Interview: Hiiye’yu Lelum Society – Lelum ‘u tu S’tsa’-elh teyt-en, the House of Honourable Mothers
Photo by Omar Lopez on Unsplash
Hiiye’yu Lelum Society in Duncan recently opened Lelum ‘u tu S’tsa’-elh teyt-en (LST), the House of Honourable Mothers, a residential House which has been developed to provide a healing, culturally safe home to enable pregnant and newly parenting at-risk women to remain with their babies after birth, where additional supports can be provided during pregnancy and the first year of parenting. We spoke with Laura Sjolie, Healthiest Babies Possible, Early Years, and LST Coordinator at Hiiye’yu Lelum, about this initiative.
Operated by Hiiye’yu Lelum (House of Friendship) Society of Duncan, Lelum’u tu S’tsa’-elh teyt-en (House of the Honourable Mothers) is a 6-bed residential program. The house was developed as a collaborative initiative amongst the Hiiye'yu Lelum House of Friendship, Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD), BC Housing, and the Aboriginal Housing Management Association.
The House, which opened in June 2021, has 24/7 staffing, including a house manager, transitions worker, counsellor, and program coordinator. It includes six beds and bathrooms, 2.5 kitchens, a private backyard, dedicated counselling space, and staff office, in a neighbourhood close to coffee shops, schools, and a bus route. The design and development of the program were created with input from families with lived experience and each room was named with ceremony and teachings provided by Cowichan Tribes knowledge keepers.
As well as the support offered by the onsite staff, additional programs and services are provided through community partnerships. The House is a point of entry for women to access health, healing and wellness services and supports, including public health nurse visits, Indigenous infant development education, counselling services and cultural teachings from Knowledge Keepers and Elders.
The program serves pregnant and newly parenting women (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) who have child protection involvement. The woman chooses culturally-based services and programs that promote wellness, address concerns, and ensure optimal maternal and infant health so that the ultimate goal of mom and baby living together in community can be reached.
The goal of this initiative is to provide wraparound programing that addresses concerns identified by the mother and her team including perinatal substance use, intimate partner violence, and capacity issues. Through providing 24/7 staffing and a mix of on-site and off-site programming, the mother-baby bond can remain intact, improving maternal health and encouraging optimal infant development.
Programs that can be accessed onsite include:
· Knowledge Keeper – Language and teaching
· Circle of Security Parenting Program
· Counselling
· Community nursing visits – follow-up and infant health
· Pre- and post-natal outreach and support services
As well, the moms and babies in residence at the House are attached to Healthiest Babies Possible program at the House of Friendship and a support worker at the house takes the moms and babies to support appointments in town.
Staff at the House also offer opportunities for learning and community-building. The day we spoke with Laura, there was a workshop going on teaching pressure-canning of salmon, combined with a home facemask spa session to fill in the time whilst the jars of salmon were processing.
The House is well situated, close to bus routes giving easy access to the town centre, and there is a Tim Horton’s nearby, in easy walking distance, which is a popular amenity with the women living at the House.
The support workers, under the direction of the house manager, offer direct services to the moms and babies resident in the House, including general information resource work, crisis intervention, crisis and individual counselling, support, advocacy and accompaniment services. They also assist with facilitation of house meetings among residents to maintain a cooperative living environment and assist residents to coordinate their contributions to a cooperative living environment. The House is operating with COVID protocols in place.
Women can move into the home during pregnancy and anytime until before baby’s first birthday. The move out date will vary based on individual’s needs. Support and planning to successfully transition the mom and baby back in to community is provided.
The Provincial Perinatal Substance Use Project (PPSUP), based at BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre, are documenting the process of this pilot project.
The PPSUP Forum Report from the Visioning to Reality Forum held on June 24, 2019, identified four cross-cutting themes that need to be incorporated to create stability and to keep mothers and their babies together: Indigenous Cultural Safety, People and Navigators with Lived and Living Experience, Housing, and Zero Child Removals, noting “Access to supportive housing remains a system challenge that needs to examine multiple approaches to housing women and their families……The theme of keeping families together with a goal of zero child removals cut across all topic areas. Getting involved and supporting women early is one step to reducing the removal rate. Working with MCFD to change practices and to be more collaborative in working with perinatal programs can help.” The multi-agency collaboration and funding involved in the House of the Honourable Mothers initiative is a significant demonstration of how this can work in practice.
An article on Lelum ‘u tu S’tsa’-elh teyt-en in the PPSUP September 2021 newsletter reinforces: “The PPSUP and its provincial stakeholders have identified access to care and transitions between community and acute care and through the postpartum period as critically important. Pregnancy is often associated with an increase in motivation to decrease or stop using substances, and highlights the need to ensure access to a full range of appropriate therapeutic options. When women are discharged from acute care in the postpartum period, they are vulnerable to relapse and overdose, particularly if their infant is removed. Full supports need to be in place that include obstetrical follow up, substance use treatment and supports in appropriate settings, breastfeeding and parenting supports, and supportive housing – all with the aim of keeping mothers and babies together.”
Laura noted that Hiiye’yu Lelum has operated for over 45 years providing programs that focus on health, wellness, and individual development. The Healthiest Babies Possible program has been serving the Cowichan Valley for over 30 years. Housing seemed like a natural next step, especially with support from other community agencies to provide wrap-around care. She sees the key element as being able to get the balance right for at-risk women in the perinatal period. MCFD legislation is structured around protection of the child, so it needs other groups to be able to engage to support the parent in ways that meet the MCFD child protection requirements.
The House has been up and running now for half a year, and staff and parents are evolving and fine-tuning the structure and programming organically in the lived environment. There are currently three moms with new babies in residence, which already makes for a busy household during this first phase of operation. There is a committed team that has been working diligently getting house up and running, and is very pleased to see it taking shape. One aspect of community support for the initiative that has given her real encouragement is that a local furniture store owner, Rachel Ayearst from Style Sense, provided the furniture at wholesale cost, so they were able to afford to buy higher quality, more durable furniture for the House within their budget.
Lelum’u tu S’tsa’-elh teyt-en (House of the Honourable Mothers) is a step forward in addressing a long-identified need in the community, and shows how multi-agency collaboration, working through trusted community service providers, can develop customized supports to address gaps in local provision.