Mental illness creates barrier for Newton's homeless
Newton Daily NewsNov 22, 2017
Zach said the majority of people she works with have some type of mental illness. Her first step is encouraging them to connect with
"There are just so many resources we can connect them to ... they can get three months of mental health treatment, and we can help with prescriptions if that's needed," Zach said. "The first priority is we want them to get to feeling better so they have the chance to get a job and get the money it's going to take to get into a place."
Zach sees a consistent number of homeless in the community, she said, working now with clients who have been homeless for a year or two.
"People don't want to realize we do have homelessness," Zach said. "The community thinks it's small scale. Nobody wants to say they are homeless."
"A lot of people we get in for therapy who report they are homeless are wanting help because they lost their job or their family has alienated them because of substance abuse issues or something like that."
She said finding affordable and livable housing can be a difficult obstacle to overcome, particularly when people with a past can't pass a background check to live in subsidized housing.
"I do think when they have a mental illness, it may be more difficult for them to navigate the system -- they don't have a place to live because they've burned their bridges in
"We see the inability to maintain where they're at and then background checks are impossible for some of them to clear," Wright said.
However, Optimae's services are crafted to help meet needs like maintaining safe, affordable housing. Those involved in its supported community living address those concerns.
"It's making sure paperwork gets completed, not losing subsidies, keeping it clean free of bugs or trash," Wright said. "If they are in our program, that's part of what I do. We've been able to keep people in apartments as long as they abide by the rules."
There are about 80 people who receive Optimae's home-based services, Wright said.
The local provider added a mental health care unit to its
When mental health was identified as the most critical health care concern across
The coalition meetings have gathered providers, law enforcement and others to tackle some tough conversations, Gibson said.
Gibson's goals, along with local stakeholders in the mental health coalition, include improving coordination among community organizations to provide coordinated mental health services and increasing the quality and quantity of outpatient mental health/substance abuse services.
"We have been able to identify roadblocks, bottlenecks and frustrations that restrict access to mental health care," Gibson said. "We identified a need for mobile crisis, support groups for families and individuals with mental health concerns, all of which are in place now or will be in the near future."
Gibson said the grant works to help the community understand the current mental health care environment with a reduced number of beds, Skiff's emergency department is often not able to be the solution to mental health crisis that it once was.
"By working with providers such as Capstone,
Challenges for both
"It requires us to stay with the person constantly. It also takes a room at the emergency room and staff at the emergency room because they have their obligation to treat the patient as well," Halferty said.
"Statewide the same issues remain, with the significant lack of available beds for patients with mental health needs. When there is a delay in finding a bed, patients can experience long ED stays," Ranck said.
At the
Halferty said mental health continues to be at the forefront of their duties at the
"Without a doubt, we have had individuals and we currently have individuals who are in jail because either no (mental health) resources or facilities were available," Halferty said. "What happens many times is the individual is in a condition where they won't accept resources, and they end up committing a criminal act, misdemeanor crimes, and they end up in jail unable to bond out."
Outside of the jail, Halferty said much time is spent during mental health commitments and evaluations, transporting for evaluations and treatment and responding to calls for service for individuals in crisis.
"Many times our resources are exhausted due to the number of individuals who are suffering from mental health and/or substance abuse issues," Halferty said. "This affects our entire office from dispatchers handling mental health calls to our office staff handling the documentation."
Halferty said the mental health crisis needs to be addressed by a collective group of citizens and elected officials to push for legislation to help.
"Jail is not the easy answer for someone in crisis, but many times they end up there, due to a criminal charge," Halferty said.
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