Soul Space Ottawa

06/19/2026

Last week we enjoyed a HOT 🥵 but beautiful day retreat with the Ottawa Newcomer Health and Mental Health teams from Somerset West Community Health Centre. It's always a special time when a team returns as part of an annual team event, and folks are looking forward to their time together.

We are grateful for these community caregivers as they support so many members of our community, and rarely have time for their own self-care. We were honoured to offer them a moment of collective care, including energy healing and Indigenous wisdom teaching with Jenny Šâwanohk 🪶, forest bathing with Myriam Desmarquis 🍃, art therapy with Brenda Cleary 🎨, and peer support from Nicole Giroux 💞. We were also embraced by the land at Ciel et Bois, and the nourishment of Triple Jae Kitchen!

In addition to this collective of care, a true moment of community was experienced as we held a moment of silence and offered the written hopes, fears and prayers into the fire from a community grief circle offered to harm reduction workers in May. 🔥

Somerset West Community Health Centre Pleine Nature Jenny Šâwanohk Ciel et Bois

06/14/2026

Community coming together to care for those in need of support. Miigwech to these beautiful community caregivers ❤️🤍💛🖤

06/12/2026

“Bobby Jamison from Soul Space weighs in on how people working on the frontline of harm reduction are feeling.”

You may recognize our co-founder, Bobby J, from his community outreach on our streets where he does his best work providing compassionate care to community members.

You may also have heard his calm, but inspiring voice recently on Ottawa Morning with Rebecca Zandbergen where he spoke about the impact of CTS site closures on frontline workers and community members.

If you haven’t already, you can catch the full interview on CBC's Ottawa Morning - Segment Title: Ottawa's top doctor paints bleak picture of a city without supervised consumption sites - Aired May 28

We are grateful for you and your courageous heart 💗, Bobby!

06/10/2026

Although we have been operating since 2019 (with administrative support from First United Church in Ottawa), Soul Space Collective Care was formally incorporated as an independent non-profit organization last summer. ☀️

Now that we've gotten ourselves (mostly) organized, we'd like to introduce you to our new Board of Directors who ensure that our care of frontline community workers is relevant, equitable, accessible, safe, and accountable to those that we serve:

Brenda Cleary (Vice Chair)
Myriam Desmarquis (Chair)
Nicole Giroux (Frontline Worker Advisory Group Co-Chair)
Ken Hoffman (Treasurer and Secretary)
Robert Jamison ( Co-Founder & Frontline Worker Advisory Group Co-Chair)
Ginger McCoy
Danielle Rolfe (Executive Director & Co-Founder, Ex-Officio)
Jenny Sâwanohk
Pam Twagirayezu

We are grateful for these volunteers, who bring their passion for collective care, as well as their experience as frontline workers, social workers, healthcare professionals, community engagement specialists, and social entrepreneurs. 🙏

06/08/2026

Last Monday we enjoyed the energy and enthusiasm of a wonderful group of community carers from Pinecrest Queensway Community Health Centre's Youth Programs!

These lovely souls support youth in our community to ensure their wellbeing and best outcomes. It was our pleasure to give these folks time to play, something that many said they hadn't done in far too long!

Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre .pqchc

06/08/2026

06/05/2026

When our team heard about the defunding of Consumption and Treatment Services sites at Sandy Hill CHC / CSC Côte-de-sable and Ottawa Inner City Health, there were a lot of emotions among our team members, including our Frontline Worker Advisory Group (FLAG). Despite the heaviness, our FLAG team members organized to offer the collective care to affected teams and their workers in the ways that we have been for several years.

While we know that working with clay, connecting as a community, and offering a shared space in which to experience grief will not fix the deeply problematic and unjust issues facing workers and our community, we were affirmed that collective care offers hope and solace in the face of fear, anger, and sadness.

The nurses, community and harm reduction workers who courageously showed up for these offerings, as well as those who could not, are to be commended for their unwavering commitment to care and community.

Whatever the future holds, we are eternally grateful for all that they do, and will continue to do as compassionate leaders and carers.

Please join us in thanking them for meeting people where they are at, offering radical love, and persevering in a system that does not make their work easy. 💔🕊💜