New Westminster Community Action Team

It all started with a higher purpose

CAT AT-A-GLANCE
Formed in:  2018
Number of members:  30
Communities served:  

Name of Town: New Westminster,  

Unique features:

Casual trauma informed meeting structure and successfully created and applied New West Street Degree.

A Q&A with Courtney Pankratz, Lynda Fletcher-Gordon, and Colin Levers, of the New Westminster CAT.

“From the beginning, the voice of people with lived and living experience of substance use has been primary,” – Courtney Pankratz, Project Coordinator

Members of the Community Action Initiative team sat down with Colin Levers, Peer Mentor and Courtney Pankratz, CAT Project Coordinator and Lynda Fletcher-Gordon, CAT Co-Chair and Program Director of Purpose Society to discuss the evolution, learnings, and proud moments experienced while working with the New Westminster CAT. Here’s what they had to say.

CAI: So, how did the New Westminster Community Action Team (CAT) form?
Courtney Pankratz (CP): The New West CAT formed in 2018, when the Medical Health Officer from Fraser Health partnered with Purpose Society to put in an application for funding. Purpose Society – a community-based multi-service organization that delivers programs to families and youth – has been a pillar of the New West community for a long time. Our deep connections were leveraged to support the formation of the CAT. Our compact city allows for a lot of communication to happen outside of the formal structure of the CAT. Early on, we realized that the formalized structure of the meetings was something that didn’t work for all participants, so a local peer network – which was more casual and trauma-informed in its approach – began to meet weekly to inform the CAT.
CAI: How are people with lived and living experience of substance use (PWLLE) involved and appreciated in the CAT?
CP: From the beginning, the voice of people with lived and living experience of substance use has been primary. A full-time peer coordinator is part of the team and, from there, the structure for weekly peer network meetings was established. Grounded in principles of peer leadership, we were successful in securing Vancouver Foundation funding to establish a peer mentorship program, which now has two peers overseeing all initiatives. What the CAT does really is create an avenue for people.
CAI: When you look back, what would you say you are most proud of as a member of the New Westminster CAT?
Colin Levers (CL): It’s about friendship. I don't like to treat people as clients, I like to treat them like they're people. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect. Some people just make judgments right off the bat and don't see the person underneath.
CP:
    People come to the CAT and peer network meetings every week, rain or shine – they are showing up to support their community. I see a comfort level working together. I see trust. I see people willing to air their concerns, which to me is really important because it gives us an opportunity to have a dialogue and to learn. There will always be conflict, but there’s a willingness to grow out of that and I've seen a lot of growth at an individual level but also at a collective level. I think people have strong ties to their community – there are a lot of people who want to see the best for it, so that's where the progress comes from.
CL:
    The part that I really like and am proud of is that it's not just one program. All the extra people around here, kind of pull it all together. It’s not just me. It's the housing workers, it's the counselors – we’re all trying to help and it brings it all together to make a community.
CAI: What are some of the challenges your CAT grapples with?
CP: Every meeting, we start off recognizing how disproportionately indigenous communities are affected by contaminated drugs, and that this is something that we need to do more work on. There are challenges linked to how much change can occur at the level of community. Asking a CAT to solve issues linked to a toxic drug supply without corresponding commitments at the provincial and federal levels is exhausting.
Lynda Fletcher-Gordon:
    Spend a week down here and see the number of overdoses just in the surrounding community. I don't know how many there are every week, but it's over the top. Naloxone is no longer an effective answer to this problem. It’s way bigger than that. We all know it: How many times can you bring back one person?
CAI: What advice do you have for newer CATs across the province?
CP: Establish priorities. Be patient and move away from outcomes and into process. CAT members have to understand that once the decision is made on what the priorities are, the CAT goes into action. Community building and community development take time, commitment, consistency, there is no way around it. Having good leadership and good facilitators plays an important role. CATs should think about what’s necessary to put in place for meaningful peer empowerment. Being able to understand all the value that was happening in the work that’s undertaken, even though there are still so many challenges, is supported through a focus on process. There has to be trust and the only way to develop that is to listen and take action in ways that reflect what’s been brought to the table.

News

Memorial set up in New West for Overdose Awareness Day

2020.09.01

|

New Westminster Record

Read Publication

Safe consumption site and safe drug supply being considered in New West

2020.07.16

|

New Westminster Record

Read Publication

New West residents invited to participate in anti-stigma survey on drug use

2021.03.12

|

New Westminster Record

Read Publication

Fentanyl crisis: One New Westminster family's story

2020.08.27

|

New Westminster Record

Read Publication

New West project to commemorate lives lost to overdose crisis

2020.07.12

|

New Westminster Record

Read Publication

Related Communities