WMHS: Our Partner in Change
Chance for Change (CFC), NCS’s out-patient substance-use treatment program, is uniquely designed to serve homeless individuals battling addiction, often combined with mental illness. Over the years, Lenox Hill Neighborhood House’s Women’s Mental Health Shelter (WMHS), located at the Park Avenue Armory, has been an essential partner in giving our clients the services they need. This program serves women with severe and persistent mental illness.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, substance use disorders— the repeated misuse of alcohol and/or drugs — often occur simultaneously in individuals with mental illness, usually to cope with overwhelming symptoms.
The partnership ensures coordinated treatment is available for the 80 unhoused women living at WMHS, approximately 80% of whom suffer from a substance use disorder.
It is a partnership that works for WMHS, CFC, and— most importantly— the clients.
“We like sending clients to Chance for Change because the counselors there really listen, and we see a difference in our clients,” said WMHS Social Worker Laury Dyke. “They feel heard and taken care of.”
Stephanie Hervey, the former CFC Substance Abuse Counselor, shared about the partnership with WMHS, “we are able to collaborate so well because we communicate and coordinate the clients’ care together. The social workers at Park Avenue are extremely responsive.”
The success of this partnership is thanks in part to the shared history between NCS and WMHS. In the early 1980s, Lenox Hill Neighborhood House (then Lenox Hill Neighborhood Association) was among the founding member organizations of what would later become NCS. They played a significant role in addressing the increase in New York City’s homeless population by opening a nightly women’s shelter staffed by volunteers from the other coalition partners.
Forty years later, our bond remains strong and more important than ever. The need to keep clients safe in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic forced Chance for Change to move to remote sessions. The WMHS social workers ensured that the shelter residents had a private office and the technology they needed to remotely continue their confidential appointments with Chance for Change counselors.
In June of 2021, a new client moved into WMHS and overdosed several times in a short period. Shelter staff used Narcan each time to save her life, and she spent one month in rehab before returning to the shelter. Once she moved back into WMHS, she also enrolled as a Chance for Change client— and hasn’t overdosed since. “This is a huge improvement,” shared Laury. “We wouldn’t have seen her succeed without our close collaboration with the Chance for Change team. Their support saved her.”
Chance for Change provides a full spectrum of services that focus on the whole person. WMHS Social Worker Noemi Lemasson added that this is crucial because it helps their shelter residents become housing ready. “Chance for Change excites the clients and motivates them to want to move out of the shelter. It gives them purpose.”
“Together, we are teaching the clients coping skills so that they can reach their potential and can be independent,” Noemie explained.
Thank you to the entire team at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House’s Women’s Mental Health Shelter for being our partner in change.
Read stories about some of the other C4C clients who have lived at WMHS:
In honor of NCS’s 40th anniversary, we will be sharing stories about our founders, volunteers, supporters, and staff who make our work possible, and the residents and clients at the center of our mission.
Check back throughout the year as we regularly update the series with new stories from our 40 years here.