Homelessness has been a giant subject of dialog for Oklahoma City recently. Several organizations are having conversations about what they will do to assist Oklahomans.
The Mental Health Association of Oklahoma stated as many as 2.5 million younger individuals expertise homelessness yearly.
So many Oklahomans know Joseph Trace Chapline’s story all too effectively.
“I was struggling with my mental health and then I ended up moving out of that apartment or getting kicked out, and experiencing homelessness for about six months,” he stated.
Chapline skilled homelessness as a younger grownup when the COVID-19 pandemic ramped up and his psychological well being plummeted.
“We comply with what is named the ‘housing first model.’ We imagine that housing is a primary human proper that everybody deserves and it additionally simply understanding you may have a spot to go to mattress at evening helps relieve that stress so you may give attention to different issues,” stated Kayla Mills the Housing To Hope Youth Program Manager on the Mental Health Association of Oklahoma.
With assist from SiSu, the Department Of Mental Health and the Mental Health Association Of Oklahoma Chapline was capable of end his schooling and get everlasting housing.
“I’ve been able to get a job, be a part of an organization called the Youth Action Board which helps address problems of youth homelessness in Oklahoma City and just be able to overall better my mental health with this transitional living program,” he stated.
The Mental Health Association is one in all many organizations offering housing for 18 to 24-year-olds.
“Mental Health Association of Oklahoma rents apartment units throughout Oklahoma City so they are put in an apartment like any other kid their age might be living in. It really is that real-life experience of living on your own and learning how to take care of yourself,” stated Mills.
The Housing for Hope Youth Program then pairs individuals with a case supervisor to assist them with the life expertise wanted to maintain housing.
“We do extensive wrap-around case management to get the documentation, IDs, birth certificates, several of them right now trying to get driver’s licenses. We get them finishing high school or getting GEDs and then help with employment,” she stated.
Their purpose is that they find yourself like Chapline in the future, dwelling on their very own comfortable and wholesome.
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