Adam Black of Westchester County’s Department of Community Mental Health (DCMH) speaks at this year’s Spring Symposium providing attendees with a history of peer support services, as well as what peer support can offer, who can benefit from peer support, and how to apply. Thank you Adam for sharing your expertise and experiences with everyone!
Peer Support Services for Providers of Homeless and Residential Services
Through our partnership with VolunteerNY Westchester’s CoC was selected by Morgan Stanley for their Corporate Day of Giving. Twenty-one Morgan Stanley employees volunteered worked together in creating 150 care packages for individuals struggling with homelessness. These care packages included; chapstick, antibacterial wipes, tooth brush, tooth paste, and other essential toiletry items, as well as a hand written note to connect those experiencing homelessness to members of the community. Thank you VolunteerNY and Morgan Stanley for supporting community members in need of assistance.
Mark Giuliano, LMSW of Westchester County’s Department of Community Mental Health (DCMH) speaks in front of a crowd of over 50 community workers at Westchester County’s Board of Elections to teach the latest techniques used to manage conflict and de-escalate persons who have become distressed.
PowerPoint Slides - Crisis Intervention/De-escalation Training 6/11/19
Andrew Bell, Ph.D. from Westchester County’s Department of Community Mental Health (DCMH) kicked off this year’s Spring Symposium on Tuesday by hosting a movie and discussion on vicarious trauma and resilience at the Yonkers Riverfront Library. Below you can find links to the PowerPoint slides from this event, along with an article that highlights the importance of external supports in building resilience.
Article - Put Down the Self-Help Books. Resilience is not a DIY endeavour
PowerPoint Slides - Vicarious Trauma and Resilience Training 6/4/19
Program Design & Development’s Allison McSpedon & Jeff Worden present to the Westchester GIS User Group Meeting on May 16th at Purchase College. They were invited to present on the CoC’s experience using ESRI’s Survey 123 app which was integrated with the ArcGIS platform during this year’s Point-In-Time (PIT) count. The presentation, to an audience of over 100 representatives from county government & tech companies was very well-received !
CoC Co-Chair Annette Peters-Ruvolo presents HOPE Community Services Case Manager Diego Hernandez with a Certificate of Appreciation at his farewell celebration held on April 26, 2019 . Diego has been instrumental to the success of the Patriot Housing initiative since its inception in 2013, as well as providing his special brand of care, compassion and dedication to people experiencing street- and shelter-homelessness; he has touched the lives of hundreds who have been fortunate enough to work with him and alongside him. We will miss Diego and wish him all the best!!
WRO has announced the release of its report on three years of "testing" investigations of housing discrimination in Westchester and the rest of the Lower Hudson Valley. From December 2015 through December 2018, WRO conducted approximately 500 tests across many protected classes, and saw an overall 33% rate of violative or unequal.
This testing project was funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as a Private Enforcement Initiative grant under its Fair Housing Initiative Program.
Behavioral Health-focused Outreach and Engagement
Thursday, April 25, 2019
3:30-5:00 p.m. (ET)
This is the first webinar of a three-part Spotlight Series, Taking Behavioral Health Care to the Streets. This series will discuss how to provide behavioral health care in unsheltered environments. In this webinar, you will learn about the need for behavioral health-focused outreach and engagement, as well as how to implement outreach and engagement strategies and build relationships with clients.
The following panelists will share their expertise in behavioral health and homelessness:
Barbara DiPietro, PhD, Senior Director of Policy, National Health Care for the Homeless Council and Health Care for the Homeless of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland
Brian Bickford, MA, LMHC, Central Massachusetts PATH Team Leader, Eliot Community Human Services, Worcester, Massachusetts
Amanda Buccina, RN, Street Outreach RN, Sacramento, California
Tracey Knickerbocker, BA, Mobile Crisis Support Team Peer Navigator, TLCS/Hope Cooperative, Sacramento, California
Participants in the webinar on April 25 will learn how to:
provide person-centered, behavioral health-focused outreach in encampments with an emphasis on building trust and meaningful relationships;
engage unsheltered people with serious mental illness through multi-disciplinary teams, peer specialists, and trauma-informed care; and
incorporate behavioral health considerations into organized efforts to support individuals in encampments.
Please save the dates for future webinars in this series:
Webinar 2: Building a Foundation on the Streets--Assessing Behavioral Health Needs in Encampments on Thursday, May 30, 2019, from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. (ET)
Webinar 3: Behavioral Health Care Outside of the Box--Providing Services and Treatment to Unsheltered Persons on Thursday, June 27, 2019, from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. (ET)
This free webinar will raise awareness about risk factors that contribute to overdose death, and explore the program policies and practices that can address them. It will highlight administrative tools and engagement techniques that can help supportive housing programs prevent and respond to drug overdose. The webinar will describe harm reduction strategies, like carrying naloxone (Narcan) to reverse an opioid overdose.
Objectives:
1. Identify risk factors for drug overdose that are common among people engaged in supportive housing programs
2. Explain the role of naloxone in reversing opioid overdoses and describe options for integration of naloxone access into supportive housing programs
3. Explore topics that case managers can discuss with supportive housing participants to help them develop a plan to prevent or respond to a drug overdose
Target audience:
• Program administrators
• Supportive housing case managers and supervisors
• Community health workers
• Outreach workers
• Healthcare providers
Safety Planning with Women Experiencing Homelessness Webinar
The National Health Care for the Homeless Council will be presenting a webinar on March 27, 2019 exploring the importance of safety planning and how violence affects the lives of women without homes. Learn how you can improve services for women experiencing homelessness through trauma-informed, quality care.
Women and families are the fastest-growing segments of the American homeless population. Whether on the streets, doubled-up, or temporarily sheltered, women without homes face complex challenges such as increased risk of sexual assault, lack of access to preventive and prenatal care, and all-too-prevalent trauma.
This webinar is a unique opportunity to gain valuable insight into the tools and resources needed to provide effective and trauma-informed assistance to women and families in the homeless population.
Title: Safety Planning with Women Experiencing Homelessness
Date: March 27, 2019
Time: 12:45 PM EDT
Click Here to Register
