Agencies collaborate to assist homeless
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- By TIM HORAN Salina Journal
• EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of a two-part series on Salina’s homeless.
Central Kansas Mental Health Center employs case workers who visit Salina Rescue Mission, Ashby House and the Domestic Violence Center of Central Kansas to work with homeless people.
Catholic Charities, Community Corrections and other agencies also have developed special programs to help a growing population of homeless people, many of whom also suffer from mental illness.
And through their Crisis Intervention Team, the Salina Police Department and Saline County Sheriff’s Office work with agencies to connect people in crisis with resources they need — and keep them out of jail whenever possible.
“Jail is absolutely not the solution for everybody,” said detective Lane Mangels, of the Salina Police Department. “Sometimes, people have to go to jail, and we can’t avoid it. But if it is a situation where someone is in a persistent mental health crisis, we’re trying to find better solutions for them. It’s tough. You have to think outside the box.”
Mangels is coordinator of Salina’s Crisis Intervention Team. The Salina Police Department and the Saline County Sheriff’s Office participate in the team, which trains officers to recognize signs of mental illness and identify resources to help people who are in crisis. Officers often put people in touch with agencies that can provide them with assistance and take homeless people to shelters.
More homeless seen
Mike Lynam, special project manager with Central Kansas Mental Health Center, said case managers visit Salina shelters and work with people to help them receive needed mental health services “and try to help them acquire resources to eventually return to stable living. Our goal is that they return to stable, safe and independent living.
“My own personal feeling? We are working more with folks who are unsheltered than we used to.”
Annie Grevas, director of Community Corrections, said homeless people sometimes commit crimes, and some of those who commit crimes are mentally ill.
“Most of them are not serious crimes,” she said. “But they are a nuisance to the community. A portion of them are going to jail, but they are eventually released. A portion are coming directly to Community Corrections.”
People who have mental issues are now being treated while they’re in jail.
“Before, what happened was that they go in homeless and mentally ill and they come out homeless and mentally ill,” Grevas said.
“They go right back to what they were doing. We haven’t helped them in any way. They didn’t get any services at the jail.”
Help offered in jail
Kathy Mosher, executive director of Central Kansas Mental Health Center, reported to the Saline County Commission recently that 50 people had been assisted through a program started last August in which a counselor works with jail inmates who have mental illnesses. Of those who were assisted, 20 had been released from jail and only five had been arrested again.
Through the program, the mental health worker dispenses medication, secures housing and clothing and helps establish a support system for inmates being released from jail.
“Sometimes, they (inmates) go in without their medication and their symptoms can exacerbate. Sometimes, they are off their medication and that is why they end up in jail,” Mosher said. “We need to get them stabilized so when they get out, they stay stable.”
Catholic Charities also helps inmates re-enter the community, but funding is limited, said Michelle Martin, executive director.
“We are helping them get established back into the community,” she said. “What can we do to support them, get a job, find good housing? It’s not a huge program and it is limited to Salina. I don’t have the staff or the means to go beyond.”
Community Corrections has between 12 and 15 clients that are both mentally ill and homeless. A specialized officer works with the homeless clients.
Going where they are
“We will go visit under the bridge or where they live on Iron Avenue. We’ve had to climb into a very wooded area where a man has a tent set up,” Grevas said. “We don’t go alone. If we have one that we feel might be violent, the police department has been very helpful and they will go with us. I am not going to put my staff in jeopardy.”
She said being homeless isn’t the best living environment.
“But for them, that’s what they know. That’s where they are comfortable. I’m not going to disrupt that unless it becomes a disruption to what they are doing on probation,” she said.
A liaison from the mental health center works with Community Corrections to find medication, housing, clothing and other services.
“In addition to that, we have a weekly support group where all those clients come together and we partner with the mental health center. We talk about their needs and what we can do to help them,” Grevas said.
So far, she said, the program has been effective.