Justin Hernandez has been a member of the Sacramento Counties Homeless Engagement and Response Team for about a year and a half. Hernandez is one of 22 people on the team who visit the camps to connect people experiencing homelessness with mental health and substance abuse services. The mental health counselor told KCRA 3 that growing up, he always knew he wanted to help people and was thankful he had a supportive family and didn’t have to face some of the struggles faced by others less fortunate that he KCRA 3’s Lyse Mitri went out with her team on two separate days and witnessed a person willing to find out what services might be best for him. Most others said not yet or next time. Asked how many tries it takes before someone is willing to accept services, Hernandez said: It can be a mixed bag. There could be people who have been homeless for many years and are ready to take that step right now, he said. Sometimes they’ve been through so much trauma, they’ve been through so many broken promises that they may have to rebuild that trust in order to relate to someone new. It appears Wednesday at 10pm on KCRA 3 News in my 58 | Sacramento County has spent $2.7 million on this outreach effort in the past year. KCRA 3 Investigates how many people actually accept mental health and substance abuse services and breaks down the numbers. Hernandez says consistency is key to getting people to accept services. A lot of it has to do with that relationship building, he said. Maybe the first time they meet us, they want to hear us out of our intentions. And the next time they go out, they think they were being a little more serious, so maybe they can take that leap of faith and start that process with us. Challenges include losing track of someone they’ve come into contact with after a camp has been cleared. , move or lose their phones. When people are homeless, it’s hard to keep a phone, he said. It is difficult. And if you have a phone, it’s hard to keep it charged. When asked what she would like people to know about the work she does, Hernandez said, she would definitely say it’s different on the outside looking in. And I would say I would ask people. to be patient with us. See more coverage of California’s top stories here | Download our app.
Justin Hernandez has been a member of the Sacramento Counties Homeless Engagement and Response Team for about a year and a half.
Hernandez is one of 22 people on the team who visit the camps to connect people experiencing homelessness with mental health and substance abuse services.
The mental health counselor told KCRA 3 that growing up, he always knew he wanted to help people and was thankful he had a supportive family and didn’t have to face some of the struggles faced by others less fortunate that he
KCRA 3’s Lyse Mitri went out with her team on two separate days and witnessed a person willing to find out what services might be best for him. Most others said not yet or next time.
Asked how many tries it takes before someone is willing to accept services, Hernandez said: It can be a mixed bag.
There could be people who have been homeless for many years and are ready to take that step right now, he said. Sometimes they’ve been through so much trauma, they’ve been through so many broken promises that they may have to rebuild that trust in order to commit to someone new.
- Coming Wednesday at 10pm on KCRA 3 News on My 58 | Sacramento County has spent $2.7 million on this outreach effort in the past year. KCRA 3 Investigates how many people actually accept mental health and substance abuse services and breaks down the numbers.
Hernandez says consistency is key to getting people to accept services.
A lot of it has to do with that relationship building, he said. Maybe the first time they meet us, they want to hear us out of our intentions. And the next time they go out, they think they were being a little more serious, so maybe they can take that leap of faith and start that process with us.
Challenges include losing track of someone they’ve contacted after a camp is cleared, they move, or they lose their phones.
When people are homeless, it’s hard to keep a phone, he said. It is difficult. And if you have a phone, it’s hard to keep it charged.
When asked what she would like people to know about the work she does, Hernandez said, she would definitely say it’s different on the outside looking in. And I would say I would ask people to be patient with us.
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app.
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