Clinical Practices, Recovery and Social Supports

K14 - Breaking Down Silos: A New Model for Addressing Homelessness for Individuals with Complex Behavioral Health Needs

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

10:30 AM – 11:30 AM ET

Location: 115A

The urgency to address chronic homelessness in individuals with mental illness, substance use, or co-occurring disorders is critical. Integrating housing with specialty behavioral health teams into Permanent Supportive Housing offers a comprehensive solution. We'll discuss merging two historically siloed systems of housing and health care, building community partnerships, integrating lived experiences, tracking outcomes and ensuring sustainability. We will share pragmatic experience from a national model operating in Dallas, Texas. And we’ll talk about policy and legislative strategies for success in the new political landscape.

Learning Objectives:

Explore the benefits and challenges of integrating housing and behavioral health systems into Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) to address chronic homelessness.
Identify strategies for fostering private-public partnerships, sustainable community collaborations, and system-wide transformation.
Understand key policies and legislative approaches to sustaining and expanding PSH models in a shifting political landscape.

Breakout Presenter(s)

Darilynn Cardona-Beiler, MSSA, LCSW

Senior Vice President for Specialty Healthcare
Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute
Austin, Texas
Jennifer Erasime, LCSW-S

Interim Executive Director of Meadows Institute, Dallas and Vice President of Complex Care
Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute
Dallas, Texas
John Snook, JD

Chief Policy Officer
Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute
Austin, Texas