St. Marys outreach worker calls for more compassion amid housing, mental health struggles

St. Marys community outreach worker Jade Orquin vouches for compassion over judgment for those living with mental-health issues and without stable housing.

By Alex Hunt

Jade Orquin spends her days connecting St. Marys residents to the resources they need most, from housing applications to health care, helping people rebuild their lives one step at a time.

Orquin, the community outreach worker for the Town of St. Marys, said housing is the highest request for help she receives as residents struggle with paying their rent due to the high cost of living. Orquin says the provincewide crisis affects the community more than some may think.

“If a person is on Ontario Disability, they’re receiving just over $1,000 a month and the average rent cost in St. Marys is around $1,800 for a bachelor apartment,” said Orquin. “They’re likely not able to afford it; there’s not a lot of low-income housing in this town.

Orquin’s role as an outreach worker is to connect residents of St. Marys to essential resources, from transportation and health care to housing applications and financial support. She enjoys helping people in a variety of ways. Over time, Orquin has built close personal relationships with many clients, seeing some daily and others weekly.

Orquin says there are a few programs in St. Marys, such as peer support, which provide mental health and addiction assistance. She also hosts a women’s group at the library every Monday focusing on issues that affect women in the community.

“I think just treating people with dignity and respect; at the end of the day it goes such a long way and I’m very real with the people that I work with,” said Orquin. “I try not to sugar coat things and seeing them once a week really helps build personal relationships, and I coordinate with different agencies which are also very supportive.”

Orquin said she believes the community can sometimes be unaware of the circumstances people with mental-health challenges struggle with every day. She hopes the town can provide education to locals as a way of encouraging compassion for everyone, regardless of those circumstances.

The most rewarding part of her job, Orquin said, is helping people. When clients face setbacks, like being evicted from their apartments, many return seeking her support. She often receives messages from clients thanking her for her help. Seeing people succeed and being part of their journey is what she finds most fulfilling.

“I think our community needs to be compassionate and understanding for outreach workers as well; we are doing our jobs the best that we can,” said Orquin. “Not everyone is going to be housed when we want them to be. They are being taken care of. It comes down to not having enough housing and people not making the right decisions when they are living rough.”

Orquin said her first month on the job was difficult, but having great co-workers and supportive partnerships with local support agencies helped her push through the rough days and molded her to be more effective at her job.

“That’s what it is. We have to work together and teach compassion to community members as workers,” said Orquin. “We are always trying to uplift clients and make sure they get their feet off the ground and sometimes people have setbacks. It’s great to see people succeed but it’s really hard to watch people have those setbacks and it’s important for workers to push them and tell them to keep going.”