Community Human Services is a nonprofit agency dedicated to providing high-quality mental health, substance abuse, and homeless services to Monterey County residents to help them reach their full potential.
Homelessness, mental health, and substance use rarely exist in isolation. Sometimes they are deeply connected. When someone is struggling with mental health, it can impact their ability to maintain stable housing or resist substance use. Similarly, substance use can exacerbate mental health issues and make housing even more precarious. Homelessness itself is traumatic and destabilizing, which in turn may intensify both mental health and addiction struggles. These cycles can be incredibly difficult to break without comprehensive and consistent support from caring, knowledgeable helpers. Funds raised through MCGives will directly support our mission to empower individuals and families in the intersection of homelessness, substance use, and mental health challenges. These resources will fuel our programs which offer holistic care, restore dignity, and build pathways toward lasting stability and wellness.
Our work addresses the underlying conditions or root causes of personal, family, and community problems, whether it is addiction, mental illness, homelessness, domestic violence, child abuse, or other challenging problems that people have trouble resolving on their own. We help our clients cultivate new skills, build support networks, adopt new behaviors, and learn how to utilize community resources. Our services not only impact the individuals and families we serve, but all of Monterey County by reducing negative impacts on social services, law enforcement, hospitals, jails, and prisons; decreasing workplace absenteeism and the fiscal drain on employers; and improving school attendance, academic achievement, and social outcomes for children. Last year alone, we provided services for 4,670 people in Monterey County, 42% of them under age 17. Our service area stretches the Salinas Valley from North County to South County, and the Monterey Peninsula down Carmel Valley and south to Big Sur.
When I was a teenager, I ran away. I met a guy who was way older than me, started doing drugs, and everything went south. I was on the streets doing things I shouldn’t be doing. I'd look at other girls my age and think, “I need to change my life.” Then I called CHS. That day, a counselor brought me food and clothes and helped me get into Safe Place, the youth shelter in Monterey. They worked with me and eventually helped me get my own place! My message to people in my position is to take it one day at a time. There were days I couldn’t deal anymore. I even attempted suicide. If I had been successful, I wouldn’t have my adorable cat or this cool apartment. I’m so glad I’m still here. And it’s because CHS helped me take it one day at a time.
- Jessebel A, Salinas
