• Medical Care • Fitness • Mental Health • Substance Abuse
Medical Care
Clients deal with a wide range of health issues resulting from or exacerbated by life on the street. Often, homeless men and women desperately need medical treatment, but they may not know how to access care or might be reluctant to receive it.
Our goal is to make treatment and care readily available and to facilitate early intervention, all in a safe environment. We do this in a variety of ways.
- Partnership with St. Vincent’s Manhattan
A doctor, a registered nurse, and a nurse practitioner work on-site at the Mainchance Drop-In Center to provide tuberculosis testing, general medical treatment and referrals.
- Programs like Project Renewal and JCAP Living Proof
Through JCAP, we provide access to HIV/AIDS testing and counseling.
- Medical Student Volunteers
For a more extensive evaluation of client’s health concerns, we welcome medical students from Cornell Medical School on Monday evenings from September to June.
Fitness
We view health as fundamental to an individual’s overall well being, and fitness is an integral part of health.Many clients have become out of touch with their bodies. In trying to attain basic needs, nutrition and exercise were left by the wayside. Through our fitness program our clients become more comfortable with, in tune with, and knowledgeable about their bodies in addition to relieving mental and physical stress.
We currently offer 2 weekly exercise classes, and have plans to add more programs in this critical area.
Mental Health
It is estimated that approximately 25% of homeless single adults have mental health issues. Therefore, access to mental health care is vitally important for the welfare of many clients at GCNSSC. Gouverneur Hospital’s Independence Support Center (ISC) provides mental health services at their on-site clinic.
Staffed by doctors and social workers, ISC provides a full range of comprehensive services for mentally ill clients. By using a low-demand approach, the staff creates trusting relationships with clients, gently encouraging them towards independence. Ultimately, ISC seeks to place these individuals in temporary and permanent supportive housing. ISC is open Monday through Friday, and accepts referrals from outside organizations and outreach teams. If you have more questions regarding this program, please call ISC at 212-883-0680, Ext. 326.
In addition to ISC, we work with:
- The Manhattan Psychiatric Outreach Program (MPOP)
We work with MPOP to provide psychiatric evaluations for clients.
- Bellevue Hospital Medical Center’s Mobile Crisis Unit
We are able to provide crisis intervention, supportive therapy, psychiatric evaluations and situational assessments through a multidisciplinary team of professionals, including a psychiatrist, a psychiatric nurse, and a clinical social worker.
Substance Abuse
For clients with addiction and substance abuse issues, we work closely with many Detox programs throughout the city. Because many clients decide to enter Detox right from the street, we provide transportation to these programs through our outreach team.
Those who are released from detox and do not enter residential treatment programs are welcomed back to a safe environment at Mainchance. To support their recovery we provide information and resources on continuing their treatment, staying clean, and opportunities at special housing programs for people with a history of substance abuse. We are aided in our efforts by programs such as Project Renewal.
Project Renewal is a homeless service provider that supplies counseling on-site at Mainchance to clients with a history of substance abuse. A counselor is present weekly at our Center to provide:
- 1-to-1 counseling
- Referrals to treatment centers
- Information on addiction and substance abuse
To maintain continuity of care, the same counselor is available every week to meet with clients in confidential sessions. Together, GCNSSC and Project Renewal aim to make treatment for substance abuse available to everyone.