{"id":8597,"date":"2023-12-18T12:52:14","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T16:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluedoor.ca\/?p=8597"},"modified":"2024-01-03T10:50:08","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T14:50:08","slug":"road-home-podcast-highlights-that-home-isnt-four-walls-and-a-roof","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluedoor.ca\/road-home-podcast-highlights-that-home-isnt-four-walls-and-a-roof\/","title":{"rendered":"ROAD HOME:\u00a0Podcast highlights that ‘home’ isn’t four walls and a roof"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Posted on: December 18th, 2023. Posted by: Michael Braithwaite, newmarkettoday.ca, Original Article.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this month’s column, Blue Door CEO Michael Braithwaite asks you to really think about, ‘What does home mean to you?’  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the past four years, Blue Door and the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness have been collaborating on the On The Way Home<\/em> podcast, hosted by yours truly. We\u2019ve produced more than 200 episodes and interviewed hundreds of guests from all walks of life, including people with lived experience of homelessness and houselessness, policy experts, doctors, researchers, housing and health advocates, and housing lawyers, to people who have taken on the cause by starting their own not-for-profits. We have discussed it all.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While each episode is unique in its own way, they all begin with the same question, \u201cWhat does home mean to you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may surprise you that out of the hundreds of guests with years of experience between them, none have mentioned the physical structure of a home in their answer. That\u2019s because while home means so many different things to different people, it\u2019s never about four walls and a roof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many of us, home is a place where we feel safe, a place where we can let down our guard and truly relax. Once we shut that door, we are in the only space in the world, we can call our own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For others, home is family. A place to connect with loved ones, and the ones that make us feel whole again. Home is also a place for people to rest, relax, and take care of their mental and physical health.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many of our community\u2019s vulnerable, this is not the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may have heard the phrase, \u201cHousing is health,\u201d which refers to the fact that without a safe place to call home, it is extremely hard to maintain good health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People experiencing homelessness use hospital emergency rooms as their primary health care, which can be traumatizing as well as quite costly. Many people do not have access to a family doctor or health care due to transient housing or lack of identification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n