New ED of the Cambridge Shelter Corporation (The Bridges)

Wayne Paddick Bio

With over 18 years of mental health nursing experience, Wayne’s career has spanned both in hospital and community work.  Wayne began his journey at the Homewood Health Centre in Guelph in 2003 before taking positions with Grand River Hospital Inpatient Adult Mental Health, the CCAC Mental Health and Addictions Nursing (MHAN) program for students in schools, and the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) as the nurse on their Specialized Outreach Service (SOS) in Cambridge.  In 2019, Wayne joined the Cambridge Shelter Corporation as the first mental health nurse to work directly for a shelter in the province and in his role as Manager of Mental Health and Housing services saw his team house over 180 unique individuals during the pandemic.  In the summer of 2022, his predecessor and Bridges inaugural Executive Director Anne Tinker, re-retired and passed the baton to Wayne.  The focus of the shelter remains the same in that we feel that everyone deserves shelter and everyone deserves their own set of keys to their forever home.  Since the beginning of COVID, the shelter has now housed 198 individuals and with the help of the Region of Waterloo’s rental top up program we expect that number to rise in 2023.  It is Wayne’s goal to continue the Housing First work at the shelter and assist in reducing the number of Waterloo citizens that identify as being homeless.