This thesis describes and assesses existing services for homeless persons with mental illness and suggests improvements. The topic of services for homeless persons with mental illness is of public health significance since the problem has been getting worse in the past few years, with people unable or unwilling to access appropriate services Mental illness in the homeless population is looked at from a social-ecological perspective, including individual, community and policy levels. Current national programs are discussed including Medicaid, SSI, HUD, SAMHSA and ACT. The McKinney Act is discussed as one of the most important pieces of homeless policy. A more in-depth discussion of Allegheny County community capacity and services for homeless persons with mental illness is included. Housing First/Harm reduction, Operation Safety Net, Community Human Services Corporation, Health Care for the Homeless, Mental Health Courts and Police Training are discussed. Key informant interviews reveal frustrations with funding streams, lack of affordable housing and lack of appropriate job opportunities, specific to Allegheny County. An extension of this thesis to include focus groups and interviews with homeless individuals and shelter staff would reveal a more comprehensive view of homeless persons with mental illness. Suggestions for improvements in providing mental health services include, following the housing first/harm reduction model, improving quality of life through increased social supports of this population, advocacy of homeless persons with mental illness, an increase of funding streams that promote collaboration among community agencies, more street outreach for the chronic homeless population and overall more collaboration among different agencies in Allegheny County including, government, social services, education, police and emergency services.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-07302007-130257 |
| Date | 27 September 2007 |
| Creators | Zinno, Elizabeth |
| Contributors | Catherine Greeno, PhD, Christopher Keane, ScD, Kenneth Jaros, PhD |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-07302007-130257/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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