Dennis is a veteran of the Canadian military and served in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Having worked his way into a position of leadership in the military, he remembers the pain of making decisions to send his men into situations they often did not return from. Ultimately, he left service after being shot in the leg. It took 6 months to finish the surgeries he needed, and another 2 years to learn how to walk on it again.

Following his time in the military, Dennis worked in the logging industry. He enjoyed financial success for many years. Despite this, he continued to battle with the symptoms of PTSD and occasional pain from his injury.

He began using cocaine recreationally in the late ‘80s and ‘90s and was able to pull himself away from it for a period when he became aware of the dangerous changes in the drug supply.

Without proper treatment, and with continued pain, however, he returned to drug use in the past few years to cope. He quickly realized that his pain was only increasing and managed to get himself into treatment.

After a three-month program, he returned to the apartment he shared with his then girlfriend to find that all his belongings had been sold or removed. He no longer had a place to live, any income, and was in a vulnerable place.

Having been aware of the homeless population in Victoria, and often taking time to lend a kind word to those he felt were grossly misunderstood, Dennis found himself camping alongside them in Irving Park.

“I never thought I would be homeless myself,” he says.

Dennis felt an overwhelming sense of shame and burden. He refused to lean on his daughter for fear of hurting her. He would tell her he was out of town for work or find other reasons to avoid visits.

“It destroyed me,” he says of his time on the street. “I was shivering and shaking and thinking, ‘what am I doing here?’”

Dennis was homeless for 3 months before being referred to Our Place’s transitional shelter. There, he spent some time stabilizing until a spot opened up at Our Place’s Albina Street housing.

Here, Dennis is thriving. 

He has been living at Albina Street for almost a year and is known by staff and residents alike to go above and beyond to help others.

“I still have nightmares because of PTSD, and I can only sleep a couple hours a night, but I like this place because I can help out. The staff are awesome. I love them,” he says about his time at Albina Street so far.

In his free time, he’s back to swimming at a local community centre and he’s on the board of a local club supporting other veterans. Perhaps most importantly, he’s had a chance to finally reconnect with his daughter and granddaughters.

“I want them to be proud of their grandpa,” he says as he reflects on their visits to the local park together.

As more and more people are finally moving off our streets, there are hundreds of journeys like Dennis’s that are just beginning.

Thank you for making his story possible.