Green Wood Coalition is a radically inclusive community that honours the worth of each person, regardless of circumstances. The term ‘radically inclusive’ is both an aspiration and the challenge of each day. The magic of Green Wood has always been about uncovering our community’s hidden strengths and rallying people around the things we all care about.
For the small staff, and active community members, that means embracing a model of caring that walks alongside people living with poverty, mental and physical illness, drug dependency, and disability. By focusing on what’s strong, not what’s wrong, Green Wood works toward positive change that leaves no one behind.
Green Wood was birthed when some regular folks, mostly women, reached out to their Port Hope neighbours who were struggling with poverty and health concerns. In 2008, a partnership with Community Health Centres of Northumberland created a synergy that became transformative for the health of many individuals who had become disconnected from healthcare.
While Green Wood takes an informal or relational approach, their staff value the unique role of institutional partners and appreciates the opportunity to collaborate on innovative solutions. When a person is faced with barriers to housing, healthcare or finding food to eat, Green Wood’s staff and community members are there to listen and help to take the next step. They believe that the people living the struggle are the experts, so they build relationships that allow them to learn from each other.
Green Wood has always held space for hands-on, creative work that’s healing and transformative. Whether making art, growing a garden, or sharing stories together, they break down the walls that divide a community, building trust and healthy connection.
Two unique offerings of Green Wood that have had significant impact and are expanding, are the High Fidelity WrapAround life planning process and RedPath, the community-based, recovery program rooted in a four room theory and Indigenous worldview.
WrapAround is a person driven, team-based planning process that develops an individualized plan using the strengths of the person and their team. With the assistance of a WrapAround Facilitator they develop practical strategies that the whole team can support to effectively address the person’s needs.
The 20-module RedPath program offers a low-barrier option to a person seeking recovery from substance dependency, without leaving their community. Through creative work and wisdom tales, an individual is able to uncover the roots of their addiction, the first step to healing.
Green Wood staff have a diversity of education, training and lived experience, all essential to understanding individual concerns and wider community navigation. Providing street-level outreach to people who have been marginalized by poverty or disability means connecting them to essential services and practical solutions.
But beyond that, Green Wood’s vision is for building strong social connections to a community where each person’s gifts are valued and have found a place to belong.
