Project Upstream services are delivered by a team of highly qualified and committed staff: Bo Turpin acts as Co-ordinator of the agency and supervisor of five staff. Caroline Wallace, Chris Kochanowicz, Catherine Fletcher, Lin Ouellette and Dorota Szkraba are all full time community support workers who provide individualized support to clients who have serious mental illness and their families. Their caseloads range from 13 to 27 people each.

An Intensive Mental Health Case Manager, also known as a Community Support Worker, is expected to base their practise on the Strengths model of service provision. This unique perspective focuses on the positive. It leverages the innate abilities our consumers and families have, not only to survive but thrive in adverse conditions and situations. It allows the participants (staff, family and consumer) to take stock of currently available internal strengths and external resources and sets in motion specific plans to utilize those resources to the maximum benefit of all involved. The core of what we do is clearly relationship driven. From the outset we strive to form relationships built on mutual trust and respect and call upon these bonds to aid in the transition from isolation to exposure and from incapable to capable.

Another facet of Case Management unique to this agency is the Family Focused component. Project Upstream pioneered the Family Focused Case Management pilot in the mid nineties. Since that time, we have become well known for this model which views the nuclear family and appropriate extended supports as integral elements of the consumer’s support network.

The latest enhancements to our service platform come in the form of a Youth pilot project and Monitoring program. The Youth pilot project was implemented with the goal of providing intervention and supports to 4 youth and their families by:

• promoting community integration;
• providing supports to ensure wellness/recovery;
• minimizing contact with the Criminal Justice System,
• maintaining stability;
• reducing homelessness;
• avoiding repeated decompensations; and
• addressing issues of stigmatization.

To date the pilot is considered widely successful due in part to the application of the strengths based model. Two of the youth pilot participants are currently housed in Project Upstream’s furnished, independent one bedroom units. Lastly, the Monitoring Program was implemented to address a number of issues primarily that of agency flow-through with a secondary focus on supporting the increasing number of individual that required less intensive supports. Currently, the Monitoring Program supports up to 32 persons who require support 1-2 times per month. Theses individuals will typically spend 1 year in this program prior to the cessation of formal services. Once a person ceases to receive formal supports from the agency they are still encouraged to attend groups and outings at their discretion. Service termination is done in conjunction with input from the recipient.