Accommodation
What is L’Élan?
L’Élan des jeunes, auberge du cœur, is a community organization offering accommodation for young people aged 16 to 22. The stays are for three months or less for young people who are in difficulty (e.g., homelessness, family conflicts, poverty, homelessness, etc.) and who wish to take control of their lives again. The services are mixed-gender and bilingual. The staff at L’Élan is available at all times to motivate and support young volunteers in their various endeavors.: such endeavors may include job search, housing search, developing autonomy, and any other personal initiatives. Parental authorization is required for underage youths. During their stay, young people have access to all basic necessities (hygiene products, clothing, food, etc.) as well as an individual room. We can accommodate up to 6 youths.
Youths from the Jardins-Roussillon territory or those wishing to settle in the Jardins-Roussillon territory will be given priority.
How to get accommodation
References and admission requests are made by telephone at 450-844-3835.
This can be done by intervention workers (CLSC, schools, community organizations, etc.), by a family member or the youth themselves. Regardless of who makes the first call, we must speak with the youth to validate their willingness to participate as services are voluntary, before continuing with the admission process. Thereafter, a pre-accommodation meeting will take place.
The youth cannot come to the accommodation without calling first.
Emergency Stay
An emergency sheltering is a short stay of 1 to 5 nights, it allows immediate accommodation for the young person,when a room is available. During the emergency sheltering,the youth can request a longer stay, and thus be accommodated for a stay of 3 months or less. This emergency shelter begins with a call from theyoung person.. During this call, we would like to obtain certain information (current situation, their consumption habits, criminal record, etc.). We want to obtain an overall picture of the situation to know if we can accommodate them for an emergency shelter.
If we cannot accommodate the youth, we refer them to other organizations that we believe will be able to better meet their needs. During an emergency stay, several situations may arise;the youthmay decide to leave before or at the end of their stay orthey request a longer stay and is accommodated. Il arrive parfois que nous demandions à la personne de quitter, car elle ne respecte pas le code de vie ou nous ne sommes pas le bon organisme pour lui. Peu importe la situation, elle reçoit du soutien pour améliorer ses conditions de vie et trouver le meilleur milieu de vie pour lui.
Approach
In accordance with our Auberges du Coeur affiliates, we base our interventions on the following principles:
- Each youth has their own story, their own rhythm and their aspirations.
- Every youth has the capacity to take power over their life.
- Every youth has the right to dignity and respect.
- Youths are not the only ones responsible for the living conditions in which they find themselves.
- The difficulties experienced by youths are never isolated and must be addressed globally.
- The power of youths comes, among other things, from knowing their rights and responsibilities.
- The exercise of citizenship is learned through daily, individual and collective experience.
- Our actions must be based on a global approach and on the foundations of community action which are justice, democracy, and equality.
- Youths must actively participate in identifying their needs and objectives and be voluntarily in the process of achieving them.
Post-accommodation
Faced with the pressing needs of former residents, L’Élan offers post-accommodation services.
Have you ever been sheltered at L’Élan? We are still here for you.
Do you sometimes feel alone? You don’t know who to contact for everyday questions (eg: how do you cook a chicken? How do you wash the burners of a stove? How do I adapt my needs to the fact that I worked two hours less this week?) L’Élan counselors are available for you. Support may be provided in the form of individual follow-up, telephone support, group activities or via alumni dinners.
The frequency of meetings varies as we adapt to your needs. To have individual follow-up after accommodation, you must have objectives on which you wish to work on, and mobilize yourself in order to attain these objectives.
If you wish to be informed of the various activities organized for alumni, we invite you to add Inters Élan on Facebook. All our activities are listed on this page.
