HEARTS FOR  THE HOMELESS 

I first learned about Hearts for the Homeless mission for providing assistance to homeless populations through the various chapters in various colleges and universities around the U.S. my senior year of my undergraduate studies. I joined International not long after and became apart of the Mental Health team in its infancy. Along with my team members, we've worked hard to make mental health screenings a vital part of H4H screenings conducted using PHQ-9 and GAD-7 screening tools along with the established blood pressure screenings. Mental illness has a high prevalence in homeless populations and is a huge risk factor to becoming homeless, it is vital that mental health screenings should be provided for those that want help and treatment in this field. Our team has provided trainings and resources to hand out during screenings so that H4H chapters are well equipped while on the field during their screenings. Through the various projects the Mental Health team works on, we hope that we can play a role in de-stigmatizing mental health and have mental illnesses treatment access no different than any other disease. I am proud of the work we've accomplished and will soon accomplish and couldn't be happier to have grown our team from the beginning!