By The Empire State Coalition of Youth and Family
Services
Executive
Director:
Margo Hirsch
Project Director
James Bolas
Connecting the Pieces: Homeless
Youth and Mental Health Services, Finding a Fit that Works
All youth deserve to grow up safe, healthy
and prepared for the future; this is the philosophical underpinning
which guides the work of the Empire State Coalition of Youth and Family
Services. Young people who are homeless are at great risk of developing
a mental health problem and without appropriate intervention and treatment,
that problem will likely become a lifelong disorder hampering their
ability to complete their education, find and maintain adequate employment
and develop and sustain healthy relationships. In other words, they
will face great impediments to growing up safe, healthy and prepared
for the future.
This report firmly establishes that homeless
youth are suffering from mental health disorders in numbers that are
grossly disproportionate to that of the general adolescent population
yet the current system of care is not meeting those mental health
needs. In response, the report offers a wide range of innovative strategies
to pilot going forward. It is Empire State Coalition’s charge
to policy makers, service providers, and concerned citizens, to recognize
the impending crisis and reinvent how mental health services are provided
to our most vulnerable young people.
It is time to connect the pieces so that
every homeless youth showing signs of a mental health problem can
receive the individualized assistance they need and deserve to move
on to stability and self-sufficiency.
CONNECTING
THE PIECES - Homeless Youth and Mental Health Services - December
2010
HIV Rapid Testing Protocol $30
Educating and Counseling Runaway, Homeless and Street-Involved Youth
about Rapid HIV Testing.
A Roadmap of Best Practice for RHY Service Providers.
Rapid testing for HIV provides a new opportunity
for people who want to know their HIV sero-status. The guidelines
in this booklet have been developed to assist youth services workers
with helping runaway, homeless and street involved youth enhance
their knowledge and decision making ability regarding HIV rapid testing.
These guidelines reflect the knowledge, experiences and concerns of
youth services professionals and youth themselves. Young people from
programs, throughout New York City, serving runaway, homeless and
street involved youth participated in focus groups and interviews
to inform us on this issue. They represented youth between the
ages of 14 and 24, living in a variety of situations including:
the streets; shelters; transitional programs; and apartments. Male,
female, transgender, lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and questioning youth
were all represented as were youth from diverse racial and ethnic
backgrounds. Professionals working in a variety of different settings
and providing medical, educational, counseling and other services
to this population of young people also provided input through individual
and group interviews. Relevant literature and numerous research studies
were also reviewed for the purpose of developing this document. The
recommendations within this document reflect a harm reduction philosophy.
Relationship building, involving young people in self reflection and
decision making and employing a non judgmental approach to helping
them explore options and choices are strongly emphasized.
Disenfranchised (i.e. runaway, homeless and street-involved) youth
often present myriad issues resulting from their often chaotic lives.
We are offering this resource to effectively help youth build thorough
decision-making skills and enhance the resources and support of the
providers working with them.
Host Home Manual $30
This
is a Guide to Developing and Operating Host Home Programs For Youth
in Crisis.
Host Homes are a vital component of the nationwide array of models of
services available to runaway and homeless youth. Yet, because this
model is usually found in small or rural communities, or as an add on
to existing shelter services, there is often little opportunity for
programs around the country to get together, share experiences and exchange
ideas. The Empire State Coalition’s Host Home manual was developed as
a resource for both existing host home programs and for agencies preparing
to start a host home program.
The manual is a compilation of procedures, practice suggestions, insights
and materials contributed by host home staff, host families and youth
from our New York State Host Home Programs. The document is intended
to provide guidance to new programs regarding such things as outreaching
to and working with youth, staffing programs, host family recruitment
and support and program procedures. For existing programs, the manual
provides an opportunity to glean a wealth of new ideas and to discover
novel approaches to resolving ongoing issues of recruitment, retention,
evaluation, paperwork and training.
To order these or
other publications by Empire State Coalition, please contact us at:
info@EmpireStateCoalition.org.
