The M Street Navigation Center has helped hundreds of people transition out of homelessness in the past several years, and getting those individuals into therapy is sometimes the key to success.
“We like to say all the time that, ‘Oh, I’m not feeling well, so I’m going to go to the doctor’s office.’ Well, the same applies with our mental health as well,” said Ricky Castellano, a recovery specialist with Kern County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services.
Castellano has spent nine years working to connect people living on the street with the services necessary to get them into housing. He said therapy and resolving mental health issues is foundational to the rest of a person’s recovery.
“When we’re talking about assisting individuals and improving their quality of life and reducing their symptoms, it’s extremely critical that we have a therapy component attached to that,” Castellano said.
“People don’t come through this door because they’ve had the best luck of their lives. A lot of individuals have had a lot of struggles, have experienced a lot of trauma, and are just trying to get by.”
Many people living on the street have mental health and substance abuse problems, criminal backgrounds and poor credit history, all of which are significant barriers to employment and housing.
The staff at M Street can help with all of those things, but if someone’s mental health is still unstable, resolving issues like housing and employment can be exponentially more difficult.
“It takes a lot of work when we’re looking at years and years of trauma, years and years of abuse and just why did they end up where they’re at to begin with,” said Rebecca Moreno, director of housing and supportive services with the Community Action Partnership of Kern.
The M Street Navigation Center is owned and funded by Kern BHRS, but CAPK is contracted to run the day-to-day operations, Moreno said, with an annual operating budget of $2.5 million.
The navigation center serves as a low-barrier shelter, offering a place for homeless people to stay. Once there, Moreno said, it’s much easier to connect them to services.
Staff are able to help with a range of issues. The center works with the public defenders’ office and the courts to try to resolve any legal issues people may have, providing transportation to court dates.
The shelter works with Bakersfield College on Project HireUp, which provides education and job training. More recently, the center set up Good Neighbor Crew, which puts residents M Street residents to work on public clean-up projects and offers financial literacy classes.
Therapy is a critical part of recovery, Moreno said, as many people will have trouble dealing with new responsibilities, lifestyle changes and even a fear of success.
“Sometimes we have to peel back those layers and slowly get to the root cause because if we don’t deal with the root causes of why a person ended up where they’re at, then a lot of times they’re just going to repeat those same coping mechanisms,” she said.
Evette Seargeant is getting ready to move into her own home after more than a year of living at the navigation center.
“I’m waiting on the housing authority to contact the property management to get the PG&E turned on, and then I get my keys,” Seargeant told The Californian.
“I had a lot of problems when I came in with social anxiety, being around a lot of people. They really helped me because they helped me to learn how to deal with being in close proximity with a lot of people.”
One of the strengths of M Street’s program is its ability to get services to people, wherever they are. The center facilitates transportation to medical or court appointments and even sends outreach workers into the field to connect people with services.
Many people are hesitant to get into therapy, Seargeant said, but she’s seen the process work.
“They’re really, really good here about trying to get focused on what we need to do and keep you, you know, on the line,” she said. “I know of a few people that have been here and had been here a while and they’ve already been housed. So, yes, they do help.”
The M Street Navigation Center has been operating for six years, Moreno said, and the safe camping site for two. The center recently added a kennel to its facilities, offering a place for pets to stay and receive veterinary services.
Since June 2022, the center has served 556 people, with 107 positive exits — exits to housing or family reunification — and 181 exits with income, where people were able to obtain some income before leaving.
Moreno said the navigation center and safe camp site have become close-knit communities with the residents helping one another.
“This has formed into a community of their own, and they have governed themselves at times as well,” Moreno said.
“They establish their own community guidelines and community leaders. They nominated and voted for their spokesperson and their safety officer, and these are held positions that they created. So it truly is a small community, and very tight-knit, and they look out for each other.”