Homelessness & Mental Health

Northwestern Memorial provides access to a wide range of services for those with mental illness and a dual diagnosis of mental illness and substance abuse.

In addition to traditional individual and group clinical therapies, Northwestern Memorial works with the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness through programs aimed at identifying homeless people with mental illness and providing housing, social support services, and medical and mental healthcare.

We also match federal funding to provide both emergency and permanent housing through two programs at the Lawson House YMCA. In addition, we provide on-site support services for homeless individuals diagnosed with a mental illness, including medication management, counseling, skills training, and assistance with funding and housing.

Northwestern Memorial mental health employees reach members of the community in need of mental health services through participation in a number of community-based programs:

• Homeless Action Committee of the Department of Human Services brings representatives from homeless shelter organizations together with mental health providers to educate each other and develop programs to identify and provide mental health services to homeless people
   
• HELP (Help Ease Local Poverty) is a program of the Jane Addams Hull House; staff are active both as board members and participants through HELP, Northwestern Memorial mental health employees help serve a weekly meal to the homeless. In this setting, they can identify and reach homeless people in need of mental health services who are not likely to find their way into the healthcare system through normal channels.

Northwestern Memorial also provides programs that help patients with moderate to profound mental illness:

• Find ways to live as independently as is possible
• Receive training in good job habits
• Find employment or volunteer experiences that are manageable given their mental health conditions.

For example, patients "recovering" from mental illness often volunteer alongside Northwestern Memorial employees at HELP dinners for the homeless.

We also host a support group of the Illinois chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness and provides educational presentations to parents and siblings of adults with serious mental illness.