Safe Haven: A New Home
From the outside, Safe Haven appears to be just another house in the neighborhood. But for those who have experienced homelessness for years while struggling with severe and persistent mental illness, Safe Haven is a refuge. A refuge for people like Gregory.
Gregory is one of the people who live at Safe Haven’s family-like environment with experienced, 24-hour staff. Because of this unique program, Gregory was able to have a second chance at living a happier and more independent life.
As a young man, Gregory began to hear voices. He stopped going to his college courses and fled from his family and hometown. He lived on the streets for two years until FrontLine Service’s outreach team connected with him. The outreach team built a relationship with Gregory over time until they could convince him to enter one of the Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) programs. Physically, he looked intimidating with an intense stare, but staff who worked with him could tell that Gregory was truly a thoughtful and generous soul, despite his mental health challenges.
Unfortunately, Gregory faced eviction from the Permanent Supportive Housing site within a year after running the water throughout the day and night, flooding his apartment and causing significant damage. Perhaps he used the water to drown out the voices in his head, or the voices told him to run the water. Either way, Gregory refused to explain what compelled him to run all the faucets in his home. Staff recognized that he needed more intensive support and services than the PSH program was designed to provide and referred him to Safe Haven.
Safe Haven staff reached out to Gregory several times, telling him about the uniqueness of Safe Haven, the support he would receive, and the services he could choose to help quiet the voices. They invited him to visit and not long after, he moved into Safe Haven.
At Safe Haven, Gregory received intensive support and services. Building off of the services provided from PSH, Safe Haven staff and the agency’s psychiatrist spent hours with Gregory, helping him understand his diagnosis of schizophrenia. He was able to explore his choices around medications that could reduce the symptoms he was experiencing like the voices in his head.
Gregory also had the opportunity to see other clients take their regular medications, an experience that is often impactful for Safe Haven clients to decide on medication. Within two months, he decided to try it and four months after that, his symptoms started to reduce and he had stabilized.
Five years after coming through Safe Haven’s doors, Gregory is back in regular contact with his family, even planning to take a trip with them. In addition, he has started to take responsibility for his student loans and has started job hunting.
Safe Haven staff say Gregory is a generous housemate, regularly sharing food and possessions with his fellow residents. While working toward graduating from Safe Haven in the coming months, he and his treatment team aim to help him return to the Permanent Supportive Housing program. Gregory is proud to be returning to life in a PSH apartment with a new approach and outlook on his mental health thanks to the dedicated staff at Safe Haven.
This story is based on true events with names, images, and identifying information changed to protect the identity of the individual.