May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Access to mental healthcare is essential for everyone. But experiencing homelessness can exacerbate mental illnesses. And can make it more difficult to get treatment.
Local Partners Offering Mental Healthcare
Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services (GCBHS) is the largest mental healthcare provider in the Greater Cincinnati region. They serve more than 30,000 people across all their programs annually. GCBHS also provides street outreach services to people experiencing homelessness. Whether on the streets, in encampments, or living out of their cars. Street Outreach teams at GCBHS work to move people off the streets and into shelter or housing.
Additionally, GCBHS staff work closely with people experiencing homelessness in shelter. They help them access mental healthcare in the shelters. GCBHS is on-site in shelters as well as stand-alone service sites. They provide diagnostic assessments and on-going counseling. Making it as easy as possible for people to access the services they need.
Additionally, other partners that offer mental healthcare services:
- Talbert House
- The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Cincinnati
- Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Mental Health for Children
Our partners offer mental health services for both adults and children experiencing homelessness. Our local family shelters, the YWCA Greater Cincinnati, Found House IHN, and Bethany House Services offer mental health services at their facilities. They do this through a partnership with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC).
According to Providing Care for Children and Adolescents Facing Homelessness and Housing Insecurity in the American Academy of Pediatrics:
“A series of studies on adverse childhood experiences has shown that multiple toxic stressors that begin in childhood can have long-term adverse effects on a child’s neurobiological make-up, cognitive ability, mental health, and ability to manage stressors as an adult.”
A Critical Service
It’s critical that our homeless services system has early interventions so that neighbors can be stably housed. And these early interventions include access to mental health services. Additionally, these services that start in shelter can continue after the family exits shelter. Thereby providing them with mental healthcare for as long as they need.
Additionally, access to mental healthcare plays a critical role in the Housing First model. First get people are stably housed. Then they are more likely to be successful at addressing other issues like chemical dependency and mental health.
Finally, access to mental healthcare can play an important role in the journey of people experiencing homelessness. This May, for Mental Health Awareness Month, we are grateful for our partnerships with GCBHS, Talbert House, the VA, and CCHMC. They offer quality mental healthcare services. Services that are vital to ensure that some people experiencing homelessness can get back to housing stability.
