My name is Jase Watford and I used to be homeless, addicted and mental illness. I battled for a hard 8 years, and I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for libraries. They provided me with a safe space where I could go to focus on the things I needed to do to stabilize my life. The library helped me get grounded by providing me access to computers, printers alongside non-judgmental staff. They also helped encourage me to access community self help programs. But, most importantly, on the days where life was too much, the library would let me hide in the corner of a room so I could escape into a book for the day.
When I eventually got help with my issues, I found myself back at the library like many others that are in recovery. You see, recovery from addiction and mental illness needs consistent, healthy, and supportive structure from the community. I would take out books, DVDs, and things that were healthy, to help keep my mind in a good place — these things were vital in reforming my thinking and in developing healthy mental habits. By being able to access computers, get job interviews, view apartments, and access online mental health support, the library was a lifeline during this time.
I found online education and taught myself high school math and English so that I could take the college mature student test. It took me three tries, but eventually I passed. Now, as a poor person who has nothing, with all the free support from the library, I find myself in university in my final year of my philosophy degree, and in my 3rd year of my social work degree. The library helped me find my identity as a student and a scholar, first at college and now at university. I have the library to thank for this because I couldn’t have done it any other way. There were no other supports like this available at that time.
It was said by one of the city councillors during budget deliberations that Thunder Bay is going to be reduced to only roads and health care. But what about the moral potholes? If the city makes cuts to the library and other education and community service agencies, I can only imagine the drain on the city emergency services. People living with low incomes, people who may be battling addiction, homelessness and mental illness need their Public Libraries. Imagine people with no where to go to learn and grow, with nothing constructive to do — what will they turn to?
Community builds capacity, and if you don’t promote a healthy community, all you will ever be doing is responding to the increasing social issues and problems. There are mountains of research on how to strengthen and improve the health and well-being of a community, and public libraries are very high on that list.
Sincerely, a concerned resident.
Jase Watford
