Soul Space Ottawa

08/18/2026

The ANCHOR team, based out of Centretown CHC | CSC du Centre-ville and Somerset West Community Health Centre is an incredible team of dedicated frontline workers and we are grateful for them. 🙏💖

Last week, we held them in our hearts for two big reasons:

1. Friday, August 14th marked their two year anniversary, which has included a time of incredible growth and expansion, as they offer an alternative to police response to community members in crisis.

2. The recent defunding of supervised consumption sites in June has left them run off their feet and at risk of burnout if they are not adequately supported.

While we love offering a tiny bit of respite with our retreats, clay workshops, and collective care circles, so much more is needed to sustain this team!

Inspired by the Ojibway Anishnaabe legend of the forest fire and the hummingbird who does what they can in the face of an overwhelming situation, we dropped off small care packages for the staff on shift last Friday. 🐦

It is our hope that this helped to remind them that the community is grateful, and that we will do what we can to support their wellbeing.

If you see their van around, please thank these workers for all that they do, and ask your mayoral candidate how they will ensure equitable pay and appropriate supports to keep these workers well. 🙏

Many thanks to Earthen vessels and our frontline worker advisory group members for donating space and time for this undertaking 💜

08/12/2026

Community members and frontline workers at Belong Ottawa's Centre 454 are facing closure if they are unable to find a new location.

They are seeking support to request an extension of their deadline from the City. If you would like to add your name to this petition, you can do so here: https://nwmd.social/s/copylink/4wmHaUSLeu7Nw7uOnuk=/b

For over 70 years, Centre 454, a Community Ministry of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa, has been providing essential support to vulnerable people in the city. Each day, about 300 people rely on the centre for basic needs including food, access to showers, laundry machines and cots to rest.

The City of Ottawa, which provides core funding for the program, has advised Belong Ottawa that Centre 454, one of Belong’s service centres, will need to relocate from its long-time home at St. Albans Church with a current deadline of end of January 2027.

Belong Ottawa has sent a written request for extension of the transition timeline.

Read more: https://bit.ly/45kobAo

Belong Ottawa

08/10/2026

We are ever grateful to the generosity of spirit from Clare at Ottawa Community Energy Healing, and the open and compassionate hearts of all who attended our recent sound bath.

It was a pleasure to be able to share in the experience, as well as to have space to discuss all that is afoot in our community that affects the lives of frontline workers and the community members that they care for.

It was a beautiful balance of collective care: offering space for frontline workers to restore and refresh, and increasing awareness of community members about the social and political factors affecting workers.

We hope to offer another experience with Ottawa Community Ottawa Community Energy Healing in the fall. Stay tuned!

07/31/2026

So helpful that these conversations are now beginning, as we have heard this from so many frontline workers over the years ❤️‍🩹

Let us know if this touches you and your work, as we explore options for your support.

Professional grief is a hidden reality for helping professionals. Learn how cumulative loss affects healthcare, social workers, and caregivers, and discover healthy ways to acknowledge and process grief.

07/30/2026

Join us on Monday, August 31 from 11:00am-1:00pm for International Overdose Awareness Day at the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights Monument at 220 Elgin Street in Ottawa.

The event will feature speakers addressing the on-going crisis and info tables.

Following the event, we hope that you will join us on a 4km walk from the monument beginning at 1:30pm, passing by Centre 454, Sandy Hill CHC / CSC Côte-de-sable and the former site of "The Trailer" on Murray Street, before ending up on Parliament Hill to close off "Steps To Remember 2026". If you aren't up for a walk, join us on Parliament Hill at approximately 3:00pm for closing remarks.

07/30/2026

Equity and care shouldn’t be political…

07/23/2026

SHARING

07/19/2026

Many of you may have heard about the wonderful work of frontline workers from the Alternate Neighbourhood Crisis Response (ANCHOR) program based out of Somerset West Community Health Centre and Centretown CHC | CSC du Centre-ville. If you haven’t, ANCHOR is a community-led, culturally sensitive and equity centered service that provides mental health and substance use crisis support to Ottawa residents. Importantly and significantly, THEY NEVER CLOSE - offering compassionate care within our community to people facing crises in our community 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

With the closures of supervised consumption sites, they have been even more overworked, as they try to respond to the growing need for care in our community. We realize that it’s critical that we care for these caregivers, or they risk burning out.

Our clay workshops with Earthen vessels offer but a bit of respite amidst the ongoing demands of their work.

At a recent workshop with their leadership team, several individuals attempted to craft a planter with the small ball of clay that was meant to hold just an ounce of water as a tool for the workshop. Though their efforts to make do with what was clearly insufficient for the task was a bit funny, it was also a sad reflection of what these workers do every day - making do with insufficient resources. 💔 Some also joked that their planters would make an appropriate-sized coffee mug to keep them going throughout their shift! ☕ Others reflected on the diversity of their clay creations - much like the ANCHOR team itself. 🌈

We are truly grateful to be able to offer collective care for these genuinely warm, compassionate and kind souls who are ANCHOR. Are thoughts were also with those unable to attend because of work demands.

Perhaps next time you see their modest vans (not helicopters!) in the neighbourhood, you can thank them for their service. 🙏We must also commit to ensuring that they receive equitable pay, benefits and mental healthcare as other first responders.

07/18/2026

SHARING

July 15th!

First and Third Wednesdays
Grief & Care Under Capitalism
7-9pm Pacific

We are in a constant state of collective grief. Grief doesn't occur only when someone dies. Struggling under the weight of racial capitalism, transphobia, ableism, and other forms of violence and oppression that we navigate daily takes a toll on us that we are often not consciously aware of. When people feel inexplicably sad, burnt out, or tired as hell, "you need better self-care" is the response that is too often thrown back at us. We can work as hard as possible to care of ourselves, but there are limits to healing when we are inundated with trauma that we cannot control.

This support group is for people needing a space to talk with other folks who feel exploited and exhausted by capitalism. Most grief support groups are death-related, so we at A Sacred Passing decided to offer a space to grieve the other ways in which we struggle.

The Grief & Care Under Capitalism support group is a facilitated space with conversation directed by participants, offered virtually via Zoom on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month from 7-9pm PST. The group is free, though donations to A Sacred Passing are always welcomed. This is a drop-in group, so you can join us once or several times, with no need to commit to multiple sessions.

No need to regiser: bit.ly/griefandcare