Mental health resources are scarce in the valley, leaving those without homes, jobs, transportation and support systems to fend for themselves when it comes to seeking help.
Often, the Aspen Homeless Shelter serves as a catch-all for mental health and substance abuse services.
The shelter’s mission is to keep homeless persons alive, safe and fed. The nonprofit provides two basic services: a daily hot meal year round and an overnight shelter from December through March. It also, said executive director Vince Savage, tends to be the first point of contact for those in need of other social services. But, even though Savage himself is a psychologist and all his staff are masters level social workers, he said the shelter is not the appropriate place for those who need counseling.
“We’re not pretending to be a mental health center, nor are we licensed to be one. But we recognize that people that are homeless are under stress and a lot of times you’ll get some people with varying degrees of emotional difficulties,” said Savage.
Willow Lepanto has lived in the valley for decades. She doesn’t have a home, and last month she was banned from the homeless shelter. She doesn’t feel comfortable overnight with the male clients. She’s also not shy about vocalizing her concerns and criticism, and was finally booted after inadvertently getting lawyers involved.
Lepanto has a list of ailments that makes sleeping on the floor at St. Mary’s Church debilitating.
She said, in her condition, she can not work either. She cleans up well, and makes rounds among complimentary coffee stations in the mornings to keep warm. During the day she’ll go to the library and sew in the craft room, or hold up a sign outside of Clark’s Market hoping for some spare change. Losing privileges at the shelter is just the most recent occurrence in a string of feeling let down by the support services in town.
“I don't really think I’m asking for that much,” she said. “A dog probably gets more help than a human these days.”
The homeless shelter can’t be her therapy and mental health services can’t house her. She feels turned away by everyone.
Michelle Hoy, is the executive vice president at the mental health center for Mind Springs Health.
“In the normal stress of being homeless and having difficulties, part of the challenge is having individuals who are in a really, really difficult spot and feeling between a rock and hard place themselves… getting them to trust in one or two people in the community and starting to build relationships,” said Hoy.
The Western Slope has half the number of psychiatric beds per capita as the national average. Mind Springs has 10 psychiatrists on contract to serve 10 counties. The doctors meet with their patients over “TeleHealth” - a video on a computer screen.
“We’re all doing a lot of work with not quite enough resources, but we work hard to meet the needs of those individuals,” said Hoy.
Hoy said Colorado has been cutting funding for behavioral health services while increasing support for crisis centers. But, like any sickness, preventative care is more effective than emergency assistance. At the Mind Springs office in Aspen, there is one caseworker and one advanced practice nurse.
There is also the option to be matched with a peer-specialist, someone who has been through recovery themselves and can often relate better to the clients. That could be a big benefit for Lepanto who feels constantly stereotyped.
“Some of us don't want to be homeless and that's the biggest misunderstanding. You would assume I want to be outside, but I don't. And you assume I don't want to work, but I do. And you assume I’m useless, but I’m not,” said Lepanto in tears.
Lepanto is currently wearing out her welcome crashing in an acquaintance's shed. She’s fallen into a gap in the valley’s resources. She’s not struggling with addiction, not committing crimes and not experiencing a mental breakdown that would call for hospitalization.
She’s part of a group that Vince Savage said was created by the erosion of public health funding over time.
“Yea, there’s a huge problem in our country right now with mental illness,” said Savage. “The deinstitutionalization of state hospitals back in the 80s is one of the things that they attribute the homeless problem to, is that all these people that used to have a place to go don’t have that anymore.”
For full disclosure, Aspen Public Radio executive director Carolyne Heldman serves on the board of directors for the homeless shelter.
