Employee Spotlight
September 10, 2024
Jonathan Atkinson
Licensed Mental Health Therapist
Erie VA Medical Center
This year, we’re spotlighting VA’s Housing First approach through a series of interviews with VA employees and taking a look at how they’re working to end Veteran homelessness through this approach. Learn more about Housing First.
Q: How do you use the Housing First approach in your work?
A: We take a person-centered approach in our day-to-day work. The biggest advantage of me being a therapist is that I look at the person as opposed to the problem they have, or the diagnosis they carry. We want to focus on getting the Veteran the resources needed get them housed as efficiently as possible.
Obviously, there's a reason why, or a set of reasons why, individuals become homeless. Instead of just focusing on the housing component, we look at the barriers or the risk factors that played a role in their circumstances. We ask, “Are those still having some influence? What can we do to cover those areas as well?”
We take a holistic approach to housing support as opposed to just providing housing. We look at what other barriers are in place and how we can lay the foundation for stable housing.
Sometimes that looks like motivating an individual to start therapy, even if they've been historically treatment averse, to help identify the trends that led to their homelessness. We can get the person comfortable with the idea of engaging. We can start a conversation by explaining that this is common, that these are the outcomes we often see through therapy, and that there is hope of addressing those barriers to recovery in a way that can have long-term benefits.
Q: How are the services you provide as a therapist beneficial to Veterans facing homelessness?
A: In Erie, our homeless program is under the behavioral health service line. When you're walking in the door to meet with us, you know you're in the behavioral health clinic.
Having early conversations about treatment can open doors for long-term change. Sometimes it doesn't work out because that's the nature of the field we're in, but when it does, it increases the opportunity for long-term gain.
Also, we not only have knowledge of the vast number of services that we have under the mental health services line, but when it comes time to refer for treatment, we can walk you down the hall. We can facilitate a warm hand-off to our primary care mental health integration staff or our mental health care managers and get the process started.
My ability to be an advocate for therapy and mental health services has really benefited us in a positive way. I make sure they know it’s OK to come to therapy. It's OK to challenge yourself, and look in the mirror and say, “This is what I'm doing. This is where things haven't worked out, but there are opportunities to start to address some of those things.”
Q: What wisdom do you have for providers when it comes to making the case for the value of our mental health services to a Veteran?
A: I think it’s two-fold—what we have to offer and what they have to gain.
There are a lot of things I don’t want to do. I don't want to wake up and go to the gym at 5 a.m. But I know that if I take that step, it's going to have some form of positive outcome for me. Highlighting those positives and opportunities for success can go such a long way.
Right now, we have a Veteran who made the choice to leave his current housing due to a domestic issue. He has kids. He's currently living in a tent but doesn’t want to go to a shelter or transitional housing. He wants to live with his kids.
I said, “You seem like an awesome dad. You seem like you have an idea of what you want your life to look like. You are motivated to support your children.”
I asked him to imagine what it would feel like, with the help of therapy, to be able to have a roof over his head, for his kids to benefit, and to improve their quality of living.
We take a strength-based approach, identify what a Veteran can gain from the experience, and make these the focal points instead of dangling the carrot of only getting housing if you go to treatment.
That, to me, is the essence of not only Housing First, but the approach that you should take when meeting with Veterans—highlight those strengths as opposed to solely focusing on the negative outcomes which led to homelessness.
