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April 11, 2006
A house built on trust and respect
Across Hewitt Ave. lies a house that never sleeps. It has no locks and the people who live there stay a month at most. Yet the community that resides inside continues after 13 years.
“Our method of trust and respect works every time, no matter how severe the mental illness,” said Cullen Johnson, program director at People Incorporated’s Hewitt Crisis Residence (HCR) on 1593 Hewitt HCR provides psychiatric evaluation and crisis counseling and management to adults with mental illness who may or may not have a chemical dependency diagnosis and are experiencing a crisis.
HCR occupies two victorian-style homes and opened 13 years ago with a somewhat radical philosophy. “We don’t use a medical model,” said Johnson. “That means no restraints and a lot more freedom for clients.” There are crisis residences all around the nation, but HCR was the first in the midwest and is considered a pioneer in the state. Johnson cited HCR’s position in the duality the Twin Cities has of being “somewhat ahead, but also behind” in the field of mental health. Clients typically stay for an average of one to three days at the residence, with the exception of those who are in transition out of a medical setting who stay for about a month. “We do get repeat visitors,” said Johnson. “I think that [HCR] becomes their psychologist in a way. We’re down to earth, warm, and we provide a community.”
Most clients are homeless to some degree, but there are an estimated 15 percent who are students or have full-time jobs who have simply experienced an overwhelming crises of some kind.
Clients live in sparse-yet-homey twin rooms, eat in a community dining room, and use the library and television lounge when they aren’t meeting with staff or having group therapy sessions.
Group therapy is one of the foundations of HCR’s program as clients have group therapy sessions several times a day. Mental illness is very isolating for most, and talking and sharing seems to break down the isolation and further strengthen the community at HCR. “We try and hit ‘em with everything we’ve got,” said Johnson. “Hopefully something we do will stick. Sometimes it doesn’t and we get clients for a second or third time, but thats just part of the process.”
HCR once did a lot of work in collaboration with Hamline students interested in psychology. Johnson, a Hamline alum, still welcomes applicants to work at HCR but admits that positions are difficult in both a physical and emotional manner. He also said he thought that many potential applicants might be scared off by how the media portrays mental illness.
Johnson said that HCR’s program, which only costs Ramsey County about $350 per patient, is both more cost-effective and more effective in general than medical models which can run up bills of thousands of dollars. HCR’s philosophy is definitely successful, but Johnson admits that it isn’t easy. “Therapy isn’t what it used to be,” he said. “It’s not a couch and a lamp or any of that. It’s quick and has to be cost-effective. Its like triage in here.”
Posted by dwright at April 11, 2006 01:03 PM
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