By Jack Nicas

Peter Lenrow is the current director of the Somerville Mental Health Association and has been a clinical psychologist with the organization for 25 years; more than half of the 44 years it has served the city of Somerville “through comprehensive, highly-integrated, community-based services.”

Lenrow was the guest at the June 13 Somerville News contributors’ meeting and said that Somerville Mental Health gives priority to ‚Äúpeople with problems of poverty and/or mental health and/or substance abuse.‚Äù

He said the organization’s programs fall into three broad categories: health and wellness promotion, prevention, and treatment and community support.

A primary pursuit of the health and wellness sector is the Early Head Start program, which aids the process of having a child for low-income mothers. One doesn’t have to have particular problems to be eligible, Lenrow said; the only requirement is that the family is poor. All services are provided free of charge and include weekly home visits, parent education and coordination of health care for the families.

The prevention sector of Somerville Mental Health directly handles three areas: in-school consultation, homelessness, and suicide.

“Probably the most important of our prevention programs is the consultation in all of the public schools of Somerville,” Lenrow said. Every school has a consultant available, who “has a working relationship with the principal and guidance counselor, and is available to the teachers on a regular basis,” he said.

Lenrow also said parents have the option of talk therapy for their children through the program.
However, Somerville Mental Health’s services do not end at therapy. Through its homelessness prevention program, the organization employs its 26 social workers. Lenrow said, ‚ÄúThey get [those afflicted] connected with the services they need by helping them find out what kind of affordable housing there is in the community, whether they’re eligible for it, and helping them apply."

Unfortunately, Lenrow said, there has been a recent spike in those utilizing the homelessness prevention. ‚ÄúThere just isn’t enough affordable housing in Somerville.‚Äù

The third area of prevention is suicide, which helps survivors cope with the incident. Yet, “survivors” does not connote those who have survived a suicide attempt, but rather family members of suicide victims.

After a rash of suicides and overdoses of 18 and 19 year olds five years ago, the Somerville Health Department established a trauma response network to help the community prevent and deal with the problem. Resident volunteers were trained in helping survivors and some eventually became well acquainted with them. Lenrow said it was then found that families of suicide victims shied away from suicide support groups because “something about suicide remains stigmatized.” Survivors would rather participate in planning for suicide prevention and now play an integral role in the suicide prevention program through various focus groups, he said.

In keeping with a positive organizational philosophy, Lenrow said Somerville Mental Health ‚Äúworks to discover [our patients’] strengths and build on them so they can live in the community with a greater sense of safety, competence, and self-respect.‚Äù