Nearly half of the homeless men and women BRC serves have a chronic mental health challenge to manage as well.

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To help meet their needs, we provide comprehensive mental health support and treatment throughout our programs, with a special focus on serving clients who are severely and persistently mentally ill (SPMI), many of whom have co-occurring substance abuse problems.

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Many individuals who face homelessness also struggle with mental illness as a barrier to housing stability. Some are facing psychiatric conditions and chemical addictions that require long-term treatment. Others are coping with acute mental illness triggered by past traumas, such as disrupted relationships, domestic abuse, and of course, the trauma of homelessness itself.

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More importantly, many of those who are mentally ill often carry with them a history of failure in overcoming these challenges. They may lack the confidence or the skills to effectively advocate for their needs as they work towards a better life. Those with the lived experience of incarceration, domestic abuse and chronic homelessness have learned behaviors that may have enabled them to survive in such volatile environments for long periods of time, but these are counterproductive when seeking help.

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To assist these clients, BRC offers caring and effective support in several programs designed to help clients manage their mental illness, find permanent housing, and achieve stability and independence in their lives. For those who once lived independently but lapsed in their own self-care, BRC provides a community of support where they can manage their illness or addictions and re-gain the skills they once had. In other cases, BRC supports individuals who may be learning practical life skills for the first time. BRC provides these clients with new opportunities to acquire and practice these skills in a safe and nurturing environment focused on helping them achieve independence. While BRC offers mental health services at all of our programs, several programs are especially focused on providing this type of support.