With an Affinity to Care

Assertive community treatment teams working through outreach-centered programs in Maricopa County have become an industry standard for treating those with persistent and severe mental illnesses who have recently been incarcerated. They provide a long-term approach, aiming to halt a cycle of incarceration and hospitalization by focusing on underlying issues such as what caused the police interaction and incarceration.

Based out of the city of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, a live radio show is tackling the stigma around mental health care by combining their platform with those in the mental health care field. Not only does the radio show discuss psychological issues on air, but it also offers free and reduced-cost mental health services to those that serve as guests on the show.

Frustrated by a tight labor market, two locally owned Grand Rapids employers discovered the virtues – economic, not just moral – of hiring formerly incarcerated people, whose gratitude for an opportunity translated into excellent performance and less risk of adding to rapid turnover. The employers helped guarantee success by paying for support services that made post-prison transitions easier. The employers then talked hundreds of other local employers into doing the same. Besides providing a business advantage, the program changes lives and is evidently contributing to much lower rates of recidivism.

L’association Basiliade a eu l’idée de reconvertir des hôtels vides en centres d’hébergement social. Elle a nommé l'un d'entre eux la "Maison des Fées". 36 femmes exilées sont hébergées avec leurs bébés. Elles bénéficient d'une solution de garde pour leurs enfants, d'un soutien du personnel de l'hôtel et de travailleurs sociaux.

En Suisse, l’association Appartenances fait appel à 140 interprètes communautaires pour favoriser l'autonomie des personnes migrantes. Leur mission : traduire, certes, mais surtout de dissiper les méprises potentielles dues aux différences culturelles entre une personne migrante et un professionnel de santé ou du social. Ces interprètes ont tous eux-mêmes un parcours migratoire derrière eux qui permet de saisir les nuances entre le pays d’origine de la personne migrante et le pays d’accueil.

Trace the Face, un site de la Croix-Rouge, aide les migrants à localiser leurs proches perdus sur la route de l’exil. Depuis 2013, 5 731 photos de personnes recherchant quelqu’un ont été publiées sur Trace the Face et 161 personnes ont pu retrouver un proche.

Employers like the St. Partick Clinic in South Sudan are hiring based on attitude and trainability instead of technical skills and knowledge to find employees that are trustworthy and reliable.

The Golden Girls shelter has been providing meals, medical aid, and other support services for women with children who are experiencing homelessness. Since the Golden Girls living space opened, the program has served a total of 50 women ranging in age from the early 50s to late 70s. While at the shelter, staff members help them complete paperwork so they can receive Social Security payments, pensions, or alimony, and apply for affordable housing. They’re also provided medical care, counseling, and assistance finding jobs.

The Save the Boys Initiative provides counseling, group and family therapy, programming around mentorship and leadership, and other forms of assistance for boys who have experienced sexual abuse.

The Mental Health Intervention Team at Salina Public Schools makes mental health care more accessible by using grant money to hire school liaisons to assist and provide mental health services to students at school. Within the 2022-2023 academic year alone, 635 students were served and 76% of them improved their school attendance, while 65% saw improvement in their academic performance.