The Providence Center Awarded VA Grant to Support Homeless Veterans
PROVIDENCE, RI (October 7, 2010)—The Providence Center was awarded a Veteran’s Administration (VA) Homeless Provider Grant to support homeless veterans in greater Providence who have mental health and substance use issues to build skills, establish housing stability and become connected to the community through a combination of Providence Center and VA services. The grant awards $355,421 for services.
According to a 2009 CHALENG Report published by the VA, 51 percent of homeless veterans have psychiatric problems and 66 percent of homeless veterans have substance use problems. The Bridge to Self-determination program is aimed at reducing the number of homeless veterans in greater Providence, sustaining recovery from mental health and substance use problems, reducing arrests and prison recidivism, while creating a support network for veterans.
Bridge is designed to ensure that participants are supported in multiple ways through a team of VA representatives, and homeless outreach workers, case managers, housing specialists and peer navigators from The Providence Center all working together to transition participants to independent residency. The peer navigator is an essential component of the Bridge program—a person in recovery from substance use and/or mental health problems who assists veterans to define their goals and introduce veterans to community supports and recovery services. In addition to supported housing placements, The Providence Center and VA offers veterans in Bridge a broad array of services: mental health, substance use and co-occurring treatment, primary care treatment, family therapy, legal assistance, employment and education services, job training, job placement and recovery services.
The Bridge program also works with veterans who have mental health and substance use issues who are re-entering their communities from prison. The Providence Center currently runs programs in the Rhode Island prison system that provide mental health and substance use treatment in the prison and discharge planning, recovery support and case management upon re-entry.
“Homeless veterans and veterans re-entering the community from prison have higher prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder and mental health and substance use problems,” said Dale K. Klatzker, Ph.D., president/CEO of The Providence Center. “By working with the VA, we are opening up all possible doors to treatment and supports for veterans.”
The Providence Center was also recently awarded two federal grants totaling $3.2 million to support Recovery Net, which expands mental health and substance use treatment and supportive services for ex-offenders re-entering the community, and for the integration of primary and behavioral health care through a collaboration with the Providence and Blackstone Valley Community Health Centers.
The Providence Center annually serves over 10,000 adults, children and adolescents experiencing mental illness, substance use and emotional problems. Since its establishment in 1969, The Providence Center has been part of Rhode Island’s exemplary behavioral health care system, offering a comprehensive array of treatment and rehabilitation services. For more information, call 276-4020.