Medical & Psychiatric Care PDF Print E-mail

Health Care

Health care is often the first step toward accepting assistance. Unity HealthCare operates a clinic with a doctor and nurse twice a week at Friendship Place. Consumers who need specialized care can be referred. Limited shower and laundry facilities are also available.

Mondays 1:00-4:00 pm and Wednesdays 9:00-11:30 am

Psychiatric Care

Consumers have access to mental health counseling and psychiatric evaluations each week at Friendship Place. The psychiatrist, who has many years of experience helping homeless people with mental illness in D.C., also advises the staff. He or she sometimes goes with the outreach van to initiate a relationship.

Thursday 1:00-4:00 pm

Supportive Services

This begins on the street with an individualized treatment plan developed by the clinical director with the consumer and an outreach worker. It includes all the issues a consumer will work on in rebuilding his or her life, and encompasses all the services offered at Friendship Place. We use a strengths-based approach to empower consumers to become as self-sufficient as possible.

Monday 12:30-4:00 pm
Tuesday-Friday 8:30-11:30 am and 1:00-3:00 pm
 

FAQs

Many homeless people appear mentally ill. Are they dangerous?
Homeless people with mental illnesses are no more dangerous than any other group of people. The reality is that most people with mental illnesses are not violent or dangerous. In fact they are more likely to be the victims of crime than to commit a crime. One of the largest studies ever undertaken into links between mental illness and violence finds no significant correlation unless the mentally ill person is also abusing drugs or alcohol. This finding should come as no surprise, since the same is true of substance abusers who are not mentally ill.