Street Outreach

The Community Response Team: An Innovative Way to Address Homelessness in Oklahoma City 

Leave a Comment / Homelessness, Street Medicine /

In the spring of 2023, a new initiative emerged in Oklahoma City, born out of the need to support those experiencing homelessness while also easing the strain on emergency services: the Community Response Team (CRT). This partnership between the City of OKC and Mental Health Association Oklahoma is making a real impact by providing direct […]

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MHAOK was the lead agency at the Tulsa Dream Center pop-up shelter during last week’s storm

Leave a Comment / Drop-In Centers, Homelessness /

Last week, a severe winter storm hit Oklahoma, bringing record-breaking temperatures and snow. In response, Denver House, Mental Health Association Oklahoma’s (MHAOK) peer-run drop-in center located near Downtown Tulsa, closed for the week so staff could volunteer at the Tulsa Dream Center’s west campus pop-up shelter, aimed at assisting those experiencing homelessness. MHAOK served as

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The Importance of Shelters and Outreach Teams in Oklahoma

Leave a Comment / Advocacy, Drop-In Centers, Homelessness, Street Medicine, Street Outreach /

Homelessness: By the Numbers  One week from today, partner agency staff across Oklahoma City – including MHAOK – will gather at 3:30 a.m., divide into groups of six and head out into hidden corners of the city to count as many people experiencing homelessness as we can find. The same count will take place in

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Donation items needed for impending arctic blast

Leave a Comment / Donations, Homelessness, Street Medicine, Street Outreach /

Sometime between this Monday and next, the temperature will become downright unbearable. It is already formidable. Most of the state is in the midst of a winter thunderstorm, after all. While many of us – myself included – leave our warm homes, travel to the office in our warm cars before returning to our warm

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Street Outreach houses an ‘Angel’

Leave a Comment / Homelessness, Housing, Street Outreach, Success Stories, Youth Mental Health /

Angel, a native Oklahoman, was a mere twelve years old when she slipped out of the only place she called home and into the unknown. For five years, each day was a struggle for hope, a struggle for survival, as she endured the unforgiving reality that her stepfather’s sexual abuse was shattering her. “I had

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House Bill 1031X introduces three new programs to incentivize affordable housing statewide

Leave a Comment / Advocacy, Homelessness, Housing, Street Outreach /

Imagine a bridge.  One side of it is rickety, precarious. The area on that side of the bridge is derelict, but most don’t know it because most don’t see it. It could be hidden by trees or dilapidated structures, or it could go unseen simply because so many people don’t know or care to look.

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Arie Fife with Oklahoma Watch goes out with our boots-on-the-ground team

Leave a Comment / Media Coverage /

This winter, Arie Fife with Oklahoma Watch took a deep dive into our boots-on-the-ground efforts to serve vulnerable Oklahomans. She’s gone out with our Oklahoma City A Better Way team, as well as our Street Outreach and Street Medicine teams, speaking with those who run the programs and those who benefit from their services. Fife

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Stephanie Newman: from housing to healing to wholeness

Leave a Comment / Success Stories /

Last week, I had the honor of interviewing our own Stephanie Newman for the Mental Health Download. Stephanie has been with the Association since 2017, starting as a Housing Support Specialist before earning a promotion to Street Outreach and Rapid Response Case Manager – a move that has allowed her to truly shine. Stephanie is

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Oklahoma Watch highlights Street Outreach, Mobile Medical, and A Better Way efforts

Leave a Comment / Media Coverage, Mental Health News /

Last month, we spent a lot of time working with two of the Oklahoma Watch journalists as they covered our boots-on-the-ground efforts to assist fellow Oklahomans who are struggling. Arie Fife was the lead reporter on this story, and she did an excellent job highlighting the work our Street Outreach, Street Medicine, and A Better

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