Ballard Community Taskforce on Homelessness and Hunger

We will hear from guest speakers from HOST and REACH, two entities that provide mental health services to homeless people, about the realities of mental health and homelessness and about the services their agencies provide, downtown as well as in Ballard.  There will be time for Q&A and discussion as well.  See below for more information about HOST and REACH.

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HOST is an interdisciplinary team of 16 mental health, chemical dependency and medical professionals. Together, they interrupt the cycle of homelessness and instability for people living on the streets of Seattle with untreated schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other serious mental illnesses and often co-existing chemical dependency, and ensure a smooth transition to a mainstream mental health provider.  HOST delivers critical survival and support services and intensive case management to our city’s most underserved and ill residents.  In addition, HOST provides annual training to SPD’s Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) in appropriate ways to engage mentally ill individuals in crisis, and to Seattle Public Library and Parks Dept. staff, homeless shelters and human services organizations, churches and community groups about interacting with mentally ill people.

Since 1996, REACH has provided outreach and intensive case management to chronically homeless, addicted adults with high needs in downtown Seattle.  REACH’s case management is based on a variety of harm reduction techniques and a “meet the clients where they’re at” approach. REACH provides street-based, not facility-based, outreach, that is not contingent upon a client’s sobriety or abstinence.