More Than A Roof… Healing Homelessness - The La rue des Femmes Foundation is launching a campaign to raise $8 million and achieve its visionary project of establishing La rue des Femmes Relational Health Institute

MONTREAL, Dec. 14, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - The La rue des Femmes Foundation (LrdF) is launching a major fundraising campaign to raise $8 million to create the LrdF Relational Health Institute, Canada's very first centre for relational health research and development, and curative and preventative care for women in a state of homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless. The main purpose of this initiative is to better understand, treat and prevent homelessness.

This fundraising campaign for 2020-2024, entitled "More than a Roof… Healing Homelessness" and co-chaired by Jean-Yves Bourgeois, Executive Vice-President of Business Services, Desjardins Group, Éric Filion, President of Hydro-Québec Distribution et Services Partagés, Andrée-Lise Méthot, Founder and Managing Partner of Cycle Capital, and Maarika Paul, Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial and Operations Officer, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, has the primary objective of providing the LrdF Relational Health Institute with the resources necessary to ensure recovery of women in a state of homelessness.

The mobilization of its campaign cabinet has paved the way for the first phase of the project to launch by late 2021 with the creation of a new care centre to address the increasingly urgent situation of homelessness among women. In its new facilities, and with additional specialists and psychosocial workers, the organization will be offering therapeutic activities and services so that 25% more women can receive the care they need, and double the number of women who can maintain their housing (from 350 to 700).

"We are very proud and excited to launch this new fundraising campaign, which is the most ambitious project in the La rue des Femmes Foundation's history," says Léonie Couture, the organization's founding president. "In the last 26 years, we have welcomed thousands of women, women experiencing chronic post-traumatic stress and unspeakable suffering, and the need for curative and preventative care and help is ever increasing. The Relational Health Institute will literally transform the way care is provided to people in a state of homelessness through its innovative and efficient approach," she adds.

This campaign will also make it possible for the organization to continue its research and development activities and relational health training. Relational health is the vital capacity to connect with oneself and others. Supported by recent neuroscientific discoveries on trauma in the United States, La rue des Femmes's unique intervention approach was first researched at UQÀM in 2016.¹ Thanks to a grant by the Department for Women and Gender Equality and money raised by the major fundraising campaign, a second research project is currently underway to model and propagate this relational health intervention practice across Canada.

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¹ Study at UQAM led by Dr. Sophie Gilbert, Une intervention novatrice auprès des femmes en état d'itinérance : l'approche relationnelle de La rue des Femmes [An innovative intervention in aid of homeless women: La rue des Femmes' relational approach], 2016, https://www.laruedesfemmes.org/en/relational-health/research-and-training/

The campaign co-chairs, Jean-Yves Bourgeois, Éric Filion, Andrée-Lise Méthot, and Maarika Paul, believe that the organization, who sets itself apart with its innovative approach to providing care in its three Montreal health and service centres, is at a turning point in its history. "There's no way to be indifferent to the situation of these women who are living in great distress and whose needs are so large. By all of us coming together to support the team at La rue des Femmes, more women will benefit from care and services in a safe living environment and will more quickly be able to reintegrate into society," they said in a statement.

Given the project's importance to women experiencing homelessness, the LrdF Foundation is appealing to the great generosity of the community, including businesspeople, organizations and individuals.

Visit the website laruedesfemmes.org to learn more about the campaign and its objectives and to download the information leaflet. To watch the campaign's TV ad, click here. The La rue des Femmes Foundation thanks you in advance for your support. Your financial contribution, no matter the size, makes you a proud partner of this visionary project.

About La rue des Femmes

La rue des Femmes is a non-profit organization founded by Léonie Couture, C.M., C.Q., in 1994 that provides specialized relational healthcare and services to help women experiencing homelessness heal and return to normal life. Each year, La rue des Femmes welcomes more than 1,200 women and provides 55,000 hours of relational healthcare, including 4,000 hours of specialized care (counselling, psychotherapy, art therapy, etc.).

SOURCE La rue des Femmes Foundation

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