Placement with Sunshine House

By Sage

 My name is Sage Broomfield, I am a second year MDP student excited to be wrapping up my final field placement and looking towards graduation in the fall. I have been happy to spend my second field placement working with Sunshine House here in Winnipeg. When I moved to Winnipeg for the MDP program, Sunshine House quickly became an important community space for me, so it was great to take on a new role as program evaluator for their Drop In and Like That programs.

Who is Sunshine House:

Sunshine House is a resource space that centers harm reduction and social inclusion. This organization has adapted and evolved to meet community needs since the 1990s. Today, Sunshine House is a safe space for anyone who walks in the door and provides specific support for the 2SLGBTQIA community, people who use drugs, folks living with HIV, newcomers, and/or who are currently experiencing or transitioning from homelessness. Sunshine House runs five main programs. The Drop-In program, where people share a hot meal and can access harm reduction and other services as well as participate in activities programming. The Like That program is the queer Drop In Programming where 2SLGBTQIA community members can come in share a meal and participate in arts and culture activities, including cultural crafts as well as drag and performance skills. Street Feet is the foot care clinic that happens once a week providing needed medical care to folks who are on their feet every day. The Mobile Overdose Prevention Site (MOPS), is a pilot overdose prevention site (the only one in all of MB) that offers safe space to use substances, accurate drug testing, and harm reduction services. The Gizhiweminin program provides sexual health education and housing support to newcomers and members of the queer community.

My Role:

Sunshine House presently has four on-going evaluations for it’s programs. I am the evaluator for the Drop-In and Like That programs. This has meant building on the program evaluation that the MDP evaluation course designed, working  with Sunshine House staff to develop the evaluation further, carrying out interviews with all of the staff who work in these programs, developing survey material for participants, and organizing a townhall conversation for participants to give feedback about the programs. I have also participated in a range of House activities including medicine picking, beading, medicine pouch making, drag shows etc. I am looking forward to presenting the Sunshine House staff with my results.