Mental Health & Supportive Housing Services

Mental health

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Mental health & housing challenges are vulnerabilities which often share a revolving door, undercutting the effectiveness of treatments that only focus on one of these challenges in isolation. Homelessness is a growing structural crisis in LA with a disproportionate impact on minority communities, and the vast majority of those experiencing homelessness in LA County face mental health challenges. While mental health affects everyone, there remains disproportionate access to crucial resources for those who cannot afford it and/or who often need it most. Alcott approaches both mental health & housing services with a needs-based, “whatever-it-takes” approach, prioritizing the wellness and empowerment of each individual through wraparound, trauma-informed services. Alcott helps in-need individuals overcome mental, financial, systemic, and/or cultural barriers & access community resources which would otherwise be inaccessible to them.

As an expert in mental health and supportive housing services, Alcott has long recognized the necessity of robust wraparound services which attend to the whole person as the most effective approach in ensuring mental and housing stability and community wellbeing. Alcott’s request for funding will support the expansion of accessible mental health and supportive housing services for individuals with low or no income across Los Angeles County. Alcott’s community-based mental health clinic provides comprehensive outpatient & field-based mental health care to adults all over Los Angeles County, including individual & group therapy, psychiatry, case management, peer support, and more. Alcott’s interim housing program provides wraparound services on-site including mental health services, life-skills classes, peer support, intensive case management, recreational activities, and nutritional meals. Alcott’s Unarmed Model of Crisis Response Model, a new pilot program in partnership with LA City, helps to divert nonviolent 9-1-1 calls to teams of trained mental health professionals, ensuring that community members experiencing a mental health crisis are properly cared for through trauma-informed de-escalation, offered basic necessities, and guided to appropriate community resources. By reducing systemic barriers and making services accessible for those navigating mental health & housing challenges, Alcott’s services break vicious cycles and have a generational impact.

The successful expansion of Alcott’s programs will make mental health and supportive housing services accessible for a record number of individuals living across LA County who would not otherwise be able to afford such services, making stability a real hope for everyone, no matter their income or lived experience. A new (third) interim housing site is set to open this year, increasing the program’s client capacity by nearly 40%. Alcott’s Unarmed Model of Crisis Response program has already proven to be a huge success and is anticipated to become a permanent program installation for its massive benefit to the community. With the continued growth of these programs, as well as that of the outpatient mental health and field-based intensive case management service programs, which are reaching more and more individuals, Alcott envisions LA County as a community that is free of stigma, full of hope, where all have equal access to care and resources.

Alcott’s mental health and housing programs have experienced significant growth in the last several years and continue to expand to meet the growing need of the community. In 2023, Alcott served 1,800 unique individuals (up 17% from last year, continuing a 6-year trend) and provided over 60,000 client consultations. So far in 2024, the Alcott has served 1,870 unique individuals (already surpassing last year’s total clients served), guided 110 clients into permanent housing, and the UMCR team has responded to (diverted) over 600 calls since it began in March. Recent client surveys reveal that the vast majority of clients agree that they are on track to meet their goals, that their quality of life has improved, and that their ability to cope with challenges has improved. One client responded, “I have never felt this supported in my whole life. My outcome has been leading a purposeful life, free from drugs & hospitalizations. I’m forever grateful for Alcott.”