Our session will present LA Family Housing (LAFH)'s newest approach to providing enrichment and supportive services to supportive housing residents. Shaped by Trauma-Informed Care LAFH is taking an innovative approach on meeting residents where they are and providing them not only safe living environments, but enrichment services on-site, which support mental, emotional, and physical wellness. Our team consists of Enrichment Coordinators, Mental Health Specialists, and Substance Use Disorder Specialist collaborating to provide constant engagement with the goals of minimizing overdose, mental health crisis, and lack of resident engagement. A third of LAFH staff have disclosed via DEI surveys their own experience with homelessness. This is not only personal but provides insight into designing and delivering quality services. This project is dedicated to our communities for all those that have faced housing insecurity, episodes of being unhoused, and have had to come face to face with trauma occurred while experiencing housing disparities. Many PSH residents have been in fight or flight, prioritizing survival in interim housings, shelters, or encampments. For many service providers, clients entering permanent supportive housing is the end to a long journey of homelessness, but, in reality, it is only the beginning of their lives within safe permanent housing.

A common theme reported by on-staff site is clients experiencing difficult behaviors: outburst, mental health crisis, and difficult transitions into permanent supportive housing. What are those symptoms trying to communicate to us? We must switch our lenses from "Oh no they're acting up again" to "Now what? Now what fills residents time? Now what resources do they need in this new neighborhood? Now what does it mean to be a good neighbor and take care of themselves independently?" Yes, there are intensive case managers providing essential services on-site but does that hour check-in cover the importance of ensuring residents are living fulfilling lives? During this session we will expand the conversation on enrichment activities we have implemented into our PSH sites that have harbored community for tenants. We will discuss how mental health specialists have provided essential mental health enrichment-based information to not only normalize conversations surrounding mental health but provide residents with resources/knowledge. LAFH is passionate about providing harm reduction. We will discuss how our substance use disorder specialists are ensuring safe usage at all sites by running substance abuse groups, making harm-reduction supplies available at all times to all sites, and collaborating with community partners to ensure our sites are up to date on the newest information/resources for harm reduction. We're not doing all of this on our own either, LAFH is dedicated to community collaboration. We are collaborating with community partners to bring in subject matter experts to provide educational groups. For example, we have partnerships that have ran groups focused in effective communication skills, access to health care resources in their area, and financial literacy. Yup, we're covering it all!