New Up Hub website connects York Region residents to community resources

Jan. 16, 2029
Yorkregion.com
Lisa Queen

Richmond Hill’s Mary Worthington and Keswick’s Carleen Monsegue have suffered their share of misery.

Struggles in her life caused Worthington to lose her rented room in Newmarket about five years ago.

She found an emergency shelter bed before moving north to live in a trailer for six months, which forced her to give up her furniture and family keepsakes.

“It was devastating. I lost everything,” she said.

While Worthington was “blessed” by the support she received at the Newmarket women’s shelter, she also felt many of the young staff hadn’t experienced homelessness themselves and didn’t know the best way to access resources.

“That was no fault of their own. You don’t know what you haven’t learned yet,” said Worthington, who went on to become a wellness action planning facilitator and to secure a home in Oak Ridges.

Now, as a member of a peer advisory committee, she is sharing her experiences through a new tool called Up Hub, a website that acts as a road map for York Region residents needing support to live meaningful lives.

That includes those with mental health concerns, newcomers, seniors, new parents, LGBTQ residents, abuse survivors, children and youth, First Nations residents, residents facing homelessness and poverty, and people living with developmental disabilities.

Led by York Support Services Network, a community-based agency providing York Region residents facing mental health challenges and people living with developmental disabilities with case management and crisis response services, Uphub.ca is an online collection of tools and resources compiled by people with lived experience.

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It provides users with a list of more than 400 local services and resources personalized for them through a confidential self-assessment feature.

Users can also find uplifting stories from people struggling with similar experiences, which can help users feel inspired and connected to others.

“It means that people have access to all the knowledge that’s available in York Region at the click of a button and it’s organized, it’s there. A lot of times when you’re in crisis, it’s because something very traumatic has happened to you and you’re suddenly at a standstill, where you need help and you need it 10 minutes ago or yesterday. Whether you’ve been abused, whether you’ve lost your home, whether your kids have just been taken away from you, no matter what the issue is, it’s like having somebody at your beck and call,” Worthington said.

“To know you’re not alone, that feeling of being alone and scared and feeling judged or feeling that you’re going to be judged, it’s the worst feeling in the world. But for somebody to sit down and say ‘You know what? I understand, I get it, I’ve really been there, I’ve had this happen to me and this is what helped me, maybe we can try that with you and I’ll walk you through it. We all have our own journeys to take but I can walk it with you and get you started’.”

Users can also share their own stories and inspire others by using the Up Hub story pod, located at the network’s Aurora head office, or by submitting a video or written story from their own computer or mobile device, Cathy Sampaio-Lepiane, the network’s communications supervisor, said.

“It’s all about uplifting the community. How were you able to get through a situation? How you can help others get through similar situations?” she said.

“It’s peers helping peers, depending on what your circumstance is.”

Up Hub, supported through a $457,600 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, is an updated, expanded and online version of the popular York Region on a Limited Budget guide.

Monsegue, also a member of the Up Hub peer advisory committee, called herself a survivor of physical, sexual, emotional and financial abuse, both in Canada and in her homeland of Trinidad and Tobago.

“I’m a strong advocate to create awareness that every individual is important and we need to meet people where they are in a non-judgmental, anti-oppressive way of life and (through) communication,” she said.

“You don’t have to be stuck. There are people who have gone through (similar experiences) and we just want to walk alongside you.”

For more information, visit uphub.ca.