Carl DeLine

the back door: an experiment or an alternative, by Carl DeLine (2001)
1) Foreword
2) Why This Book, at This Time?
3) What We Do Today
4) History: How the back door Came About
5) Belief Systems
6) Philosophical Nuances
7) Variables – The Experiment Began: “An Introduction to a Life of Variables”
8) What Others Have Said
9) In Conclusion

For/With Young Street People (The Participant):

We call ourselves a youth employment project. In reality this isn’t necessarily true. The name came about because funding bodies need a way to identify us. Since employment is the end goal, it is easy to say we focus on employment. It was discovered over time that the back door is an integration project. Young people from the ages of 17 to 24 who are part of the street culture come to us. Our choice to designate the ages of 17 to 24 arose out of the lack of programs for that age group in the city of Calgary at the time we started. It is the goal of each youth to get off the street. If they are to get off the street, and stay off the street, they need to join the non-street culture/society as a potentially employable person. If they are not employable then they need to become a part of a support system which deals with both their survival and developmental needs.

At present, there are 100 young people who are contracting with the back door. Contracting means that each person who has identified his/her desire to get off the street will begin to create what becomes the first step away from the street. Each month they will create eight identifiable steps to move away from the street. In a 12 month period up to 100 steps will be identified and worked on.

Each young person enters into the contract process in the following way:

1. The young person on the street identifies a desire to say “I want to get off the street.”
   
2. This thought process continues with the potential participant seeking out the back door.
   
3. Once the potential participant states this desire to get off the street and they come to the back door, a contract process is started.
   
4. The participant then identifies a step which will point him or her away from the street.
   
5. The participant enters this step into the computer and/or on a contract sheet, creating what becomes a contract.
   
6. The participant discusses this step with a volunteer or staff person identifying, in non street words, what this contract is about.
   
7. The participant then receives a $15 bonus for having created this contract. The money is paid when the participant creates the contract not after it is carried out.
   
8. After leaving the back door’s offices the participant comes back to the back door, discusses the success or failure of the said contract step, and begins to create yet another contract.
   

The non-street world believes in perks and bonuses. We call this $15 a bonus. Each person will qualify for up to eight bonuses in a month and no more than 100 bonuses in a 12 month period with a maximum of 24 months of contracting.

Each step is identified as a part of the plan which will point the contractee (participant) away from the street. The steps can be in one of the following categories:

1. Housing: Steps taken toward obtaining an appropriate, safe, independent living situation, landlord negotiation as required, and appropriate life style issues addressed within the chosen situation.
   
2. Jobs: Any steps which address issues related to preparation for and obtaining employment and dealing appropriately with problems arising within the job situation.
   
3. Education: Steps taken toward educational assessment, academic upgrading and planning for work.
   
4. Personal: Any steps taken to deal with personal life concerns and coping, e.g. relationships, attitudes, appearance.
   
5. Planning: Thinking, formulating possible action/alternatives in the area of life concerns.
   
6. Volunteer Work: Giving of one’s own time and effort to contribute back to a community which is supportive of the participant.
   
7. Finances: Any steps to acquire knowledge or principles of action relating to money management or awareness of spending philosophy.
   
8. Legal: Steps taken to deal with past or current legal concerns to ensure their appropriate expedition, therefore enabling freedom to pursue the changes in life necessary to move off the street.
   
9. Leadership: Formal involvement in coaching, supporting by active example, or participation with others in positive movement in areas of life concerns.
   
10. Drug/Alcohol: Any step taken to acknowledge the reality of personal substance abuse and to address issues of rehabilitation (for example, detox or participation in twelve step type programs).
    
11. Problem Solving: steps representing any thought or action given to defining the problem, seeking alternative solutions, acting upon this, and processing the outcome.
    
12. Identification: Obtaining acceptable identification as necessary to integrate into the community.
    
13. Other: Any steps not specifically designated in the above categories but which deal with issues and concerns critical to the participant in his/her movement off the street.
    

Contracting remains the basis of communication at the back door. A young person comes to us because he/she wants to get off the street. Once this is identified a step is then developed. This step remains an activity which continues to point the participant in the direction away from the street. At first this step will usually deal with a crisis or an immediate identified need. In time the participant will begin to contract with longer term goals in mind.

The following table is an illustration of what one contract page will look like. A crucial understanding is the amount of flexibility on the part of either the staff person or volunteer. If the staff or volunteer gets too involved in the contract, the contract then no longer belongs to the participant. If the participant does not have ownership of his/her contract, accountability becomes more and more of a problem. Over the years the percentages of contracts relate to the 13 categories as follows:

For/With Non-Street Volunteers:

If a young person is to move into the non-street world they must have entry points. These entry points must be nurtured by non-street people who live the non-street every day. It is imperative that the non-street person then integrate new understandings of the street world as they are informed by the participants. As they learn about the street they will understand what is necessary for a young person to make such a transition.

The aforementioned contract is with the back door, not with a counselor. the back door does not have staff who have a caseload. Volunteers do not come in and take on a caseload, nor are they a “buddy.” Each volunteer becomes a conduit of non-street experience, wisdom and knowledge. That is why it is so important for participants to meet and contract with as many non-street people as possible. In fact, to increase the opportunities for communication, the person the participant contracts with and the person who pays him are in most cases not the same. This allows contact with at least two non-street people on each occasion of contracting.

Each non-street person is in the back door environment for one of four reasons. These reasons are:

1. The contractor (staff/volunteer) has said they want to help if they can. They are not at the back door to give advice. They are there to listen to the participant and interpret what they are hearing from the participant into non-street words. It is imperative that the participant learns words/language which will help them to communicate in the non-street world. As each participant learns the words of the non-street culture they begin to understand what it is they need to know in order to take ownership of their objective to get off the street.
   
2. The contractor is there to ask participants questions so they can learn and understand the street culture. In so doing, the telling of a story by a participant enables the participant to identify their own path off the street. Each non-street person or contractor has their entire life experience to offer as a resource for survival and growth. “In my world this means…”
   
3. The contractors provide help on the computer. Each participant will develop his/her own contract on the computer. By learning basic computer skills the participants learn skills which help them to access other educational venues. The computer is also functionally objective, allowing the discussion between the contractor and participant to be focused on something other than the stress of identifying goals and processes. At times, a participant is contracted with/by the back door to teach new volunteers or contractors about contracting. By doing this, the contracting process becomes a natural part of the thought process of the participant.
   
4. Contractors also work on research. Each contractor prepares thoughts on street issues and then attempts to put them into words which will help other non-street people understand the process of getting off the street. Contractors will also identify their own path of coming to understand the street. As this is done, a greater appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of both cultures is identified.