Under new management and with some rebranding, the Safe Coach (formerly Safe Couch) program is gearing up for the fall.
“The previous management was focused on the youth and we want to be family focused, focusing on both the youth and engaging parents,” explained Annemarie Tocher, co-ordinator of the Western Rocky View Family and Community Resource Centre.
The Boys and Girls Club of Cochrane – after identifying there were 25 to 30 homeless youth in the community – launched the safe couch program last April.
The program was launched to give alternative solutions to homeless youth by offering host homes with safe couch providers.
The club ran the program independently until earlier this year when organizers announced they would be partnering with Family & Community Support Services (FCSS) after the Boys and Girls Club staff said there was a lack of resources and manpower.
Since the program has transferred to FCSS, program leader Jason Garagan said the program “adopted” three youth from the Safe Couch program and has since helped approximately 10 youth “successfully transition.”
“All of the youth have transitioned back home,” Garagan explained.
Other youth who turned 18 while in the program have been helped transition to the next stage of their lives,” Gargan added.
“We work on a case-by-case basis, there is no cookie-cutter design for the program, each family is different.”
While the current organizers have no previous knowledge of what an “average summer” would consist of, both acknowledged that they think the summer months might be slower and they are anticipating a busier winter.
“We are still organizing the intake program and we have been working on program development to look at the needs of each family,” Tocher said.
“The parents and youth are doing their best. These are challenges and most challenges can be overcome, they just need a little bit of extra support.”
The program is currently seeking Safe Coach host homes, emphasizing that they want homes with families who want to help youth transition back into their parental homes.
“We are not looking for surrogate families, we are looking for families who want to help the youth and want to help the community,” Tocher explained.
“We want a co-operative model with transparency with host homes to support the work of the parents.”
The Safe Coach organizers said they have also been working on creating community partnerships and are open to partnering with other organizations and businesses.
“There are limited resources in the community and we want to maximize involvement, the more connected we are to existing services, the better,” Tocher said.
“We are excited to continue learning and we will continue to learn.”
While the program is run through FCSS, staff said they are always accepting monetary donations to help support the youth.
For more information on the Safe Couch program, contact Jason Garagan, Town of Cochrane Youth and Family Support Worker at 403-851-2283 or by email at [email protected].
