Homeless Children's Network's Ma'at Program Case Study
We're so excited to share the news that HCN's groundbreaking Ma'at Program has been included in a new evidence-based guide from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation.
This new guide on Adapting Evidence-Based Practices for Under-Resourced Populations is part of SAMHSA's evidence-based resource guide series and focuses on tailoring care, programs, and services to the cultural, social, gender, and demographic contexts of the people served to yield positive outcomes.
HCN's Ma'at Program is a supportive holistic therapeutic community, in which we center and work with Black/African American families in San Francisco. This model affirms and uplifts the Black/African American community’s mental health and wellness through collaboratively focused, Afri-centric, heartfelt behavioral health services. You can read the full case study on the Ma'at Program in Chapter 4 of the guide (see pages 30-31).
On Tuesday, October 4th, HCN’s Executive Director Dr. April Y. Silas shared powerful truths and takeaways about HCN’s innovative Ma’at Program model with a national audience in a webinar highlighting findings from the new SAMHSA guide.
One of the takeaways and key lessons Dr. Silas shared during the webinar was that, "An Afri-centric model of mental health service provision starts from WITHIN the Black community. An Afri-centric model starts with: Reclaiming the mental health of our children and families, reclaiming the mental health and healing of our communities, reclaiming the narrative and paradigms and therefore trainings and literature that guide our worldviews, and reclaiming the wellness of those who care for our families and communities."
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