|
Through its Rock-Ward Center, QCI provides mental
health and support services to homeless individuals and families with mental illness, including youth and adolescents, the
elderly, pregnant and abused women, people with HIV, veterans etc. PATH and outreach grants enable QCI to provide critical
services to 100's of individuals and families each year. The service delivery plan includes the following multiple steps:
• Locate street dwellers with the help of local authorities and other agencies serving homeless people
• Proceed to engage the identified individuals and in the process develop a rapport and trust utilizing a non-judgmental
approach and expressing no solutions or expectations of results
• Assess the homeless individuals to determine
their mental health, substance abuse and somatic care needs moving quickly to respond to their immediate concerns. The need
for immediate response will be understood on a multi-level continuum, e.g., from basic hunger to the danger of incarceration.
The provision of personal emergency supplies will be made accessible by the providers in the out-reach engagement program.
• From the assessment flows decisions about:
a) what can informally be achieved within the engagement
component of the program,
b) which QCI program component will the homeless person be linked to {i.e. ACT, out-patient,
and/or psychiatric rehabilitation}, and
c) how other county programs, such as, Laurel Advocacy Referral Program,
County shelters, Safe Haven and Warm Nights winter shelters, Prince Georges Hospital, and 12-step programs are complementary
to this linkage process.
• Once the homeless individuals are stabilized through QCI services and/or outside
agencies, outreach staff provides intensive follow-along services including the development of longer-term housing strategies.
• The success of these services is evaluated through survey feedback and other quality assurance processes. Respondents
include current and previous QCI clients and/or other stakeholder agencies.
LINKS TO RESOURCES
|
