Access: The TAC Blog
September 2017: News, Resources, & Happenings at TAC
“It Makes Me Feel Like I Mean Something”: Success Stories in Community Integration
Permanent supportive housing enables many people with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in their families and communities. The Section 811 Project Rental Assistance program of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) helps communities forge partnerships and leverage resources to help people move out of unnecessarily restrictive environments and into their own apartments - and to help them thrive once there. In these videos and vignettes produced by the HUD Office of Multifamily Housing with TAC's assistance, you'll see how community integration through supportive housing looks for Tanesha, Destiny, Avia, and Mr. Poole, four individuals with diverse needs and histories who live in different parts of the country. You will also hear from service providers and property managers about what makes the 811 PRA program work.
Determining the Real Need for Inpatient Psychiatric Beds
Two TAC authors have contributed working papers to a new series published by the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, taking on the question: "What is the inpatient bed need if you have a best practice continuum of care?" In The Role of Permanent Supportive Housing in Determining Psychiatric Inpatient Bed Capacity, Sherry Lerch and Kevin Martone discuss the importance of permanent supportive housing (PSH) as a core intervention in a strong community-based system, and how PSH capacity can reduce the demand for psychiatric inpatient beds. In The Role State Mental Health Authorities Can Play in the Delivery of Integrated Primary and Behavioral Health Care for People with Serious Mental Illness, Including Those with Co-Occurring Substance Use Disorders, Sherry Lerch lays out changes in planning, financing, and procedures that can help SMHAs improve care integration.
TAC Staff in Action
Staff Activities
TAC Managing Director Marie Herb and Senior Associate Liz Stewart both led workshops at the HOPWA Institute in Tampa, a HUD event focused on housing's role in ending the HIV epidemic; Associates Ashley Mann-McLellan and Douglas Tetrault and consultant Naomi Sweitzer helped design and deliver a series of intensive, day-long trainings for direct services staff in the Supportive Services for Veteran Families program; Executive Director Kevin Martone has been named to the board of the National Association for Rural Mental Health, and attended its annual conference in San Diego; Mayra Pabon, our Administrative Assistant, attended the Boston Center for Independent Living's celebration lunch for Transition Internship Program participants, including TAC summer intern Hawo Osman; Senior Consultant Lisa Sloane, Associate Ellen Fitzpatrick, and Production/Design Associate Adriana DePalma put the finishing touches on a series of "HUD PRA 811 Success Stories" which went live mid-month (see above); Senior Associate Jim Yates co-presented on "Supportive Services for Veteran Families and Beyond" at the Kansas Housing Conference; and Senior Associate Gina Schaak represented TAC at a "Massachusetts Housing Day" at the State House, organized by the Citizens' Housing and Planning Association.
Staff Transitions
We're happy to announce that Jennifer Ingle has joined TAC as an Associate with TAC's human services group. Jenn brings expertise in program evaluation, stakeholder engagement, and policy related to long-term services and supports, and has many years' experience working directly with elders and people with psychiatric disabilities. We are also delighted to welcome Madison Tallant, a graduate student in social work at Boston College, as a TAC intern with our housing team this year.
