Giving Hope to Young People who Need Us

Sometimes it's difficult to hear the stories about our TIP team clients. TIP is short for the Transitions to Independence program. Their team provides wrap-around services to adolescents and young adults who are struggling with mental health and/or substance use disorder. Many of these youth have significant histories of trauma, developmental delays, and mental health diagnoses that require consistent, long-term support—resources that many of their families frequently lack the capacity for or have the access to provide. They have aged out of the system with no life skills, so the cycle of trauma and poverty continues.

Carrie's story is the perfect example of what our TIP clients are facing. Carrie was abandoned at a very young age and placed into the foster care system, where critical medical needs went unnoticed for years, including underlying developmental and mental health diagnoses. She moved through the system without consistent advocacy or stability, and while she does have family, they are older and have little to no resources to support her. Now aged out of foster care, Carrie is facing homelessness with no stable income, limited life skills to meet even her most basic needs, and no safety net to rely on. As a result, she has been repeatedly cycling through the hospital system, not because it meets her needs, but because it is the only place left that will take her in.

When a TIP client enters the program, GCBHS has the ability to get them signed up for things like Medicaid which covers any counseling or treatment they may require, but many times, as in Carrie's case, they need so much more. They age out of most child-focused services at 18 without the skills, stability, or the support necessary for independence, placing them at high risk for homelessness, hospitalization, and poor long-term outcomes.

Many of the resources needed for these young people are not covered by insurance. Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services looks for alternative funding streams but sometimes those run out or are not available.

This is where your support is vital.

Your donations help us bridge the gap in funding and allow us to provide temporary shelter and other basic needs so we can help them find stability -- a place to live, a way to get to school or work, and a path forward. In essence, you give them HOPE.

Yes! I would like to help!