Opinion: Holistic services provide ways to cope with mental health

I often liken mental health and well-being to a wheel, with solid, supportive spokes representing physical health, mental well-being, and spiritual wholeness. Maintaining this wheel takes effort and patience, yet mine, like many others', has been tested through a life of substance abuse, stigmatized illness, and years of living on the streets. 

I grew up in an immigrant household, where mental health was something that just wasn’t talked about. When facing mental health challenges, like battling my addiction, I was told to “tough it out” – when seeking help, it only made the situation worse. This stigma, coupled with a growing drug addiction and a lack of supportive resources, led me down a path with no hope for my future. I soon found myself living on the street, in and out of prison, with a severe substance abuse issue. 

I’m familiar with how easy it can be for mental health struggles to become all-consuming. As the Senior Director of Interim Housing Programs for Hope the Mission, the country’s largest rescue mission – it comes with the job. To quote our founder and CEO Ken Craft, “our streets should not serve as a waiting room for individuals waiting for housing.” Our streets should also not be where we send someone who has diagnosed or undiagnosed mental illness to live without treatment and supportive services. 

In California, 5,566,000 adults have a mental health condition. Of those, about one in five have what is referred to as a serious mental illness. And yet, more than half of people with a mental health condition in the country didn’t receive any treatment in the last year due to issues like lack of resources, stigma around receiving treatment and general awareness of conditions, but that’s often not their fault. 

Mental health issues are real. Substance abuse is real. And without recognizing the stigma that is associated with these issues, we will never address the root cause of the issues that dominate our common dialogues of politics and policy - topics like homelessness and addiction. For example, 82% of people who are homeless have experienced symptoms of mental illness in their lifetime. We don’t just need more beds - we need services that help people heal. 

One thing that we need to understand is that the housing crisis, the drug epidemic, and the mental health crisis are three inseparable pillars that converge on each other. Preconceived notions of what it means to be “mentally ill” only serve to deepen these crises. You can’t “fix” Los Angeles’ state of homelessness any more than you can “fix” a physical disability. You treat the person and equip them with the tools and supportive environment to thrive. 

At Hope the Mission, we offer a wide range of supportive services to repair those “spokes'' and help keep those “wheels” on a straight path. Wrap-around programs, like our Men’s 12-Step Work Therapy, our peer support and substance-use-disorder groups, our housing workshops, and dedicated on-site clinician support at all of our interim housing facilities are all real, crucial steps needed to repair and sustain one's holistic well-being. 

Putting someone who is unsheltered in a bed doesn’t make them housed, though it is an important first step. What leads to actually keeping someone who lives with mental illness housed are holistic services that provide ways to cope and balance oneself in this chaotic world, and having conversations that destigmatize these treatments.