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Home News Chronic Risk Solutions Forum to hold second engagement session

Chronic Risk Solutions Forum to hold second engagement session

Chronic Risk Solutions Forum to hold second engagement session
Herald File Photo

The Chronic Risk Solutions Forum will be holding their second engagement session with community stakeholders on April 18 to continue the conversation around the best opportunity, means and approach to building solutions for chronic risk at both the individual and systemic level in Prince Albert.

The concept of the Chronic Risk Solutions Forum was formulated through the Prince Albert Homelessness Action Initiative, which identified the impacts of homelessness on people and the community. The results of the initiative were a set of recommendations, in which chronic risk was a central focus.

During the planning stages of the Chronic Risk Solutions Forum, several problems were prioritized by participants of the Homelessness Action Initiative.

The list includes a lack of a permanent homelessness shelter, a fragmentation within the City’s support service agencies, discarded needles, and a lack of chronic risk management in shelter and community environments.

In the fall of 2022, Council approved the use of City leverage and resources to launch the forum, providing an opportunity for human service, government, and community stakeholders to mobilize around the identification of problems impacting chronic risk individuals and families and generate immediate action on solving them.

City Planner Craig Guidinger and Dr. Chad Nilson with the Living Skies Centre for Social Inquiry hosted the first Chronic Risk Solutions Forum meeting in December 2023. During the initial meeting, Nilson facilitated a discussion with the forum’s participants to identify potential participation methods and parameters.

“The key intent of that meeting was to identify suggested approaches for engaging organizations in the building process of a forum, as well as (identify) how the process could be efficient, effective and measurable,” Nilson wrote in an email to the Herald. “We also discussed the proposed Actionable Solutions Protocol for community organizations to use in collaborating to tackle complicated problems with multiple moving parts.”

A major outcome of the Homelessness Action Initiative was the Actionable Solutions Protocol, which was designed to help community partners understand problems and actionable solutions to homelessness. It was proposed that the protocol be used to support activities within the Chronic Risk Solutions Forum.

According to Nilson, the intent of Tuesday’s meeting is to move into discussions around best options for logistics, formation, inclusivity, scheduling, and format of the Chronic Risks Solutions Forum.