Abbey House Transitional Home
Abbey House is a transitional home where women with or without children who are homeless, at risk of homelessness, or facing other trauma & crisis situations can stay for up to one year, pending review. Abbey House opened in March 2007 and was named in honour of Maxine Abbey – one of the foundation members of the Niagara Regional Native Centre.
The Abbey House Transitional Housing program provides a safe opportunity to create a nurturing, stable and culturally based living environment that encourages and empowers individuals to make positive, long lasting change. By incorporating traditional Indigenous healing and wellness practices, the Abbey House program supports it’s participants internal growth by helping them to walk in balance mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. As they develop a culturally connected foundation for themselves, this growth is also reflected externally through increasing their abilities, skills, and confidence to earn college diplomas, start careers, and achieve economic self sufficiency.
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A four-year integrated program, that provides innovative wrap-around services designed to help inadequately housed or homeless Indigenous mother-led families to earn college diplomas, start careers, and achieve economic self-sufficiency. The St. Catharines, Ontario location also offers on-site day care.
The unique cultural, historical and demographic context of Ontario’s urban Indigenous communities, and the distinct challenges faced by urban Indigenous single mothers living in poverty, Friendship Centres adapted the WoodGreen Homeward Bound model into the Urban Indigenous Homeward Bound. This project will address the unique needs and challenges of homeless and precariously housed urban Indigenous single mothers living in poverty in seven of Ontario’s Friendship Centre communities.
At the same time, early years and child care have become clear priorities of both the federal and provincial governments. At both levels, significant policy commitments have been made to make child care more accessible for all Canadians. At the same time the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has pushed Indigenous child care and development into the national consciousness. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has called on federal, provincial, territorial and Indigenous governments to “develop culturally appropriate early childhood education programs for Aboriginal families.”
