Open Doors, the nonprofit in charge of operations for Harrisonburg’s Navigation Center, is getting ready to add mental health services to its emergency overnight shelter program.
The new program, called the Shelter Mental Health Partnership, aims to bring mental health services to the Navigation Center to give guests the resources they need. To bring the program to life, Open Doors is partnering with the Community Counseling Center and the Suitcase Clinic. Both local nonprofits are focused on expanding access to mental health and healthcare resources to the Shenandoah Valley’s most vulnerable population.
Nate Riddle, executive director of Open Doors, said the partnership had been in the works for years. Under the new program, both CCC and the Suitcase Clinic will be able to provide mental health services to clients staying overnight at the Navigation Center.
“We’re approaching this in the way that we want to build it for the guests that need it so that we can have that flexibility,” Riddle said. “It’s a pilot for a reason, and that’s so we can adjust what the actual offerings are, based on what the needs and demand are from the guests.”
Once the program starts, guests at the Navigation Center could meet with a clinician for talk therapy, interventions, or other forms of person-centered mental health care. Riddle said this type of care would be crucial because unhoused individuals usually come from traumatic situations.
“We know that guests who are experiencing homelessness come with many years of trauma, in some cases,” Riddle said. “They may be homeless because they experienced domestic violence or another traumatic event. But we also recognize that, inherently, homelessness is traumatic in itself. All our guests are experiencing trauma, in that way, at a minimum.”
While the exact number of mental health experts at the Navigation Center could change in the future, Riddle said that, to start, they would likely offer relief for people suffering from mental health crises, as well as ongoing care for patients who need it.
Brian Martin, executive director of the Community Counseling Center, said the partnership would be a key tool for making mental health care accessible to those who need it most.
One major barrier to mental healthcare for unhoused people is transportation, Martin said. By bringing clinicians to the Navigation Center in the evening, guests will have much easier access to the care they need.
“We believe mental healthcare should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their circumstances,” Martin said. “With mental healthcare costs rising, we want to find creative ways to reduce barriers to this essential treatment.”
Although work on the new office for the partnership is still underway, Martin said he hoped to start offering mental health services at the Navigation Center by the end of this month.
“It feels good,” Martin said. “There were a lot of details to figure out between our board of directors and their board of directors. We just found another agency with similar values and goals. Their goal is to reduce barriers to services and keep people from being on the streets. Our goal is both.”