Los Angeles Times reporter Doug Smith joined Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health psychiatrist Dr. Shayan Rab on his sidewalk rounds as the leader of a small but growing initiative in street-based treatment that is beginning to make inroads into the population of homeless people who wander L.A.’s streets with untreated mental illness.
Dr. Rab is attached to the teams of outreach workers, social workers, nurses and substance abuse counselors of the county’s Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement (HOME) program. They treat clients where they find them and are using innovative techniques to manage people averse to treatment, including conducting court hearings on the sidewalk.
Read the story: L.A’.s first street psychiatrist makes his sidewalk rounds, transforming homeless lives