Sonoran Research Group Assists HomeBase Youth Services to Secure $2 million Award from SAMHSA - Oct. 17th, 2008

Sonoran Research Group assists HomeBase Youth Services to secure Treatment for Homeless grant from the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

With funding secured through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administraiton’s (SAMHSA) Treatment for Homeless- Services in Supportive Housing program, HomeBase Youth Services will implement the Healthy Living Substance Abuse and Mental Health Treatment Program for Homeless Youth. The Healthy Living program integrates substance abuse and mental health treatment with primary health care and comprehensive wrap-around services to address the complex needs of homeless youth. The program will provide intensive outpatient substance abuse and mental health treatment services to a minimum of 43 runaway, homeless or street youth in the HomeBase Transitional Living Program, a total of 215 young people over the course of the entire program. Additionally, program staff will receive training in motivational interviewing to support the process of engaging young people in the treatment services.

HomeBase will rely on the reputation for serving homeless young people it has developed during the course of over 17 years of providing services to this vulnerable population. Services available to treatment participants will include outreach, primary health care, transitional housing, permanent housing, educational and vocational services, case management, and a wide range of social services. Although many of the young people participating in services will live at the HomeBase Transitional Living facility, supportive services will also by provided at the HomeBase Resource Center and on the street to ensure that the services are accessible to any homeless young person who wishes to participate in them. Read more about the services provided by HomeBase Youth Services at: http://www.hbys.org/

The Sonoran Research Group (SRG) was contracted to prepare the proposal and led the effort to write it for HomeBase Youth Services. SRG staff members developed a comprehensive needs assessment and interviwed HomeBase program staff to gain an understanding of the existing services. SRG used this information as the basis for developing the approach to providing the expanded services described in the proposal. SRG will also provide the process and outcome evaluation activities required by SAMHSA, including reporting on SAMHSA's National Outcome Measures. The official announcement of the grant award is available on the SAMHSA website at: http://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/advisories/0810152411.aspx