| 
Housing Program
Receives 2001 Lilly Reintegration Award
Community
Psychiatric Clinic (CPC) was recently chosen as an honored recipient
of the 2001 Lilly Reintegration Awards, and was awarded Second Place
in the Housing Category for its commitment to develop, build, and operate
quality, affordable housing to reintegrate mentally ill persons into
the community.
 The Lilly
Reintegration Awards, sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company, recognize
the outstanding achievements of people and programs that provide the
necessary support for those with schizophrenia and related disorders
to reintegrate into their communities.
CPC is a well-known local and national leader in providing specialized
housing for low-income mentally ill persons. CPC owns, manages or subcontracts
over 700 beds at thirty-eight housing and residential treatment programs
throughout the Seattle area. Housing options range from emergency and
hospital diversion beds for those experiencing a mental health crisis,
to independent apartment living for those who have achieved stability.
Over the last 50 years, CPC has established a number of milestones in
the development of housing for persons with mental illness. CPC became
the first mental health center in Washington State to own and operate
a residential treatment program when it purchased Keystone Resources
in the early eighties. This old, dilapidated boarding home was typical,
at that time, of the room and board housing offered to persons with
mental illness. In a unique partnership with the Seattle Housing Authority,
CPC demolished the old boarding home and built a new 52-bed facility
on the site. In doing so, CPC set a new standard for providing quality
housing and services for persons with severe psychiatric disabilities.
In 1988, CPC opened the El Rey, a 60-bed residential treatment program
in downtown Seattle for homeless persons with chronic mental illness.
As amazing as it might seem, the El Rey was the first program of its
kind in any major metropolitan urban center in America. A Seattle Times
article called it “A New Hope for the Homeless.” Time Magazine,
CBS News and NPR all did features on the El Rey. The project represented
one of the earliest private-public partnerships used to create housing
for disabled populations.
 In
recent years, CPC has undertaken an aggressive effort to expand other
housing opportunities. These have included, the purchase of another
60 bed facility (Cascade Hall), developing twenty-one high quality cluster
houses, constructing six new apartment buildings and an 8 bed crisis
respite facility (Coach House), and developing over 150 slots of shelter
plus care and section 8 housing.
In 1998, CPC completed construction of the Dutch Shisler Sobering Center
and Harbor House Safe Haven. This remarkable project was notable not
only for the pioneering programs that now operate in the building, but
for the development partnership with King County’s Division of
Alcohol and Substance Abuse Treatment Services. CPC’s Harbor House
Safe Haven was selected recently by the Office of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) Homeless Assistance Division to be featured in a video
production documenting the effectiveness of “safe havens”.
CPC’s inventory of housing options is unprecedented for mental
health centers in Washington State. The development of this continuum
has involved hundreds of public and private partnerships, tens of millions
in funding from multiple funding sources, the help of many local neighborhood
communities, multiple treatment systems, medical providers, State and
local psychiatric hospitals, faith communities, and the efforts of case
managers throughout the King County mental health system.
Shirley Havenga, CPC’s Chief Executive Officer, is proud of the
housing continuum that CPC has built over the years and credits the
extraordinary work of Mike Nielsen, CPC’s Residential Services
Director, for his diligence and perseverance in developing the array
of housing resources available at CPC.
Eli Lilly and Company provided Mr. Nielsen travel and hotel expenses
to attend the awards presentation ceremony held in Chicago on October
20, 2001, where he received a commemorative trophy and financial contribution
on behalf of the agency. |
|
