by New Hampshire homeless shelter officials say they need more resources to help people cope with mental health crises. At Cross Roads House, chief executive Will Arvelo said they never want to turn people away, but they see more people arriving in the midst of a mental health crisis. “We’re really not set up to deal with these significant mental health issues,” Arvelo said a day or two before returning. “We get into this revolving door situation that’s really not helping anyone,” Arvelo said. “The staff are trying to deal with it as best they can, but it’s a situation that they’re really not trained to deal with these very significant episodes,” said Arvelo. Harbor Care in Nashua provides mental health services to people living with homelessness.” Demand for mental health and housing services is very high,” said clinic director Jonathan Brown. Brown said it has been difficult to connect clients to services due to staffing shortages, which is reducing available resources. “The increase in staffing costs over the past two years are things that are degrading the capacity to accept new patients,” he said. Arvelo said something needs to be done to address the growing problem.”I think that’s something we need to be looking at as a community and we need to devote some resources to it,” he said.Arvelo said this isn’t just a Problem for shelters, the health system or the state He said all parties should work together to find a way to offer more resources to a vulnerable population with unmet needs.
New Hampshire homeless shelter officials say they need more resources to help people cope with mental health crises.
Cross Roads House chief executive Will Arvelo said they never want to turn people away, but they see more and more people arriving in the middle of a mental health crisis.
“We’re really not set up to deal with these significant mental health issues,” Arvelo said.
If it becomes too much for the staff, the affected person is taken to a hospital, where they stay for a day or two before returning.
“We get into this revolving door situation that really doesn’t help anyone,” Arvelo said.
The residents of the shelter work with a case manager who tries to get each person back on their feet.
“Our staff are trying to deal with it as best they can, but it’s a situation where they really aren’t trained to deal with these very significant episodes,” Arvelo said.
Harbor Care in Nashua provides mental health services to people experiencing homelessness.
“Demand for mental health and housing services is very high,” said clinic director Jonathan Brown.
Brown said connecting customers to services has been difficult due to a lack of staff, which reduces the resources available.
“If we think about labor shortages and a sharp increase in staff costs in the last two years, these are things that are degrading the capacity to accept new patients,” he said.
Arvelo said something needs to be done to address the growing problem.
“I think that’s something we need to look at as a community and we need to put some resources into it,” he said.
Arvelo said this isn’t just an issue for animal shelters, the healthcare system, or the state. He said all parties should work together to find a way to offer more resources to a vulnerable population with unmet needs.
