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What is The Social Planning Council?

Activities:

o Monthly Meetings: Attend meetings with guest speakers from within the community &/or presentations at each meeting. We currently meet the fourth Monday of every month (excluding summer) at City Hall with light lunch by donation.

o Facebook & Email Group: Utilize the network on Facebook. Start discussions, learn about & share upcoming community events, projects and meetings. If you don’t use Facebook, then join the email network instead.

o Inform City Council: The SPC provides reports to City Council regularly and the City keeps the SPC informed. Use the network and have your voices heard.



Strategic Direction of the Social Planning Council of Williams Lake & Area:

o Poverty Reduction and the local Living Wage Campaign.

o Community Collaboration and Networking.

o Retention and Succession of residents within the Area.



Community Social Planning:

o Supports communities in building an integrated approach to complex problems that take into account social, economic, and environmental concerns.

o Maximizes the effectiveness of often scarce resources by working to reduce duplication, overlap and competition.

o Provides an ongoing forum for communication, coordination and conflict resolution.



Thursday, April 23, 2015

Mar 23, 2015 - SPC Meeting Mins (draft)



SPC Monthly Meeting Minutes draft - Mar 23, 2015
Location: City of Williams Lake, 11:30 - 1:00 pm
In attendance (from sign-in sheet): Margo Wagner, Susan Erlandsov, Melissa Newberry, Monica Johnson, Shannon Thom, Kourtney Cook, Diana French, Diane Wright, Carla Bullinger and Jessica Knodel

Accept Mins & Agenda
Review & accept meeting minutes from Feb 23, 2015 - Motion FSC
Review & accept meeting agenda for Mar 23, 2015  - Motion FSC
Revisit action items from last meeting - all actions completed

Presentation by Margo Wagner, Cariboo Regional District Director (Electoral Area H)
Margo Wagner presents the survey results from the "Central and South Cariboo Mental Health Services Gaps Analysis - Final Report"

Background: "BC Healthy Communities" have grants for local government  so Director Sorely began inviting as many people together (mental health stakeholder groups together). The momentum was shared and group got bigger. Over 17 metal health stakeholders came to a meeting - from Superintendent of SD, Interior health, Mayor from 100 Mile, CMHA and within 5 minutes it was noticed that most people had never met face to face  although 100 Mile & Williams Lake are only 50 mins away from each other!).

Two stage grant process:

Stage 1 for 5K (it was a challenge because mental health is so linked to physical health - big chain effect). Letters of support came in and they got the grant. They spent money doing this gap analysis. It was at the semi Annual Regional Hospital district meeting where Margot's interest in this began. Joan had a personal reason to begin this initiative (lost someone to suicide).

At this semi Annual meeting, where Margot was... there was no initiatives for the North West because no one really knew what was going on so could not speak to it. This bothered Margot, and the other stakeholders who knew there were gaps, therefore Kimberly Vance-Lundsbye was hired as researcher for a gap analysis survey, which the results of are being presented today.

Survey Questions included: What services are available? How are they intended to work? Do they actually work? What are some road blocks to accessing services? How can we work collaboratively together?

Respondents included: 52 respondents from organizations, 33 people who have used services.

Some Statistics include:
·         46% of total respondents worked in direct client contact
·         37% in 100 Mile
·         52% in WL
·         12% other or both
·         Referrals to other agencies - highest
·         Immigration support - lowest
·         Women geared organizations almost double those for  men.
·         Residents/clients who responded:
·         39% of participants were from 100 Mile Area & 61% from WL area
·         30-39 age group largest, 50-59 is second highest age group, 40-49 in between
·         18-20 & 17 or younger was the lowest user group who accessed services
·         Of the Service providers:  63% felt their services were working (program design and delivery and inter agency collaboration), 37% named geographical constraints, and a lack of specialized care providers as barriers to meeting client needs.
·         Inter agency collaboration - 56% felt knowledgeable about other agencies services., 96% reported they had an established practice f referring clients to other agencies.
·         Major themes emerged as main barriers: Waiting lists! Geographical constraints (isolated) or costs to travel and take time off work etc., "navigating the system", and cultural competency (third huge issue).

The full report is available on the CRD's website at: www.cariboord.ca/uploads/1412/South_and_Central_Mental_Health_Gaps_Final_Report-pdf (or search Gap Analysis in the top right search)

Discussions which followed:
Monica - this particular survey is more of a regional summary, not a gap analysis per se. Is there more info? Margot - it is more an overview of the whole program.

Some changes that have happened since: Interior Health (while in Whistler) mentioned they came to the first presentation... so this has made a difference in getting funding and bringing awareness to our area.

Capital projects were since approved to accommodate mental health clients - e.g. If there is no room for people, they can be safely housed temporarily while crisis nurses on site. For all ages. (Observation unit/room expanded at the Hospital).

Next steps: apply again for BELL grant to reduce the stigma associated with metal health. With the 50K application- getting some mental health facilitator workers trained to go out into the community (to the industries mills and mines and SD). Because they are supposed to give this info to their employees but don't. Also to remote rural communities - focus on well-being, info and sessions.

Also, next year. Stage 2 - for 20K (once more developed).

The CRD continues to hold stakeholder meetings.

It was pointed out that this does not provide a framework for addressing the gaps. There was differences btw clients vs. professional view of services. Funding to do the same doesn't solve identified issues. This is more of a "background" document to leverage funding, but it is not transformative in its application.

Margot - not a quick fix, but people have said it has helped them immensely, including Interior Health. A meeting Al Richmond was at in Vancouver even mentioned it. So, when people apply for additional funding this document/survey helps them leverage their application.

Hospital does capital funding, but not service funding. This is frustrating. This survey is initiating conversations to move forward.

The new drop-in model in our community is moving into will change the face of things - it will be interesting to see how things play out.

Strategic Planning for 2015
At the next Monthly SPC meeting, we will create an action oriented strategic work plan for 2015 that incorporates the already structured SPC main pillars.

Invitation requests: Joan Sorely, Janice Bell & Al Richmond, our City reps, Scott Tolko, other Industry,  Larry Stranberg, Interior Health's Jocelyn Wood, Amber Sommer Hayes (Chamber), SD, TRU (Ray), Cathy Laurients, MCFD (Troy & Diane McHardy), CDC, Irene, Ben & Isobel from Salvation Army, BIA, First Nations groups - WL Indian Band (Carol Archie, Social Development Manager), Three corners health group, Sarah from Punky Lake, Tanya Moores (from TNG), Recreation Services, RCMP, FPC, and Council of Canadians.

Action: ask the above to attend the next SPC meeting. If they are unable to attend in person, we will be contacting them for participation via online survey or phone call after the meeting.

Monthly Briefing Template
Discuss and review template for monthly de-briefings to be sent to City Council once a month to improve communications between local governments (City, CRD) and our MLA. One page brief per month - easy at a glance and a chronological record for us.

Review & Comments:
Looks good, and easy to read.
"Next Steps/Recommendations" - change to "Recommendations to Council"
"Community Initiatives" change to "Actions Completed"
Put colour back into the headers

Also treat this as an executive summary to go before mtg minutes.

First "quarterly" submission to be finalized at next meeting (then will be submitted monthly after each meeting).

Roundtable Updates
(Those not included in Community Updates are below)

MelissaNewberry (BBBS)
Re: Bowl for Kids Sake - 27th annual event. Great support (and vibe) from the community. There are some spots still open with 73 current official teams (want to cut it off at 80 - 90). Having it on a Friday night has helped some work organizations. Face book and social media has also helped get the word out. On a different subject, there is some start up funding from our national body with a focus on preventative measures including healthy eating choices, etc including  Go Girl and Game On's.

Monica Johnson
Update on Project Comeback: The project us moving forward slowly in conversations with Darrell.

Shannon Thom - Williams Lake Employment Services
WorkBC is travelling around the province on a "Find your fit" initiative program this Thursday from 3 - 7pm - Visit www.findyourfittour.ca for more information.

Kourtney Cook - Gibraltar Mine
Some people have been re-hired at different capacities. Things are remaining to look positive.

Diana French
Bill C15 - anti-terrorism legislation is of concern to all citizens. A presentation is taking place in WL at St Peters Anglican Church on Mar 31 at 7pm (100 Mile on Monday, Tues WL, and Wed in Quesnel).

Carla Bullinger, CCPL & CTC
At January's SPC presentation by the CCPL, it was mentioned that Books for Babies had lost Kiwanis funding. After that meeting,  George Atamanenko spoke to the Williams Lake & District Credit Union who then called Carla with a funding offer to continue the program. This is just one more example of how networking at the SPC table can create positive community results.

Meeting adjourned. The next monthly meeting is scheduled for April 27, 2015 at 11:30 am location TBA

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Contact Us

The Social Planning Council is made up of volunteers from the community. Many of us work in social services agencies or also volunteer for other organizations.

Our Mailing Address is Box 20045, Williams Lake BC V2G 4R1

To reach the Society Coordinator Jessica Dunn please email spc-coordinator@xplornet.com or call 250-243-2126

To reach the Communities that Care Project Facilitator Barb Jones please email communitiesthatcare.wl@gmail.com or call 250-305-4838

To reach the THRIVE Williams Lake Project Manager Anne Burrill please email annelburrill@gmail.com or call 250-267-7211

To reach the current SPC Chair Larry Stranberg please email happytrails@cfdccariboo.com or call 250-392-3626