MHS - Cleveland, Ohio, USA - Homeless Assistance, Crisis Intervention

The mission of MHS is to help people gain control of their lives by forging solutions that resolve mental health crises and end homelessness.

Safe Havens & Young Adult Program
Building skills for health and independence in supportive community residences.

The achievement of permanent housing requires specific skills that are distinct from those required to survive a homeless existence. Safe Havens I, II, and III, and the Young Adult Program are residential programs helping persistently homeless clients with severe mental disabilities to master the skills needed for housing, health, and responsible independence. They have the combined capacity to serve 56 men and women at any given time, and nearly always operate at full capacity.

Participants in these programs practice and master essential skills: maintenance of personal hygiene and a clean, safe environment; management of health; food selection, preparation, and storage; money management; social interactions; and the protection of their safety and health. The development of work skills, and employment in the competitive marketplace have become an important new focus for services. Each facility offers community meals, furnished rooms/apartments, and recreational/socialization activities. Clients are strongly encouraged to participate in the development of operational policies.

Safe Haven I opened in 1995, and provides housing and supportive services for eight men and women. A Victorian century home, it had operated as a boarding home before it was purchased and renovated by the Emerald Development and Economic Network, Inc., a non-profit housing development organization.

The Safe Havens offer clients a low-demand, high-expectation environment, where staff members work with residents at their own pace. The Young Adult Program is for younger clients (ages 18-22 years) who need more structure and guidance. All MHS residential facilities offer a supportive living environment that affirms clients’ cultural identities and values.

New clients come from MHS Community Support and Outreach Programs, as well as other community mental health centers. For many, the Safe Havens or the Young Adult Program represent the final, essential step in the continuum of care that leads to the achievement of permanent housing.

MHS supportive housing programs are supported by donations from individuals, groups, and corporations, and by grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Cleveland and Cuyahoga County Office of Homeless Services administers these funds. This Office is responsible for the development and coordination of Cuyahoga County's Continuum of Care for homeless persons.

	Pamela Sue Kucklick, L.S.W. has been Program Manager of Safe Haven I since October 2003. She had managed the MHS Safe Haven III program since October 2001, when it was housed on Payne Avenue. She is enrolled in a doctoral program in Counseling at Cleveland State University.
	Safe Haven II is a transitional housing program offering housing and supportive services for 24 men and women. It operates from two buildings in the Slavic Village neighborhood of Cleveland's east side. This program began serving clients in 1997.
	Karen Madzia became Program Manager of Safe Haven II in 2006, after serving as the MHS Client Rights Officer. In the program year that ended on 31 May 2006, all of the six participants who left Safe Haven II moved to apartments in the community, and continue to participate in psychiatric and supportive services at MHS.
	Safe Haven III opened in 2003 at another site, and moved to its current site in the Metro North area of Cleveland, Ohio, in 2004. It provides housing and supportive services for 12 men and women. The site is owned by the Emerald Development and Economic Network, Inc. (EDEN), a non-profit housing development corporation. EDEN also owns and maintains the site of the MHS Safe Haven I program.
	Daniel Wutsch, L.S.W. is our Safe Haven III Program Manager. He joined MHS as a Case Manager, and later became one of the Mobile Crisis Team's first Crisis Intervention Specialists. He has also managed the Safe Haven I program.
	Ricardo Hunter is a Residential Support Specialist at Safe Haven III. He is well known for his ability to motivate clients to learn new skills.

To learn about other MHS programs providing coordinated care
for homeless persons with disabilities, click on the links below.

Outreach	Shelter	Housing with Supportive Services
Three programs provide assertive street outreach from early morning to evening. Supportive services are also offered seven days per week.	A 135-bed shelter for homeless women and children. A 50-bed shelter for men with severe mental disorders or other disabling conditions.	Two Safe Havens, two transitional housing programs, and two permanent housing programs, all with on-site or easily accessible services. Community support services for all, including those living independently.
PATH Outreach	Women's shelter	Safe Havens & Young Adult Pgm.
Outreach & Payee	Men's shelter	Permanent housing programs
SPOT Support		Community support

Learn about client characteristics, or their employment and income.

Or, review summary statistics about the types and duration of services.

MHS has well-established procedures for the collection, analysis, and utilization of outcome data. These data demonstrate that MHS programs have been effective in helping clients achieve meaningful goals.

Outcomes of Care
To examine the remarkable outcomes achieved by clients who have participated in MHS Homeless Assistance programs, click here.

MHS uses the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's definition of homelessness, and the definition of severe mental disability published by the Ohio Department of Mental Health (ODMH).

How many are homeless
in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, USA?
Click here for recent counts and estimates.

Thank you for your interest in MHS. Your corrections, comments, and questions are welcome. Just write to Joel[at]mhs-inc.org.

Copyright ©
Mental Health Services for Homeless Persons, Inc. (MHS)
1744 Payne Avenue; Cleveland, Ohio 44114 U.S.A.
216-623-6555 - TTY/TDD: 216-623-6540

The URL of this page is
http://www.mhs-inc.org/SupportiveHousing.asp
It was most recently updated on 10 February 2006.
We welcome your comments.
Please write to Joel[at]mhs-inc.org

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