2. Introduction: The Problem
Los Angeles, CA, estimated 48,000 people homeless, 50 block
area called Skid Row has more homeless people than the
whole homeless population of San Francisco.
32.7% of people on the streets suffer from a mental illness,
compared to the 15.7% of non-homeless living with mental
illness (Audrey).
Mental illness: a person’s emotions, thoughts, or behavior are
so abnormal that it causes severe suffering.
Psychosis: severe disconnect from reality and can suffer
delusions and hallucinations
11% of homeless patients suffer from Schizophrenia(Audrey).
Seemingly endless cycle of going from the streets, to jail, to
hospitalizations, and back on the streets.
3. The Causes
Many believe homelessness is something completely
unrelated to them but in fact 14 million Americans have a
period of homelessness throughout their life time
(Coldwell).
One of the biggest reasons for the influx of homelessness
was mental asylums shutting down. When the asylum
era was truly blooming in the beginning of the 20th
century there was a balance of care for long-term
residents but social stigma and government caused these
homes to become dilapidated (Smith).
Many asylums ended up having to close which gave its
residents nowhere to go. There has been an effort to
open community based care centers but a lot have failed
because of funding and other reasons.
4. The Consequences
30%-60% of individuals with a serious illness are not
taking the medications they need to
Cycle of incarceration, homelessness, and emergency
hospitalizationsresult in a higher rate of health care
costs for these people, which trap them even more
(Smith).
15.3% of jail inmates have been homeless in the past
year, 7.5-11.3 times higher than the general U.S.
population. Among those homeless inmates mental
illness, was 10%-22% more prevalent than non-
homeless inmates (Greg).
5. The Community
The mental health community program has a simple
mission statement to get mentally ill people off the
streets and give them the opportunity to have a new
life.
The program will target those who have psychosis
problems
The program will offer these people many things
including a place to sleep, therapy, psychiatry for
medications, job counseling, and other amenities.
If the program is successful I plan to expand it to
other cities.
6. The Community: Patients
The patients will be
delegated responsibilities
and as they improve in
recovery they will get more
responsibilities.
Responsibilities start with
making your bed in the
morning to cooking dinner
to group therapy leaders.
The patients will be sharing
a room with another person
that they will need to
interact with and socialize.
7. The Community: Staff
Licensed clinical psychologists to run individual and
group therapy sessions with the patients.
There will be a therapist in the community 24 hours
a day in case of emergencies.
1 or 2 psychiatrists who will be able to prescribe the
patients the medication they need to take.
Nurses to perform health check-ups on the patients
because their physical health is just as important as
their mental health.
8. The Community: Services
Individual Therapy: this will be a one-on-one session
with the patient and therapist. They will tackle root
issues of the disorder and work towards a better state of
mind.
Group Therapy: placing patients with similar disorders
together will help them feel connected to someone and
socialize.
Psychiatric Help: patients will meet with a psychiatrist to
develop a medication regiment in order to help recover
Other: health check-ups, job counseling, and family
therapy sessions
9. Goals and Objectives
The homeless rates in cities
like Los Angeles is
appalling, especially when
it comes to people that
cannot escape without
help, and that is where this
program steps in.
With this community we
hope to save these people
from chronic
homelessness. To free
them of a menacing fate of
jails, hospitals, and
homelessness.
10. Goals and Objectives
Healthy lifestyle
through mental and
physical check-ups.
Safety and a place to
sleep so family
members will no longer
have to worry.
Once completed their
treatment they will be
able to enter the
workforce and start a
new life.
11. Timeline: The First Year
Month 1:
Find a facility
Assemble a dream team
Month 2:
Creating the facility
Recruitment
Month 3:
Finding patients
Month 4-7:
Introducing the
Community
Group Staff Meetings
Month 8:
Business as Usual
Group Staff Meeting
Quarterly Meeting
Month 9-11:
Business as Usual
Group Staff Meetings
Month 12:
Business as Usual
Group Staff Meeting
Quarterly Meeting
The community will
continue to run in the
fashion indefinitely.
12. Conclusion
The devastating truth behind
many of the homeless we roll
our eyes at and ignore is
something we need to face
and deal with strongly.
Community care can increase
patient’s quality of life,
decrease days spent homeless,
and decrease government
costs (Gilmer).
Give families their children,
siblings, parents back. A
mental health community can
restore these people’s hopes
and dreams.
