Presenter: Santana Salazar
Poster Description:In rural communities throughout New Mexico there has been a steady rise in population of people experiencing homelessness. There are many factors that can be correlated to the individual experiences that has led to a change in peoples housing status. Mental health treatment MHT, mental illness (MI), substance abuse (SA), Co-Occurring Disorder, and lack of Coordinated Care (CC) is among these leading factors in the increasing number of people experiencing homelessness. Rural communities make it uneasy for people to access integrated care with government assisted housing programs because of the amount of follow-up these programs require. Many of these government assisted programs require information such as a contact address and telephone number that is not always feasible to people that are homeless. There have been many studies done involving homeless people which is extensively covered in my research. As approach the question of how a person became homeless by using a more humanistic approach. I identify the gaps where people who are homeless are better able to seek and obtain housing if they have external resources such as a case manager to assist them along the way.
Keywords: Homelessness, Housing Status, Mental Health Treatment (MHT), Mental Illness (MI), Mental Health Disorder (MHD), Substance Abuse (SA), Co-Occurring Disorders (COD).