By: Shelley McKinley Omar Sesay, Program Director for  e Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD, currently leads three outreach programs that target the homeless of Harris County with the intent of reducing the number of people living on the streets. The programs are: PATH which stands for Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness; HOT which stands for Homeless Outreach Program; and SUDOP which stands for Substance Use Disorder Outreach Program. Each of these programs focus on the individual and what he or she needs immediately, like shelter, followed by a menu of services. As Sesay explains, “There is a difference between mental health and mental illness. We all have mental health. Protect it. It is okay to seek assistance.” PATH is a program that provides clinical mental health and non-clinical services to adults ages 18 or older who are both homeless and have a mental illness or co-occurring substance use disorder. The goal of the program is to improve the individual’s quality of life by connecting them with ongoing outpatient mental health services at The Harris Center. Intakes for new clients are performed every morning on a  rst-come,  rst-serve basis. Individuals experiencing homelessness can walk-in to request services (no referral required). Individuals may also be referred by other shelters and homeless providers, other Harris Center programs, Houston Police Department (HPD), Harris County Sheri ’s O ce (HCS), Homeless Outreach Team, or local hospitals.  The PATH program is a grantfunded program by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC). HOT is a specialized team of one sergeant, six HPD Police Officers, one Metro PD o cer, one senior peace o cer, and three Mental Health Care Coordinators who engage in street outreach to the homeless community to provide outreach services and case management to individuals who are homeless and experiencing a serious behavioral illness.  The goal of the team is to reduce the number of people who are homeless and living on the streets.  The HOT Team collaborates with the Houston Police Department’s Mental Health Division to […]

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