State agencies and Mirror Foundation tackle surge in mentally unstable homeless

Four state agencies and a private foundation forged an alliance to confront the escalating crisis of mentally unstable homeless individuals.

The groundbreaking Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), inked yesterday, January 22, binds the Social Development and Welfare Department, the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth), the Mental Health Department, the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Department, and the privately operated Mirror Foundation.

Under the MoU’s provisions, all signatories gain the ability to interlink their databases encompassing homeless populations, hospital patients, and those reported missing. This collaborative effort will facilitate the tracing of families of homeless individuals.

Dr Sirisak Thitidilokrat, Deputy Director-General of the Mental Health Department, highlighted recent studies revealing the dearth of treatment accessibility for most mentally unstable homeless individuals. He emphasised the need for coordination among agencies to enhance the effectiveness of their work, proposing the seamless exchange of information to devise a comprehensive monitoring system.

Pisit Poolpipat, Deputy Director-General of the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Department, outlined the facilities his department offers for around 1,300 people with disabilities. He acknowledged that numerous mentally ill individuals on the streets had been ejected by their own families.

Suchada Muenkla, Deputy Director-General of the Social Development and Welfare Department, expressed concerns over the escalating numbers of mentally unstable people on the streets, underscoring the necessity for collaboration with the private sector.

ThaiHealth manager Dr Pongthep Wongwacharapaibool highlighted the MoU’s key role in linking databases, specifically integrating the Mirror Foundation’s information on mentally ill missing persons with welfare centres for the disabled. This integration would further extend to the databases of mental health hospitals, streamlining the process of reuniting patients with their families post-treatment, reported The Nation.

Sittipol Chuprajong, Chief of the Mirror Foundation’s project focusing on caring for sick homeless individuals, emphasised the MoU’s guarantee of assisting those on the streets, paving the way for their eventual return home.

Dr Kwanpracha Chiangchaiyasakulthai, a ThaiHealth official overseeing homeless policy mapping, disclosed that the MoU would empower authorities to identify mentally unstable individuals before they face expulsion from their families. In cases where families cannot provide care, ThaiHealth will turn to communities for assistance, preventing these individuals from resorting to life on the streets.