Services To Severely Mentally Disabled Homeless Persons And To Emergency Food And Shelter Providers Phyllis Solomon Phyllis Solomon, Ph.D., is Director, Section of Mental Health Services and Systems Research, Department of Mental Health Sciences, Hanhemann University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the writing of this article she was Director, Commission on Mental Health, Federation for Community Planning, Cleveland, Ohio. Abstract: T h i s a r t i c l e r e p o r t s o n a d e m o n s t r a t i o n p r o j e c t that takes a two- pronged approach to s e r v i n g b o t h severely m e n t a l l y disabled homeless persons and emergency food and shelter providers. Services to homeless persons i n c l u d e o u t r e a c h , case management, and t h e development of drop-in centers. Services to p r o v i d e r s i n c l u d e training, support, consulta- tion, and c r i s i s backup. The project also employs consumers as case- workers and has been integrated into a program for p r i m a r y h e a l t h care for homeless persons. Introduction The impact of the recession in the early 1980s, the lack of affordable housing due to urban redevelopment, and the reductions in government funding for human services helped bring attention to the plight of the homeless population. The exposure of homeless persons as a population in need revealed that a portion of them suffered from severe, chronic mental health problems that made them even more difficult to serve than other homeless persons (Lamb, 1984; Jones, 1983; Bassuk, 1984). Serving the severely mentally disabled person who is homeless is difficult not only be- cause of the complication of an added problem, but because mental illness often impairs the thinking and reactions of these individuals, leaving them fearful and mistrustful of efforts to help them. In turn, those who staff the agencies and shelters designed to serve homeless people are confused and upset by the behaviors and reactions they encounter among severely men- tally disabled homeless people. The staff members feel overwhelmed by this group of homeless people and feel ill-equipped to deal with them. The result is that a population, sometimes acutely ill and in need of help, may avoid seeking help because of the way the help is offered, and those de- sirous of helping are predisposed to fail because they lack the expertise and confidence needed to help (Arce et al., 1983; Baxter & Hopper, 1982; Segal & Baumahl, 1980). Recognizing the above factors, the Federation for Community Planning This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.