SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 As Salt Lake City debates where people can sleep outside, one man worries whether help can still find those who need it.<\/p>\n
At the Switchpoint Overflow Shelter, Lanny Outcalt is often the first person people see\u2014 walking the halls, checking in, making sure others are okay.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like being able to help people who are still struggling with something that I\u2019ve struggled through,” said Outcalt.<\/p>\n
Not long ago, he was on the other side of the door\u2014 sleeping in his car and keeping his distance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI preferred sleeping away from people\u2026 somewhere off the beaten path,\u201d he admitted, adding that staying hidden felt safer. \u201cA lot of people have the same mindset that I had\u2026 You do your best not to be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
That mindset is exactly what makes outreach so difficult.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, First Step House, the behavioral health and housing programs in Salt Lake City, launched the mobile mental health team focused on people living outside with serious mental illness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey go and visit those people wherever they are\u2026 a nurse, a therapist, a psychiatrist, a peer support specialist,” explained Mary with First Step House.<\/p>\n
The team’s goal is to reach people who may not seek help on their own.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first thing that a person receives is a message that they matter\u2026 that somebody cares enough to come see them,” explained Jared Ferguson, Dir. of Mental Health Services, First Step House.<\/p>\n
The launch comes as Salt Lake City considers stricter rules on where people can sleep outside.\u00a0The city claims\u00a0the\u00a0goal is to make the existing rules clearer and keep public places safe and accessible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dozens of people spoke during public comment on the subject during Tuesday’s City Council meeting, with some warning that stricter rules could make outreach even harder.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it pushed me farther away\u2026 further off the beaten path,” said Outcalt.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s that gap that outreach workers are trying to close.<\/p>\n
According to Outcalt, what finally changed his life was someone meeting him where he was. Now, he\u2019s trying to do the same for others.<\/p>\n
\u201cHelping them find the hope that I once didn\u2019t have\u2026\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The new mobile team will eventually serve about 100 people. Meanwhile, the City Council has delayed action on the camping ordinance, leaving Salt Lake City to still weigh how to address public camping without pushing people farther from help.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 As Salt Lake City debates where people can sleep outside, one man worries whether…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":783863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[210,517,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-783862","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116543659240640240","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}