Carl DeLine

Temporary work helps to improve personal living skills

A couple hours of work may not seem like much, but it could make a world of difference to young people trying to leave the street.

Counsellors at The Back Door, a private organization working to help young, hard-core street people get back into society, are looking for casual labor opportunities for participants in their program.

“We’re looking for employers who are interested in hiring people for short-term work,” said director Carl DeLine.

Through The Back Door, participants work out contracts with counsellors. The contracts define goals for leaving the street and activities they can do towards achieving them.

Individual contracts can include getting safe housing, finding a job and keeping it, upgrading education, kicking drug or alcohol habits and learning to plan for the future.

Participants, aged 17-24, are also given incentives to keep to their contracts until they are able to cope on their own way away from the street.

As part of the process of helping people leave the street, casual work can provide situations where participants can make contact with people who are willing to given them a chance.

It also requires less commitment than full- or part-time jobs.

“It gives them that freedom where they are not connected to (the job) for a long time,” said DeLine, explaining how participants often perceive life off the street as too constricting.

By starting with casual work, participants are accountable only to themselves and their counsellor through their contracts and are still able to ease into employment situations.

“That street, tough as it is, is a community for these people,” said social work student Nickie Surveyer, who is helping develop the casual labor activity. “You’re leaving your friends.”

But finding the motivation to get back into the community is often a difficult process.

“The issue is that our people think ‘street’ and talk ‘street’ and they are coming into non-street culture,” said DeLine. “Crossing to that non-street culture comes up against things like employment, education and communication barriers.”

Since setting up The Back Door almost three years ago, DeLine and his team have concentrated on encouraging participants to develop personal living skills.

For most participants, faith in the program–and in themselves–depends on small victories along the way.

And often those achievements can only come with help from people who care, says DeLine.

Anyone interested in helping provide The Back Door with casual work opportunities can call [redacted].

Originally published December 12, 1990 by the Calgary Herald (Calgary, AB), credited to Brad Lee.