At Safe Haven on Fort Street Mall, folks with mental illness can get the help they need and some

Shelter from Life’s Storm

In 10 years as Safe Haven's cook, Ray McQuinn has seen people "turn around and get responsible with their life."

"This place is definitely working," he said.

McQuinn said he worked at Chili's restaurant in Waikiki and saw people "down and out" on the street before Safe Haven opened for homeless mentally ill adults.

One woman was at the same corner every day, he said.

"I didn't know two years later I'd be having a perfect conversation with her (at Safe Haven)," he said. After help from the unique program, she flew back to her family on the mainland, he said.

Mental Health Kokua and the Kalihi-Palama Health Center's Healthcare for the Homeless Project operate Safe Haven at 41 S. Beretania St., near Fort Street Mall.

The program's mission is to serve as "a portal of entry into the housing system for homeless mentally ill adults."

Some are "disheveled, malodorous, mumbling and pushing shopping carts full of garbage" while others are well groomed "despite their desperate situation," said a statement from Mental Health Kokua, describing Safe Haven.

What they share is lack of access to mental health, substance abuse or health care services unless they go to jail, prison or an emergency room, the agency said.

Since Safe Haven opened in December 1995, more than 200 clients have lived at the 25-bed facility and been transferred into permanent housing.

The program is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a record that shows more than 86 percent of those placed are still housed, said Pamela Menter, program director.

More than 100 others have participated in daily activities at Safe Haven and more than 800 have been contacted through outreach efforts, she said.

Besides providing meals, showers, laundry, lockers, phone and mail service, 27 full-time staff members offer outreach, case management, medical and psychiatric services, psycho-social rehabilitation and 24-hour staffing for the residence.

A 66-year-old woman, explaining she didn't want to be identified because stigma still is associated with mental illness, said Safe Haven "is aptly named. It's a safe place to be, which is very important, in my case particularly."

She said she has paranoid schizophrenia and is "fearful of everything." After her husband of 28 years died in 1997, she was in "distorted reality," hearing and talking to voices, she said.

She lived 1 1/2 years at the Institute for Human Services until a Safe Haven staff member saw her at Fort Street Mall and invited her there, she said.

In two years at Safe Haven, she said, "They provided medications and got me back to a stable mental condition and assisted me with housing. They provided the environment and help with paperwork to get back to a normal lifestyle."

Safe Haven's three major goals are to place 20 people a year in affordable apartments from the transitional shelter, take another 20 off the streets into the shelter and provide ongoing support and health care to more than 50 clients.

The project had a controversial start because of its location in the historic Edwin Thomas Home near Hawaii Pacific University at Fort Street Mall. Concerns diminished after an advisory group representing all interests was formed to discuss issues and work out neighborhood agreements.

Menter said there's "not a peep" of controversy these days.

"This is a huge victory," said Joanne Lundstrom, Mental Health Kokua's chief executive, who has championed not only Safe Haven but development of residential facilities across the state with services for people in mental and emotional distress.

"It's nice to be able to say 'it's 10 years later.' It feels good. It's a great service," Lundstrom said.

Her agency, previously called Mental Help Hawaii, initially wanted to establish Safe Haven in the old Kakaako fire station but opponents blocked that.

Safe Haven outreach workers, who take services to homeless mentally ill people in the downtown area, had difficulty getting them to go to the residential facility in its early years.

But with word of mouth advertising, the beds are continuously full now and there is a fast turnaround if someone moves out, Menter said.

She has a wait list with about five to 10 people and receives daily calls about openings, she said.

Screenings to evaluate if people are appropriate for residential treatment are held from 9 a.m. to noon on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

About 15 to 20 people walk in daily for meals, psychiatric care or other activities, Menter said.

Sometimes it's hard for residents to leave the program because they get used to seeing the same faces and "it's like family," said Kim Ng, a resident aide.

The woman with schizophrenia said she goes to Safe Haven during the day for arts and crafts or to play cards. "There should be more places like this," she said.

Lundstrom and Menter said they'd like to have a couple more Safe Havens in downtown Honolulu and on the neighbor islands. "Where we get the funding for that is always the challenge," Lundstrom said. A larger inventory of community housing also would be needed to place people from the transitional programs, she said.

But Safe Haven's housing placements have accelerated in 10 years because of more accommodations and more open-minded landlords, the women said.

Clients can continue to receive services at Safe Haven because they're comfortable there, Lundstrom said. "They don't trust going to a clinic."

"A lot of people here are not at the point where they acknowledge they have mental illness," Menter said. "The first step is in the recovery process. Recovery is learning to live with illness and treat it effectively."

Jon Perkins, 52, expresses his feelings in watercolors. One of his whimsical paintings -- a bathroom with fish and turtles floating around a bathtub -- hangs on the wall at Safe Haven.

Perkins said he studied fine art at Golden West College in California. After various jobs and an auto accident, he came to Hawaii in 1997 to cope with his injuries.

He was living at IHS until someone referred him to Safe Haven about a year ago. He plans to do more paintings and try to sell them online, saying, "I don't want to get caught up like Wyland."

Robin S. Choy, 50, was at Safe Haven this week, seeking case management services and medication. She lost her apartment in May on her 50th birthday and lived at a park until she could get another apartment, she said. "You meet some bad people on the outside," she said.

Menter said Safe Haven, operated at a cost of about $1.3 million a year, "definitely saves money" for the state as an approach to assisting homeless people with mental illness.

About 60 to 70 percent of its funding is from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Safe Haven also receives small amounts of money from the City and County of Honolulu and the state, and grants from Aloha United Way and foundations.

Most clients have disability income and they're assessed a charge for room and board.

But on its 10th birthday, the program has some critical needs, such as replacement of its old dining and office chairs, single beds and box mattresses.

Volunteer groups are also welcome. The Air Force, for instance, prepares dinner for the clients on the last Friday of every month and on holidays.

For more information, call 524-7233 or e-mail: safehavendir@mentalhealthkokua.org.