Thursday, June 5, 2008

How About a Good News Story for a Change?

When our provincial consultation, "Finding Our Way Home" was in Kelowna in January we met a young man -- we'll call him Phil -- who was doing his best to deal with mental health/addiction issues and homelessness. He was staying at the Willows, a wonderful transition facility with a compassionate and committed staff. Phil was very interested in our work, was interviewed at length by the film makers who were travelling with us and even accompanied us at our meeting with the mayor.

A couple of months later we were in Prince George and bumped into Phil. It was great to see him, even though he didn't look as healthy as he had when we'd first met him. Once again we chatted, and once again he was interviewed for the film.

Then this week we were back in touch with a staff person from the Willows who told us Phil had phoned her after meeting up with us the second time in Prince George. He said that meeting had motivated him to get into detox, that he was now in transition housing and was doing well.

Congratulations to Phil for his strength and perseverance and to all of the wonderful people we met on our travels who face such enormous challenges every day and find a way to survive and flourish.