The development and programming of a patient housing guide

Inspired by personal struggles with her initial bout in housing, CAB and Board of Directors member Joanne Guarino helped to create a reference guide for patients as they transition to housing. Joanne collaborated with the research department to conduct patient focus groups. The focus groups helped to gain a more in-depth understanding of the challenges that patients face as they become housed and the support that they feel that they need to be successful. The product is a Housing Guide that was launched at BHCHP in April 2015. Since the launch of the Housing Guide, we have distributed it to various sites across the city and have begun to explore programming the guide for our patients. The housing guide addresses a range of aspects of transitioning to housing and living on your own. It provides tips and resources to help patients successfully maintain housing. The guide includes advice on cooking, cleaning, safety, nutrition, keeping a schedule, paying bills, and staying social. In our presentation, we will go over the inspiration for, creation of, and evolution of the Housing Guide. Specifically, we will address challenges that our patients face as they transition to housing and the process through which the guide content was developed. After explaining the background information and development process we will discuss some of the following questions: What are the obstacles that affect our patients success with housing? What are some improvements or additions for this Housing Guide? How can we effectively program/workshop the guide to make the information most accessible for our patients? How do you see the Housing Guide being used at your site?