Healing Minds NOLA

Healing Minds NOLA is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working to build a full continuum of coordinated psychiatric treatment and care for people living with severe mental illnesses (SMI). We explore and implement alternatives to incarceration, homelessness, and death for people living with untreated/untreated, SMI.

We are focused on eliminating barriers to treatment and care for people who are unable to advocate for themselves due to cognitive impairments secondary to severe mental illness, including schizophrenia spectrum disorders, bipolar disorders, psychotic disorders, and major depressive disorders. We aim to bring patients, residents, families, and stakeholders together to improve public policy and advocate for alternatives to incarceration, homelessness, repeat hospitalizations, and death for those living with untreated and under-treated serious mental illness. Current initiatives include providing alternatives to incarceration, streamlining inpatient and outpatient psychiatric treatment and care, and improving the continuity of psychiatric care. We promote Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT), a well researched and evidence-based therapeutic program with demonstrated outcomes of reductions in homelessness, criminal justice system involvement, and repeated hospital visits.

Testimonials

Sent April 2024 from Anonymous:

"Healing Minds NOLA has given me a voice. A voice that is normally lost when you enter the mental health system. Mental illness is not an individual or family issue. This is a societal problem. And [HMN] gives me hope. This program has assisted me with all the communication between legal - whether it be legal or medical. This program is a one shop stop. And I support it one hundred percent. And thanks to Ms. Janet Hays, I have hope."