12 October 2004

HHS Deputy Secretary Visits Community Women's Shelter to Launch Project for Homeless Women

MHS collaborates with Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board and
Recovery Resources to provide comprehensive services and evaluate outcomes.

Alcohol and drug addictions are serious problems for many homeless women who come to the Community Women's Shelter that MHS began operating in February of this year. Addictions lead to homelessness, and hurt efforts to find and retain housing.  Many homeless women cannot obtain drug treatment because providers have limited openings for new clients, and because the women lack affordable and reliable transportation to treatment sites. Finding help is even more difficult for addicted women who have co-occurring mental disorders, such as depression or post-traumatic anxiety disorders.   Addictions complicate the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders, and few providers have programs that address the specific needs of those with co-occurring disorders.   Even fewer providers have such services for those who are homeless.

To remedy this, MHS collaborated with the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services (ADAS) Board of Cuyahoga County, Recovery Resources, and the University of Akron's Institute for Health and Social Policy to submit a proposal in May of this year for a collaborative service program to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  In late September, HHS announced that the proposal had been approved.

On Thursday, 6 October 2004, the Honorable Claude A. Allen, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) came to the Community Women's Shelter to launch the new project.  He presented a check for $400,000 to Russell S. Kaye, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services (ADAS) Board of Cuyahoga County, to fund the first year of specialized services for homeless women who have alcohol or drug addictions, and co-occurring mental disorders.

Steven M. Friedman, Ph.D., MHS Executive Director, spoke about the promise of collaboration among organizations to bring coordinated and effective services to the women of the Shelter.   He was joined by Julie Rittenhouse, President of the MHS Board of Trustees, and Trustee Richard Robbins.   The new project will serve 50 women a year, for five years.   Recovery Resources, a provider of mental health and addiction recovery services, will provide Shelter clients with the services of two case managers.  Harvey Siegal, Ph.D., of Wright State University, will train the case managers to implement a treatment protocol he developed that has been shown by research studies to be effective.   Richard Stephens, Ph.D., of the University of Akron, will direct the program evaluation.

Dr. Mark Bondeson, Vice Chair of the ADAS Board, welcomed Mr. Allen and spoke about the Board's enthusiasm for this project.   Also present were ADAS Board staff members Beth Pfohl and David Smith; staff members of Recovery Resources, including Executive Director Helen Jones; and William Denihan, Executive Director of the Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board.

At right, Angel Jacobs of the Community Women's Shelter shows the Honorable Claude Allen one of the Shelter's bedrooms.  Ms Jacobs also described how shelter services help women to achieve health and housing.   The Shelter has the capacity to serve 134 women and children on bunk beds, and an additional 50 on mats.   In September 2004, the average number of women and children at the Shelter each night was 135.

From the left are Russell Kaye, Ph.D., of the ADAS Board, Secretary Allen, and Steven M. Friedman, Ph.D., Executive Director of MHS.

Here, Mr. Allen speaks with Helen Jones, Executive Director of Recovery Resources, and Richard Stephens, Ph.D., of the University of Akron.

This project is an important demonstration of the commitment of the County's Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board and the Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board to create programs of integrated services for those with co-occurring substance-use and mental health problems.   These two Boards jointly commissioned and funded a study of the service needs of those with co-occurring disorders, and published a candid and seminal report of their findings in December, 2001 (Griffin & Wertheimer, 2001).   The report concluded that most clients with these co-occurring disorders were “receiving the types of fragmented and disintegrated care that the national research indicates [is] least likely to result in positive treatment outcomes (p. 13)” and found that the County faces an acute shortage of treatment capacity specifically targeting persons with co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders (p. 37).

In the existing system of services, the report noted that people who have "both mental illness and substance use disorders who receive standard mental health services do not have substance abuse issues addressed as a primary, co-occurring disorder. Clients with mental health disorders who are served in the alcohol and drug system do not ordinarily receive services tailored to their mental health needs. National research confirms that, when treated in this sequential or parallel fashion, the ... client will show little signs of improvement over time" (p. 35).

The report cited research indicating that effectively integrating "actual clinical services at agencies encountering clients with ... co-occurring disorders as opposed to the reorganization of the [Boards] that oversee the delivery of mental health and substance abuse treatment services is the most important factor that can lead to improved outcomes." (p. 43).  This new SAMHSA-funded project will provide these integrated services.

Reference
Griffin, P., Wertheimer, D. (2001) Both Sides of the Bridge: Developing Integrated Systems to Enhance Treatment and Supportive Services for Persons with Co-Occurring Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders in Cuyahoga County. Cleveland, OH; The Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board of Cuyahoga County and The Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board.