HOW TO REFER A CLIENT TO OUR PROGRAM (for program workers)

Not for profit

Trinity Square Cafe has been operating since 1985 as a small not-for-profit business. As a not-for-profit we earn money; however, all cafe earnings from sales are used to purchase the groceries for the food items that we sell in the cafe. A very small paid staff are all employed as mental health workers in training who run a cafe business under the direction of a Cafe Manager (the only other paid staff are a part-time Executive Director and bookkeeper). All staff salaries and costs for all program activities are funded entirely by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care/Toronto Central LHIN.

Location

We have leased rental space in The Church of the Holy Trinity building at 19 Trinity Square since 1985; but are not in any way affiliated with that or any other organization. We are a stand-alone registered charity. We also used to run other locations and catering services that will come up on internet searches of our name; but we closed these in 2008 when we changed our mission and mandate to our current program model.

Vocational/employment designation

We are categorized as a vocational/employment program by our funder (TCLHIN/MOHLTC), and don’t provide clinical services, but the Cafe Manager (or Executive Director or designate) liaise where relevant with participants’ clinical teams and support workers.

Program Model – Mental Health Recovery Program: We are not a Social Enterprise or a Consumer-Survivor Business.

All clients in our program are participants in a mental illness recovery program (described in detail in another section of this web site). Providing employability skills opportunities in a real world business is the content of our recovery work practice. Our program is not a social enterprise or consumer-survivor business. Our program is a mental illness recovery program. Our model allows us to engage with a larger number of clients and to serve as a transition space for the many people who are trying to move on from hospitalization or other states of severe illness and back into their regular lives and communities, but at their own pace. Unlike employment training programs which have structured timelines and outcomes, our program does not.

Mental Illness Recovery Program

As a mental illness recovery program, we are not putting people through a training course. We are providing a space for them to rebuild community, re-establish connectedness with others and discover a meaningful place for ongoing volunteer work, if paid employment is not a goal which it’s not for many of our clients especially those who are older. Some of our clients move on from our program to paid work or to social enterprises or consumer-survivor businesses or to employment training programs or other education/training. But many do not, and our program allows them a place in their community to become involved and contribute in meaningful ways for as long as they need to. Within our program, participants work on recovery (learning to live with mental illness) through community involvement and meaningful volunteer work. The environment we have created at the cafe encourages participants to build relationships and develop a sense of community. Participants work alongside other participants, staff, cafe customers and the general public who walk in – collectively creating the positive and healthy community for recovery that is the cafe.

Outreach, Referral and Intake

We do regular outreach with many other health, social service and related programs and agencies in Toronto to find participants who are suitable for our program. Intake is continuous and involves discussion between referring professionals and Trinity Square Cafe Manager (or the Executive Director). All clients must be referred by a worker from a funded agency. All clients must present an Ontario health card. We do not take referrals from family members or self-referrals. Clients must be referred through social service, health or related programs by workers in those programs.

Intake process, Assessment and Practice Shift

If the client seems suitable (over 18, Toronto resident, mental illness diagnosis, stable enough to handle a business environment, interested in food service work, open about their mental illness, etc.), then they are interviewed and assessed by the Cafe Manager (or other staff as directed by the Executive Director), and information required by our funder, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care is collected and recorded. If mutually agreed, the participant does a practice shift (one shift is four hours). Then the participant begins and gets a brief Health & Safety training session by the Cafe Manager (or delegate); and they set some individual employability or interpersonal goals. There is currently no time limit for being in the program.

To refer: Call 416-598-2010 and ask (or leave a message for) the Cafe Manager.