The Signal

Hello. My name is Luis Crossman. I was a crew chief in the U.S. Air Force. On time flight maintenance and cleanliness were priority one. We performed with pride in Vietnam, as well as Taiwan, Okinawa, Thailand, Korea and the Philippines.

Seeing soldiers in body bags was a lot to bear; the condition of many was horrible. I came home after suffering from a nervous breakdown. It did not take long before I ended up being a part of the drug society. Eventually I was evicted from my home, a beautiful one family house. I ended up on Wards Island, and later was transferred to the Borden Avenue Residence for Veterans. It was a long two year period in the shelter system.

After having surgery for a hip replacement, I promised myself not to return to Borden.  Two months after my discharge from the hospital I was accepted to the SUS residence at Knickerbocker, where I have been a resident for 8 months. My recovery continues though attendance in an Integrated Dual Diagnostic Treatment Group which has provided me with the peace-of-mind that has been long in coming. The encouragement to achieve once again and a steady daily routine have brought me love and respect for myself.

Presently, I’m waiting for permanent housing. I have my fingers-crossed it will come soon. Meanwhile, I’ve joined a Diabetes Group which helps me with my diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. I, and the other veterans, record our daily meals, tracking them in an online log. Our progress in maintaining a healthy body is monitored by a staff member and a  nurse.

 I’d like to give a special shout-out to Ms. Ware, Program Manager at Knickerbocker, and  her staff – Ms. Hughes, Ms. Dunlap, Ms. Ward, Ms. Francis, and Ms. Kelley. We can’t forget what happens in the kitchen, right Ms. Clark? They all have my thanks and gratitude.

At the SUS Young Adult After School Program in the Bronx, I work with teens with Developmental Disabilities to increase their practical skills – communication, self-preservation, community awareness, independent living and pre-vocational abilities – while reducing barriers to community inclusion. The program at Lydig provides 10 young adults aged 13 – 21 with homework assistance and recreational activities. Every day is different – you never know what to expect. The aim of everything we do is to integrate individuals into mainstream community activities, with the necessary support services. The work can be tough, but seeing the difference that SUS is making in the lives of our consumers is incredibly rewarding. Ultimately, the teenagers in the program want the same things that all teenagers want – to spend time with their friends, to do well in school, to graduate and go to prom. I wanted to share one of our success stories with you.

Recently, a teenager in the after school program, Nicole, told us that she was not able to attend her prom, because her family did not have the money to pay for it. Her family had managed to scrape together enough money for her ticket, but could not afford to buy her an outfit. Nicole was desperate to go to prom with the rest of her graduating class, and spend the evening celebrating her success over the last year with her friends and peers.

The Lydig team was determined that Nicole would go to the prom! SUS’ very own Louis Cavaliere stepped in and graciously decided to pay for Nicole’s dress out of his own pocket – and the hunt for the dress began! The whole Lydig team pulled together to make Nicole’s prom night as special as possible. I did her hair and painted her nails, and the rest of the team came out to meet her at her house and cheer on our star as she went to the prom. Nicole danced the night away, and had so much fun she could not even make it to the After School Program the next day – now that’s what I call a party!

Nicole said that having the staff from Lydig there to cheer her off to her prom is something she will never forget, joining the Lydig program is the best thing that has happened to her this year. Nicole’s family and teachers have stated that Nicole has displayed positive growth as a young lady since attending the SUS program – she has come out of her shell and displays more self confidence. We are so pleased that we could make a difference!

Technology invades every part of our lives – work, recreation, and, of course, education. Many of our educational interactions happen via the internet, videos, on line courses, and learning webinars. Technology is already transforming clinical training – staff members log onto their computers on a daily basis and sign up to numerous webinars. SUS is aware of this, and wants to contribute to this growing trend.

SUS has forged a partnership with The Center for Practice Innovations at Columbia University, which promotes and supports the implementation and application of Evidence Based Practices. Video modules provide clinical staff members throughout the Tri-State area with the clinical tools needed to work with individuals struggling with Substance Abuse issues, and Psychiatric challenges. Presently, they are involved with the Statewide Wellness Self Management Initiative, the ACT Institute, and the Learning Video Webinars for Co-Occurring Disorders (COD) Treatment.

During the past year, SUS has participated in these learning modules headed by Dr. Paul Margolies and Dr. Nancy Covell. The modules illustrate the challenges our consumers with COD experience on a daily basis and ways to address these challenges clinically – whether we conduct one to one counseling sessions or groups sessions. Additionally, the modules review best practices – such as Motivational Interviewing techniques, Stages of Change, Stages of Treatment, and CBT.

SUS is fully involved in this project. SUS residents, as well as staff members, are a part of 10 of the 25 modules. These learning modules are currently available by going to the Center for Practice Innovations webpage.

SUS officially launched it’s Urban Agriculture Program nearly one month ago and I am happy to report that it is growing strong.

With the help of Green Living Technologies, SUS started urban gardens at three of it’s programs: The Knickerbocker Residence for formerly homeless veterans, The Hicks Day Habilitation for developmentally disabled individuals, and The Mother Gaston Residence for those with mental Illness. But these are no ordinary urban gardens: to make the most of the limited growing space at each facility, SUS is growing food vertically.

On June 17th and 18th at The Knickerbocker Residence, nearly 40 SUS staff and consumers were trained in urban organic agricultural techniques and planted over 2300 tomato and basil plants into four A-Frame Vertical Growing Systems. Each A-Frame System offers 96 square feet of growing area on just 48 square feet of ground space. The Knickerbocker garden is expected to yield nearly 1.5 tons of tomatoes and basil by the time the growing season ends in late fall. Knickerbocker consumers will not only continue to manage and maintain the garden but they will also take part in harvesting the produce and distributing it to other SUS programs.

At The Mother Gaston Residence and The Hicks Day Habilitation program, a number of SUS consumers have been actively involved with the gardens and took part in planting over 200 tomato plants on “Edible Walls”. It’s estimated that these two gardens will produce a total of over 300 pounds of tomatoes by the end of the growing season. In addition, consumers at each of these facilities are taking advantage of additional garden space and have begun to plan for a fall planting, which will include cool-weather crops like lettuces, greens, spinach and peas.

The Peer Counseling Training Program (PCTP) which began in January 2009, aims to address two issues – continuing to provide competitive employment opportunities to our consumers, and finding suitable qualified Peer Counselors to work at our programs. The PCTP has proved a huge success, and at this year’s Annual Gala, held on June 9th, we asked our guests to fund the Peer Counseling class of 2011.  We are happy to announce that thanks to the extreme generosity of a number of individuals, we raised enough money to ensure that there will be a PCTP Class of 2011.

The power of having a person who has been there, gone through some of the same challenges and succeeded is immeasurable.  Peer Counselors act not only as a role model but as an advocate.  In the past, Peer Counselor positions had a high turnover rate and were unsuccessful as an integral part of the staff team. This all changed with the introduction of the SUS Peer Counseling Training Program.  The Peer Counseling Training Program establishes the recovery power of giving back by demonstrating a multiplier-effect upon the lives of others still struggling to manage mental illness and achieve self-fulfillment.

It is well documented that employment is a fundamental part of the recovery process.  Graduates achieve a 60% placement rate and a 64% job retention rate as Peer Counselors. Work is an important element to their identity. It provides a source of self-worth and well being.

The Peer Counseling graduating class of 2010 were previously homeless and diagnosed with a mental illness. Many have recent histories of incarceration and substance use.  The Peer Counseling Training Program is an extremely inspiring and successful project. Many of the consumers involved experienced much difficulty with their own recovery process.  They have now begun to accept the challenges that the recovery process brings: accountability, transparency, commitment and patience.

Congratulations to the Graduating class of 2010, and good luck to the incoming class of 2011!

View the photo gallery here.

Written by Judith Jackson, Chief of Staff

The budget woes in Albany are about to hit social service organizations directly and profoundly.  We, who provide the services that help so many New Yorkers in need, are being asked to cut our budgets by large percentages.  SUS has decided to try to do something about it.

SUS has begun a more proactive stance on advocating for the issues that are related to the programs and individuals we serve.  For many years, we have been members of associations that represent similar service organizations to ours in New York City and New York State.  These groups, such as the New York State Association of Community and Residential Agencies (NYSACRA), Coalition of Behavioral Health Agencies, Inc., the AIDS Housing Network, and the Home Care Council have provided advocacy work on behalf of us by lobbying in NYC and Albany.  These associations are extremely important in what they do – but are also not enough.

SUS has also begun to organize ourselves internally to better support and advocate for our mission.  We have organized letter writing and email campaigns and are encouraging our staff and consumers to attend rallies.  The parents and families of our developmentally disabled consumers have even formed their own group to advocate for their family members.  And we have been participating in awareness days, such as the recent Spread the Word to End the Word Day on March 3^rd, a day that was organized to help end the use of the r-word.

As the state of New York continues to tighten its belt, SUS realizes that we must advocate even harder for our consumers, our programs, and for our issues. Please click here to join our mailing list and learn more about how you can get involved.

Written by Marc D. Kutner, MSW, MPA, Director of Research and Development

Funded by two five-year grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), SUS is privileged to be among 75 organizations nationwide awarded nearly $124.5 million to fund innovation in mental health and substance abuse treatment to formerly homeless people.  Toward fostering information sharing and learning on the national level, SUS senior management and program staff are participating in two SAMHSA Annual Grantee Meetings in Washington, D.C. this month. Participation in these key Center for Mental Health Services and Center for Substance Abuse Treatment meetings keeps our programs attuned to the best emerging and evidence-based practices the field has to offer.

SUS was founded on the belief that people living with significant disabilities can live successfully in the community given the right supports. When consumers with serious mental illness and co-occurring substance abuse or health problems come to live in our supportive housing, emerging from homelessness or re-entering the community from prison or jail, they confront the many challenges of community life simultaneously.  At this critical moment in time, added strengths – such as patience, perseverance, social skill and organization – are required to navigate multiple community-based service systems.  Too often however, consumers encounter a fragmented service system that can overwhelm even the most motivated and engaged person This often leads to withdrawal from needed treatment which is a certain path to crisis in mental and physical health, and return to the ER, hospital or correctional facility.

Drawing on our 32 years of experience with clinically complex, often multiply-diagnosed individuals living with serious mental illness, HIV/AIDS, and other health challenges, we’ve successfully implemented Wellness Works in our Mental Health and People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWA) divisions, a new model of care developed by SUS that promotes health and independence among previously chronically homeless persons diagnosed with mental illness (or co-occurring substance abuse and mental illness) who have, or are at risk of, serious medical conditions or illnesses, by providing integrated mental health and substance abuse treatment, a range of lifestyle interventions, and coordinated medical health care.

Existing case management services in our supportive and transitional housing has been expanded and enhanced by the application of Wellness Self-Management, Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment (IDDT), chronic disease management protocols, peer support and nutritional, lifestyle, and smoking cessation interventions.  These enhancements make it possible to address and coordinate mental health and substance abuse treatment care, primary health care, and lifestyle factors (smoking, nutrition, physical activity, sexual activity, etc.)-to improve the quality of people’ lives, increase their life expectancy, assure their stability in housing, and to help them reach their recovery goals.  Wellness Works offers not only a comprehensive, coordinated treatment approach; the program characterizes the SUS belief in human ability where strengths are capitalized upon and the right services, enabling fulfilling, healthy lives in the community, are made available.

Written by Julia Bader, Development Manager, SUS

The SUS strategic plan calls for building the visibility of the organization. We are achieving our goal in several ways, giving primacy to co-branding with leading NYC-area corporations through partnerships and sponsorships. Co-branding serves the interests of both the for-profit and the non-profit business. The for-profit realizes benefits from its identification with social responsibility and SUS gains awareness for its mission with the NYC business and philanthropic communities as well as with the general public.

SUS embarked upon a co-branded outdoor advertising campaign to promote its Annual Fire & Ice Ball. The advertisements were sponsored by Broadview Networks, Beacon Therapy and Mobile Health, all of whom have been loyal supporters of our work and mission. The ads were run on bus tails and on street banners in Tribeca where the event was held (see photo). This was the first city-wide co-branding campaign SUS ran, and it proved successful as measured by sold out attendance at the event and a dramatic increase in traffic to our website. 

Our strategy for visibility prescribes generating increased publicity for SUS through print publications and broadcast media. Our efforts have paid off as illustrated by two significant examples. First, SUS was given coverage in Vogue magazine due to the Fire & Ice Ball associating itself with the fashion industry, timed as it was to the first night of Fashion Week.  Second, we held a press conference to highlight the growing homeless in NYC on the eve of HOPE 2010 – the NYC homeless count. As a result Donna Colonna, SUS’ CEO, was interviewed by David Ushrey about the homeless count on the WNBC cable news show, New York Non Stop. (Donna’s interview can be seen at www.youtube.com/susincorg.)

Increasingly non-profits are taking it upon themselves to behave as for-profit companies. SUS is committed to demonstrating for-profit ways of doing business in order to sustain and grow our position as a leader in human services. It is essential that we leverage our corporate relationships and gain the attention of the media to raise awareness of our mission, expand and diversify our support, and thereby raise the level of our private sector revenue stream.

We are excited about the opportunities ahead because, as we realize our strategic goal of increased visibility, our consumers will benefit and that is what matters most.

Written by Yves Ades, Senior Vice President, Mental Health and HIV/AIDS Services

The word “home” conjures any number of images in our minds. We may imagine the place whose door we open with the keys in our coat pocket, or the place we left each morning and returned to after school, or even, perhaps, the farm in Kansas from which Dorothy Gale was whisked up by the tornado what landed her in Munchkinland. For most of us “home” usually means the place where we feel safe, where we find privacy, where we spend time with those we love and where we go to find refuge from the chaos and stresses of everyday life. Sometimes, however, we have been known to become so possessive and protective about the place we call home, that we have denied others the same cherished comforts and security because we perceived them as an infringement or a threat to our refuge. For most of the twentieth century the American view of “home” and the American right to “home” has also meant the exclusion of many from access to, opportunity for, and participation in, this most valued of American prerogatives.

There was a time, not so long ago, that certain people were confined to psychiatric asylums because they were considered dangerous, disruptive, and incapable of living among us. It is only in the last thirty years that the right to home has been afforded to people with mental illness. While there continue to be pockets of resistance to this notion on the part of many who remain uninformed, advocates and policymakers have encouraged and supported both the ethical and economic soundness of housing and community living for people with psychiatric disorders.

In the late 70’s and early 80’s in NYC, community based housing for people with mental illness was largely confined to Adult Homes and Single Room Occupancy Hotels scattered throughout the five NYC boroughs. As the concept of Supported Housing caught on with a burst of development in the mid 80’s, the real estate boom in NYC brought about an unprecedented increase in homelessness caused by the gentrification of low income housing and neighborhoods catering to welfare hotels. For the residents of those low income apartments, boarding houses, and welfare hotels, there was no place to go. Many landed in psychiatric emergency rooms, jails, shelters and the streets.

In response to this crisis the city and state doubled their efforts and merged resources to create housing for homeless people with mental illness. The 1990 New York/New York Agreement to House Homeless Mentally Ill Individuals was a historic joint effort by the State and City that created 3,615 units of supportive housing and licensed permanent and transitional housing for homeless mentally ill people in New York City. It was the largest housing initiative for homeless mentally ill people in history and, at its peak, had a significant impact on lowering the shelter census.

Most recently, New York/New York III,  signed in 2006, added 5,500 units of housing for homeless people with serious mental illness, including 400 units for families and 200 units for young adults with mental illness transitioning from the child welfare and psychiatric treatment systems.

As a testament to the value and effectiveness of Supportive Housing, in the last thirty years the three N.Y./N.Y agreements have committed to  the development of nearly 11,000 places called home for people with serious mental illness.  At SUS, we work  to ensure that one day, there will be a place called home for everyone that needs one.