Co-Designing the “Peer to Community (P2C) Model”: An Intervention for Promoting Community Integration Following Homelessness

Background: Community integration is an important outcome for homelessness prevention that has been challenging to effectively target using existing approaches. We conducted this study to design an intervention aimed at improving community integration following homelessness to fill this gap in existing research and practice. Method: We conducted a community-based participatory research (CBPR) study to identify what is needed to thrive following homelessness in one large and one mid-sized urban centre in Ontario, Canada. This CBPR study involved a collaboration among persons with lived experiences of homelessness, service providers, organizational leaders, and researchers. It comprised a stakeholder consultation followed by a co-design process that responded to our consultation findings. This paper presents a case study of a co-design process used to develop a novel intervention. Findings: Our stakeholder consultation emphasized a need for implementing approaches targeting community integration following homelessness. We responded by collaborating on the co-design of an intervention called the Peer to Community (P2C) Model. This intervention utilizes the expertise of peer support specialists, occupational therapists, and social workers to support meaningful activity participation and relationship building as pathways to community integration following homelessness. The (P2C) model is informed by five philosophies: 1) Housing First; 2) harm reduction; 3) trauma and violence-informed care; 4) person-centred care; and 5) the mental health recovery model. Our co-design process involved the development of the P2C model, educational modules for training individuals to deliver this approach, and a fidelity measure. Implications: The P2C model is a novel approach designed to support community integration following homelessness and needs to be piloted and evaluated in future research. A pilot study is currently underway in a mid-sized city in Ontario, Canada.