25 August 2004

MHS Becomes Partner Agency of
United Way Services of Greater Cleveland.

Funds Will Help Train Staff to Use Evidence-Based Services

MHS is honored to become a partner agency of United Way Services of Greater Cleveland (UWS). The UWS Executive Committee approved funding for MHS homeless shelter services. MHS operates a 50-bed Emergency Shelter for Disabled Men, and a 135-bed Community Women's Shelter.�� UWS funding will allow MHS to train staff members to provide Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment for clients who have a co-occurring serious mental illness, and an alcohol and/or drug addiction. UWS has more than 130 partner agencies with programs that serve more than 400,000 people each year.

Alcohol and drug use is a serious problem for about 56% of MHS homeless clients, and is a major impediment to their achievement of permanent housing. The use of alcohol and non-prescribed drugs is also strongly associated with violent (including suicidal) conduct, the development of infectious diseases and other serious medical problems, and hospitalization. The Cleveland and Cuyahoga County Office of Homeless Services has estimated that 38% of homeless individuals in Cuyahoga County have a chronic substance use disorder, 24% have a severe mental disorder, and 13% have co-occurring substance use and severe mental disorders. In the 1996 National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients, 23% of the 2,938 homeless individuals surveyed were reported to have co-occurring mental health and substance use problems.

UWS funding will allow MHS to train staff members to provide integrated mental health and substance abuse treatment services that are evidence-based. These are standardized services that have been demonstrated by scientific studies to lead to favorable treatment outcomes, using objective outcome measures.� The New Hampshire-Dartmouth Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment (IDDT) model has been demonstrated to improve the quality of life for those with co-occurring severe mental disorders and substance-use disorders.�� The Ohio Substance Abuse and Mental Illness Coordinating Center of Excellence (Ohio SAMI CCOE) will provide MHS with training and consultation. The Ohio SAMI CCOE is a partnership between Case Western Reserve University, the Ohio Department of Mental Health, and the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services.

The IDDT model recognizes that people with addictive disorders vary in their readiness to change, and offers clients different interventions based on their current stage of readiness.� IDDT also emphasizes assertive outreach, which has long been a value of MHS outreach programs, and easy access to comprehensive services as a client's needs change, a value that has guided the development of the continuum of MHS� Homeless Assistance programs.

Patrick E. Boyle, Director of Clinical Training of the Ohio SAMI CCOE, states that he's eager to help MHS programs learn and adopt this integrated, evidence-based treatment model.

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Copyright (c) 2004 Mental Health Services for Homeless Persons, Inc. (MHS)
All Rights Reserved. MHS, 1736 Superior Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44114 U.S.A.
Voice - 216-623-6555 / TDD - 216-623-6540
Julie Rittenhouse, President, Board of Trustees
Steven M. Friedman, Ph.D., Executive Director

MHS is a contract agency of the Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board, and is honored to be a new agency of United Way Services of Greater Cleveland, Inc. The MHS website is at http://www.mhs-inc.org