NIABY.COM
(*Not In Anyone's Back Yard) "The Vancouver Police estimated that roughly a third of all police calls dealt with the mentally ill."-- Vancouver Sun February 14th 2008.
Hello, This is WW from CBC Radio in Vancouver. I got a phone call from a person who lived in the RainCity's Fraser Street Supportive Housing and has since 'graduated' from the program. He says he now has a good life and is working and says he's proof that the centre is working... and the people in the centre aren't necessarily like what NIABY has protrayed [sic] them to be... I was wondering if anyone from your group would be willing to comment on the situation at Fraser Street and whether you've encountered a lot of complaints since the centre has opened. Thanks for your time. W
This is a classic example of a testimonial. Testimonials are a commonly used marketing tool for the promotion of a product or service, in this case the program at RainCity Housing’s Fraser St Dual Diagnosis (mentally ill drug addict) Transitional Supportive Housing. Testimonials are not proof of effectiveness either short term or long term. While we applaud the person from Fraser St. for graduating and now working, the reality is that he is only 1 patient of 30 patients. If we take him at his word, then the success rate at Fraser St. (staying clean and sober, getting and keeping a job and staying out of trouble) is currently approximately 3%.
To demonstrate that RainCity's Fraser St. Transitional Supportive Housing for Mentally Ill Drug Addicts is long term effective, requires measuring meaningful outcomes for all residents, such as relapse or lapse back to drug or alcohol use (confirmed random frequent by drug testing), obtaining and keeping a job (an excellent outcome effectiveness measure for drug treatment programs) and staying out of trouble. Measuring long term success would also mean monitoring after "graduation" from the "program".
The cost of stay for one resident at Fraser St. is approximately $25,000 per year (2004 $Cdn). Current accumulated operational costs for Fraser St. since opening in August 2007 are $$$$$ . One testimonial at graduation is not proof of effectiveness. Does RainCity Housing think so? Is this how RainCity Housing measures the effectiveness of the Fraser St. program? Getting someone to be a testimonial (poster child)?
NIABY awaits the reporting of meaningful 1 outcomes both short and long term; the taxpayer should do the same, before concluding that Raincity’s Fraser St. is working.
Published August 31, 2008.