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Mental health consultation at a youth shelter: An ethnographic approach

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Abstract

Shelters for homeless and runaway youth offer temporary, safe shelter to children and youth who have no alternative available to them other than life on the streets, many of whom also present a wide range of mental health problems. Traditional office- or clinic-based mental health services may not be available to or may not meet the needs of this population, yet many shelter programs are not equipped to deal with youth who enter with mental health problems. This article describes a non-traditional model to enhance mental health service delivery in a shelter for homeless and runaway youth. Through the use of an ethnographic approach to mental health consultation, the rate of unplanned discharge from the shelter was reduced by more than half and other benefits were noted. Similar approaches might be applicable in other child and youth shelter settings.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, University of Georgia, Tucker Hall, 30602, Athens, GA

    R. Kevin Grigsby

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  1. R. Kevin Grigsby
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Grigsby, R.K. Mental health consultation at a youth shelter: An ethnographic approach. Child Youth Care Forum 21, 247–261 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00757193

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