in his neck. Meera Bai, a Christian nurse and harm reduction advocate said something really interesting to me. She said “we all practice harm reduction when we brush our teeth or take vitamins”.

So I am in Calgary and I get this tweet from Meera Bai saying something like “I am a Christian outreach nurse and I support harm reduction”. Obviously, I had to meet this amazing woman and get her story. Meera wrote a post for Christian Week (the only Christian publication that would publish her story) titled: Why I help addicts shoot up. Please read that powerful post and watch this powerful interview.

I put the word “grace” in the last post because Meera believes, and so do I, that a supervised injection site is God’s grace. Meera went on to say Jesus does not look at our sins, and no matter how dirty, nasty and ugly we get, Jesus saves our lives. I know helping someone inject drugs goes against conventional Christian beliefs – but does it really? I am for anything and everything that will save lives. The harm reduction model in every community it’s used in has documented proof of saving both lives and money while improving public health. WWJD – What would Jesus do? I believe Jesus would and does support harm reduction. I will tell you this, I saw more unconditional love at Insite than I have at most of the churches I visit.

My first day in Vancouver was educational and literally changed me in many ways. I spent the day with Coco Culbertson from Portland Hotel Society and Bill Briscall from RainCity Housing. I was very impressed with both organizations and their creative solutions to fight poverty, homelessness and drug addictions.

You might ask why I put the word grace in the title. My next post will explain more.

I really don’t know how to start this post. I have been messed up since this conversation came up. Lydia Bardak may be the most courageous and most compassionate person I have ever met. From the moment we walked down the street on the “worst” block of the city I was impressed. Lydia knew everyone’s name and greeted them with dignity. She didn’t see the drugs and other madness. Lydia saw real people, and they in return greeted her with smiles. I was amazed how well Lydia was able to embrace the different cultures.

For the last few days, everywhere I look, I see the “walking wounded” of a gorgeous people. Right outside my window people are passed out on the sidewalk. It’s a scene you’d see in a big city, but does not seem to fit this little community of Yellowknife.

Lydia is the executive director of the John Howard Society of the Northwest Territories. She may be the most knowledgeable person I have met on how prisons, addictions, residential schools, child protective services, and homelessness all interrelate. Lydia believes, and so do I, that we can never give up on people. Her personal story, and courage to share it with us, is beyond imagination. I will tell you this, I have huge respect for Lydia, and her story will mess you up.

I am really glad Tim Richter asked me to stop in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. I spent the day touring facilities and meeting people (meet Amy and JR) and I was very impressed by the spirit of cooperation. Interesting that it was not always that way. After the economic crisis hit the area nonprofits, churches, business and the government realized the only way to fight homelessness and poverty was to work together.

This short interview is with Christine from Regional District, Veronica from Kelowna Gospel Mission, Lawrence from Metro Community Church. So much happened that day it is hard to put in a post, but a few things I must highlight that more communities need to adopt. It was gorgeous how each NPO and church communicated with each other to make sure services overlapped. And I LOVE how Metro Community is starting a co-op vehicle share for low and no income people, and their nutrition class teaches how to make $2 anf $4 meals.

If you’ve heard me speak then you’ve heard me say “as the economy gets worse we must get better”. I hope more communities will set aside differences and start working together to help fight homelessness and poverty.

As I enter week three of InvisiblePeople.tv’s Canadian Road Trip I am going to at least attempt to start sharing the story of aboriginal homelessness the best I can. Being candid, I still have so much to learn, and I may never be able to give it all the justice the aboriginal story deserves. Because of the long history and cultural differences, this will not be an easy story to tell. But it is a very important story that must be told.

I first met Adrian Wolfleg, Strategist for Aboriginal Initiatives with Calgary Homeless Foundation, last March when I was speaking in Calgary. Adrian preformed a naming ceremony giving me a Blackfoot name. My name is Be-You-Mahk-Ah, which means “travels far”. Being blessed with this name is one of the greatest honors of my life, but what really messed me up was when Adrian explained a little more about this name and it’s meaning in this interview.

The aboriginal population is disproportionate in homelessness around Canada. Although this conversation may bring up some history we don’t want to remember, residential schools for example, my hope and prayer is we can all continue the healing process looking forward to solutions.

As many of you know I love all cultures, yet it would be ignorant of me to say I completely understand something I am not. While telling this story there is something from my past I don’t share with many people that is bound to come out. As we travel together down this road of discovery and healing I ask everyone to keep an open mind, and to not point fingers of failures – but to focus on solutions. I am going to do the best I can to augment the aboriginal homeless stories on InvisiblePeople.tv with interviews from people like Adrian, so as to open a conversation of hope.