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We Deserve Access to Quality Mental Health

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We Deserve Access to Quality Mental Health

Sasha Bruce House is a compassionate alternative to the dangers of the streets for homeless, abandoned, abused, neglected, and runaway children. DC’s only short-term shelter for young people, Sasha Bruce House is open 24 hours a day, serving youth ages 11 to 17. By providing a safe place to stay and intensive counseling services, Sasha Bruce House helps most youth reunite with their families and works to return all young people to stable and safe environments. On-site services include crisis intervention; individual, group, and family counseling; case management, support for shelter graduates, and temporary respite care.

“We truly need more support and resources for young people to be able to access mental health services.”
-Troy Harris

Sasha Bruce House is a compassionate alternative to the dangers of the streets for homeless, abandoned, abused, neglected, and runaway children. DC’s only short-term shelter for young people, Sasha Bruce House is open 24 hours a day, serving youth ages 11 to 17. By providing a safe place to stay and intensive counseling services, Sasha Bruce House helps most youth reunite with their families and works to return all young people to stable and safe environments. On-site services include crisis intervention; individual, group, and family counseling; case management, support for shelter graduates, and temporary respite care.

“COVID has certainly transformed how we do everything, it’s transformed the lives of our patients,” Sweeney McShane said. “The majority of our patients live in Wards 5, 7, and 8. And those are the wards that have been hit the hardest by COVID. In fact, I think Ward 8 has the highest number of deaths related to COVID. But they’ve also had the lowest rate of vaccination for the COVID vaccine. And so that’s really our focus is how do we get the vaccine for patients who want it and who need it, and how it can save lives for residents of those parts of the city.”

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Clara Chea said she was scared at first, but decided the benefits outweighed the risks.

“So those who are out there scared, don’t be scared. Take the vaccine,” she said. “You know so you can’t have the COVID. So you can be here. So everything can go to normality. So everybody can be OK. So I step up, and I took mine.”

Community of Hope is offering vaccination appointments for their patients and some eligible community members, based on D.C. Health’s rules.

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Clara Chea said she was scared at first, but decided the benefits outweighed the risks.

“So those who are out there scared, don’t be scared. Take the vaccine,” she said. “You know so you can’t have the COVID. So you can be here. So everything can go to normality. So everybody can be OK. So I step up, and I took mine.”

Community of Hope is offering vaccination appointments for their patients and some eligible community members, based on D.C. Health’s rules.

““A lot of valid reasons for people to be hesitant so that..[we’re] making sure we’re educating people so that they can make an informed choice and then create that access so when they’re ready and as they’re ready that they can get those vaccines,”
-Troy Harris

However, the CEO said others are still on the fence about getting the shot.

“A lot of valid reasons for people to be hesitant so …[we’re] making sure we’re educating people so that they can make an informed choice and then create that access so when they’re ready and as they’re ready that they can get those vaccines,” Sweeney McShane said.

She said it has been a little harder to fill the shot schedule in Ward 8 than in Ward 5, where they held the clinic. By the end of the day Saturday, the team said they will have vaccinated 200 people with a Moderna dose.

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