About

The Peer to Community (P2C) program began with the Transition from Homelessness Study, a research study led by Dr. Carrie Anne Marshall and colleagues at Western University which was aimed at identifying the conditions needed for individuals to thrive or flourish in their communities following homelessness. This study was a community based participatory research project conducted in Kingston and London, Ontario Canada, and was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). As such, it included persons with lived experiences of homelessness, service providers and policymakers collaborating together on a Community Advisory Board (CAB) alongside researchers throughout the course of the project. In this study, we conducted a stakeholder consultation in Kingston and London, Ontario, and identified that community integration is a particular challenge for individuals living with mental illness and substance use disorders following homelessness. To address this gap, the CAB co-designed the P2C model over the course of 45 meetings in 2020-2022. In 2021, CIHR funded a pilot of the P2C model. This pilot is currently underway in the Kingston, ON community.