Health Services
DESC clients live with severe and often untreated mental illness, substance use disorders, and a host of other physical and developmental disabilities that have caused or contributed to their chronic homelessness. By addressing each client’s unique needs through a structured and comprehensive recovery plan, staff are able to help clients stabilize and reclaim their lives. Engagement in our highly effective, state-licensed mental health and substance use disorder treatment programs contribute to each client’s success in housing.
The Clinic at Hobson Place
The Clinic at Hobson Place offers primary care, support and advocacy from Harborview Medical Center and DESC for our community’s at-risk and vulnerable individuals. The new clinic will result in a healthier community for everyone by better addressing the health care needs of this group.
Behavioral Health
- Support, Advocacy, Growth, and Employment (SAGE)
- SAGE is the ongoing comprehensive case management component of DESC’s mental health program.
- SAGE case managers work with clients to help them secure and maintain housing and improve their clinical and social stability, thus enhancing their level of independence and self-sufficiency. This program served more than 1,880 people in 2020. more
- Homeless Outreach Stabilization and Transition (HOST)
- HOST case managers provide outreach and intensive case management on the streets and in shelters, hospitals, jails, libraries and other facilities.
- By seeking out mentally ill and homeless people in this way, HOST outreach staff develop trusting relationships that encourage new clients to begin seeking assistance. more
- Program of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT)
- PACT is a nationally recognized practice that works with people who suffer from serious and persistent mental illness, assisting them in their journey towards recovery. The PACT model is distinguished by its intensive outreach and team-oriented, trans-disciplinary approach. more
- Community Outreach and Advocacy Team (COAT)
- COAT was developed to provide multidisciplinary services focused on equity and social justice, to those affected by legal competency services and the criminal justice system. more
- Project for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH)
- PATH is a federal grant program that provides assistance through outreach and engagement efforts to individuals who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. PATH territory is specific to the Greater Seattle area and serves adults who are 18 and older, connecting them with the needed resources in the community.
Onsite Medical Services
It’s hard to access preventative health care services when you’re living without shelter and with severe and persistent mental illness. So, it’s not surprising that most people who experience chronic homelessness get most of their medical care in emergency rooms, often after routine conditions have become matters of life and death. more
Substance Use Disorder Treatment
The Substance Use Disorders Team serves clients who may be, or are considering changing their use patterns, using substances in a safer manner, seeking medication assisted treatment (MAT), or working toward stopping use altogether. Using harm-reduction techniques and evidence-based practices, we serve each client using a low barrier, individualized, strengths-based approach. more
Lew Middleton Drop-In Center
The Lew Middleton Drop-In Center was started by Washington state’s longest-standing Certified Peer Counselor, Lew Middleton Jr. Since 1994, the center is and continuously aims to be a safe space for an incredibly special and diverse population. The center is staffed and operated by a team of Certified Peer Specialists, who receive intensive clinical training in order to best serve the community and provide recovery-oriented services. more