Homeless Programs
Rock-Ward Center for Mental Health & the Homeless
Prince George's County
The mission of Rock-Ward Center for Mental Health & Homelessness (RWC) is to deliver community-based mental health and case management services, including psychiatric, nursing, counseling /psychotherapy, substance abuse treatment, to persons who are both homeless and who have a mental illness. RWC strategic goals include:
To successfully provide outreach services within the community .
To find and serve or link homeless individuals to appropriate mental health and rehabilitative.
To access case management services.
To aid homeless individuals in securing a permanent residence.
To advocate for homeless individuals with mental health needs.
To provide comprehensive individualized employment services.
To promote independence among homeless individuals and improve their quality of life.
Through our RWC, QCI provides mental health and support services to homeless individuals and families with mental illness, including youth and adolescents, the elderly, pregnant and abused women, people with HIV, veterans, and others. PATH* and outreach grants enable QCI to provide critical services to 100's of individuals and families each year. The service delivery plan includes the following multiple steps:
Locate street dwellers with the help of local authorities and other agencies serving homeless people.
Proceed to engage the identified individuals and in the process develop a rapport and trust utilizing a non-judgmental approach and expressing no solutions or expectations of results
Assess the homeless individuals to determine their mental health, substance abuse and somatic care needs moving quickly to respond to their immediate concerns. The need for immediate response will be understood on a multi-level continuum, such as basic hunger to the danger of incarceration. The provision of personal emergency supplies will be made accessible by the providers in the out-reach engagement program.
From the assessment flows decisions about:
What can informally be achieved within the engagement component of the program;
Which QCI service will the homeless person be linked to; and
How other county programs, such as, Laurel Advocacy Referral Program, county shelters, Safe Haven and Warm Nights winter shelters, University of Maryland Prince George’s Hospital Center, and 12-step programs are complementary to this linkage process.
Once the homeless individuals are stabilized, outreach staff provides intensive follow-along services including the development of longer-term housing strategies.
The success of these services is evaluated through survey feedback and other quality assurance processes. Respondents include current and previous QCI patients and/or other stakeholder agencies.