Widespread homelessness among
mentally ill New Yorkers became a fact of life in the 1980s
due in large part to the combination of a huge loss of low-cost
housing through gentrification and the failure of policy
makers to create adequate community-based care for mentally
ill people released from long-term hospitalizations. So
Project Renewal created a range of programs to provide psychiatrically
disabled New Yorkers with whatever assistance they need
to move from the streets to independent living and employment.
The goal is to give clients the tools they need to live
more and more independently.
Street Outreach
Mental illness is - in and of itself - highly isolating.
Outsiders can be seen as threats or, at the very least,
usually have no understanding of what is going on in the
afflicted individual's mind. Once a mentally ill person
becomes homeless, he is all the harder to reach, since the
dangers associated with living on the streets isolate people
even more. So it becomes extremely challenging to create
sufficiently trusting relationships with homeless individuals
suffering from mental illness to persuade them to accept
help and come indoors. Despite these challenges, Project
Renewal has been successfully working with homeless mentally
ill clients living on the streets of Manhattan (between
City Hall and 59th Street) since 1981. With counselors and
driver/aides, the street outreach teams offer clients food,
a bed and a familiar face in the hopes of getting them even
more help.
back
to top
Mobile Psychiatric
Teams
In addition to working with mentally ill New Yorkers living
on the street, Project Renewal also sends Mobile Psychiatric
Teams to privately-operated shelters and drop-in centers.
Composed of a psychiatrist, psychiatric nurse practitioner,
physician's assistant, nursing staff and a psychiatric aide,
the teams function as traveling psychiatric clinics, offering
clients evaluation and treatment including help with medication.
back
to top
Shelter Outreach
This program brings our skilled professionals to the municipal
shelter system, to assess and recommend treatment for homeless,
mentally-ill women. Our case managers then help to place
clients in transitional or permanent housing, and develop
a support system that includes psychiatric and medical care,
financial entitlements, and assistance with long-term rehabilitative
goals including education and employment.
back
to top
Safe Haven
Our Safe Haven is a reception center for homeless, mentally-ill
men and women and provides transitional housing to those
who are ready and willing to come indoors. Referred directly
from Project Renewal's Outreach Teams, clients have access
to meals, showers, laundry and clothing, as well as psychiatric
services, benefits assistance, and supportive housing placement.
In 20056, 84% of clients moved into supportive or
transitional housing and 66% completed either job
training or a vocational program.
 The
mother of four, Wendy came to the Safe Haven after two decades
of living on the streets... Read
more.
back
to top
Times Square Homeless
Engagement Project
Working in collaboration with the Times Square Business
Improvement District, our engagement teams provide intensive
outreach and on-the-street treatment services to hard-to-reach
homeless people in the Times Square area. Our team members
work toward engaging and assessing individuals, encouraging
them to 'come indoors' to our Times Square safe haven. Team
members then continue to work with these new clients on
health, housing and employment issues, providing them with
a continuity of care so critical to success with this fragile
population.
Victor
Fields - "I kept in contact with my Project Renwal case
manager he helped me with getting a job at the Times Square
Homeless Engagement Program... Read
more.
back
to top
New Providence
In 1998, we opened New Providence for homeless women. This
transitional housing program, located in a newly renovated
building on East 45th Street, serves two groups of clients:
50 women who are diagnosed as mentally-ill or mentally ill
and substance abusers, and 80 who are solely substance abusers.
At New Providence, women learn how to cope with their disabilities
and recreate their lives, eventually moving on to their
own housing and jobs. The New Providence program's goal
is to stabilize, treat and offer rehabilitation to women
who will ultimately be helped to move on to long-term housing.
Russian-born,
Zena had 15 years of homelessness and a lifetime of relocation
when she came to New Providence... Read
more.
back
to top
Fort Washington
Once a notorious men's shelter so renowned for violence
and drug activity that it was the backdrop to a major motion
picture about homelessness, our Fort Washington Program
now provides transitional housing to 200 mentally-ill men,
many of whom are also coping with substance abuse issues.
Case management and on-site rehabilitation programs help
residents connect to employment and housing.
Pedro
witnessed the entire decade of the 1990's from state psychiatric
inpatient wards... Read
more.
back
to top
Clinton Residence
In 1990, the City
and State signed the landmark New
York/New York Agreement , by which each would bear half
the cost of creating appropriate community housing-plus-supports
for homeless mentally ill New Yorkers. That pact eventually
created more than 3,600 units of supportive housing, and
one of the very first community settings to be funded was
Project Renewal's Clinton Residence on West 48th Street
in Manhattan. The Residence provided housing and round-the-clock
comprehensive supports to its 57 tenants, many of whom had
spent much of their adult years in psychiatric institutions.
Initially, the Clinton Residence was imagined as residents'
permanent home, because the severity of their illnesses
suggested they would never live any more independently.
But we found that
by offering clients closely coordinated comprehensive services
including psychiatric and medical care, case management
and employment assistance many of the residents could indeed
achieve goals they, and the medical community, never thought
possible. With the appropriate opportunities, clients began
establishing a network of family and friends, taking on
more and more responsibility and even pursuing employment.
As a result we changed the program to provide maximum support
for peoples' achievable goals of moving on and moving out.
We added a strong emphasis on employment, which has been
extremely successful both in improving clients' self-esteem
and their ability to live with greater independence. Clients
can work with nearby Fountain House, an excellent nonprofit
skilled in helping mentally ill people succeed; they can
work with our in-house printing operation, IMPRINTS;
or they can work with our Job
Links program, which helps individuals into competitive
employment. Also, recognizing that the move from the Clinton
Residence to less supervised settings was often too big
a step, we converted one of the residence's seven floors
into a "transitional" floor, where clients are still connected
to the Residence but take on much greater responsibilities.
As a result, 73% of the men and women who have come to the
Clinton have moved into more independent housing and all
continue to succeed in these new settings. And today, a
full 75% of the residents are involved in some type of employment
activity.
Robert
is perhaps the Clinton Residence's most famous resident,
being the subject of several books... Read
more.
 See
what the New York Daily News wrote about the Clinton Residence
(40K .doc)
See
what a New York Times Opinion piece said about the Clinton
Residence (32K .doc)
See
what part the Clinton played in a feature article in the
New York Times (.doc)
back
to top
LeonaBlanche house
Opened in 2004, and rechristened in 2006, the LeonaBlanche
house provides supportive housing to fifty three homeless
mentally ill New Yorkers. The residence fills an important
gap in Project Renewal's continuum of services for homeless
mentally ill individuals by providing housing that affords
less supervision than our Clinton Residence but more than
Holland House. The LeonaBlanche, located in the Bronx, allows
psychiatrically disabled New Yorkers to take that next step
toward independent living.
back to top
Parole
Support and Treatment Program
Project Renewal,
with the Department of Corrections and the state Office
of Mental Health is piloting an innovative new program to
help 50 mentally ill men and women successfully transition
from prison to a productive life in the community. The Parole
Support and Treatment Program starts working with clients
while they are still in prison to prepare them for life
on the outside. Once released, clients move into apartments
where they receive intensive support from a multidisciplinary
team to help them transition to community living.
back
to top
Job Links
Established in 1999, Job Links is an award-winning supported-employment
program for clients who suffer from severe and chronic mental
illness. Job Links' professionals train and prepare clients
for employment, place them in competitive jobs, and provide
extensive follow-up support to ensure smooth adjustment
to the work environment. The early success of Job Links
demonstrates that, given the proper supports, mentally ill
individuals can get and keep competitive jobs, helping them
to move on to independent living.
At
last December's State Office of Mental Health award ceremony,
Irene walked to the podium, took the microphone, and spoke
about her experience at Job Links to an audience of more
than 200... Read more.
back
to top
|
