Welcome (Back) Laurence!

A big ‘welcome back’ …

to Laurence Braun-Woodbury as a Director of GSS Housing and Support Services. In that role, Laurence will be overseeing the RTT, HF, D&D, HELP, and CAT teams*.

Laurence comes to us from the Bissell Centre where he was the Director of Community Development and Advocacy for three years. There, he was responsible for a supportive housing unit, an employment program, a community space drop-in, and an analysis and evaluation team. Those were three productive years where Laurence contributed to significant program improvements including modernizing Supportive Housing, launching a data-focused social enterprise, and securing significant public funds for day services.

Prior to that, Laurence gained rich experience at GSS that he can draw on in his new role. He  joined GSS in 2018 as a Crisis Worker at Balwin Place then worked as a Team Lead in the MSD, a manager of HST, and a Senior Manager overseeing SCS, MSD/POD, and George's House.

Laurence started in human services over a decade ago in Toronto working front line at a nine-story Supportive Housing site on Queen street for an organization called the Fred Victor Centre.

Away from work, Laurence’s hobbies include writing fiction and non-fiction. Check out his first novel, Glamorous Failures, published by an Edmonton press in 2023. Great to have you back, Laurence, and we look forward to your energy, experience, and ideas enriching our programs and services.

*Recovery Treatment Team, Housing First, Desistance & Divergence Team, Human-Centered Engagement and Liaison Partnership Team, and the Clinical Access Team