Needs Assessment

A review of our clinical data indicated there is still a pressing need now than ever before for additional clinical support.  The following underlying factors were identified as unmet need areas needing clinical support/clinical intervention.

 

• Barriers to Access Treatment (Extensive waiting lists)

• Joblessness and Underemployment

• Children’s Mental Health and Poverty

• Consequences of urban violence and victimization

• PTSD

• Responses to Trauma

• Addressing the Needs of the Homeless

• Addiction

• Depression and Aggression

• Systemic Failure

• School-Based Services

• Reevaluating Urban Mental Health Services

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As a result of stressors present in the Boston urban environment, those families living in the cities are at greater risk of developing mental disorders than those living in suburban and rural areas. Those who experience the highest risk of mental disorders are disadvantaged populations within these urban communities.

 

As a result of the complex forces that come together amid concentrated urban poverty, there exists a bidirectional, cyclic, and reinforcing relationship between poverty and mental illness in the inner city. Social disorder and violence, by undermining efficacy and promoting feelings of powerlessness, are key agents in perpetuating this relationship.

 

In order to interrupt the cycle and achieve progress, social workers need to work with community stakeholders to implement a comprehensive mental health care system that crosses traditional health care provision boundaries by mobilizing a variety of community institutions, (including schools, churches, and law enforcement) and professionals (including social workers, teachers, pastors, and police) to overcome barriers to accessing mental health care services.