Restoring Dignity Through Increased Access to Behavioral Health
“We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do and more in the light of what they suffer.” Suffering is an everyday occurrence for our homeless neighbors. It is not hard to notice the physical suffering they struggle with. What about the less-visible mental suffering? Our homeless neighbors face an uphill battle in obtaining mental health care. Research has shown a significant gap between the homeless population’s mental health care needs and service availability. This news is staggering, considering the number of homeless individuals struggling with poor mental health. According to a 2015 Housing and Urban Development assessment, a quarter of all homeless individuals are dealing with a significant mental disorder, and almost half are dealing with other mental illnesses.
KARM plans to expand its current collaboration with Peninsula Behavioral Health. They will develop a formal partnership, making KARM’s Care Center a Covenant Health-licensed facility. In this way, both sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals could conveniently become Peninsula patients. Adding a mental healthcare provider is critical to building a full-service Care Center. Based on this partnership, KARM can create a range of new operational and programmatic responses to the overwhelming healthcare needs of Knoxville’s homeless population.