Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration

CMHS Consumer Affairs E-News
November 22, 2005, Vol. 05-134

New SAMHSA Website on Accessing SSI/SSDI for People Who are Homeless

Announcing the launch of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)'s new SOAR (SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access and Recovery) webpage located at www.pathprogram.samhsa.gov/SOAR. The website contains several new resources for case managers and others assisting homeless people to apply for Social Security disability benefits (Supplemental Security Income - SSI; and Social Security Disability Insurance - SSDI).

Resources Include:
Stepping Stones to Recovery, a manual for case managers assisting adults who are homeless, with SSI and SSDI applications. It features promising practices and tools to document disabilities as part of the SSI/SSDI application process. Available for download.

Learn about the SOAR Technical Assistance and Training Initiative that is being implemented in 13 States and the County of Los Angeles. This initiative was offered to States participating in the Federal Interagency Policy Academies on Homelessness and supported by SAMHSA, HRSA, HUD, DOL, and the VA and is designed to increase access to SSA disability benefits for people who are experiencing homelessness.

Join the new list serve to announce new tools and information related to expediting SSI and SSDI for people who are homeless. To join, send an e-mail to soar@prainc.com.

For more information, go to http://www.pathprogram.samhsa.gov/SOAR.
*************************************************
To subscribe or unsubscribe to this list, please visit the Consumer Survivor page of the Center for Mental Health Services Web site at: http://samhsa.gov/consumersurvivor/

The Center for Mental Health Services is a component of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, United States Department of Health and Human Services.