Catholic Charities expanding mental health services at homeless shelters location in multiple counties

HOLIDAY, Fla. - Catholic Charities is now expanding its mental health services, with plans to add a permanent mental health counselor to every shelter location in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Citrus counties.

Catholic Charities currently has rotating counselors for all their locations in the Tampa Bay area.

The backstory:

In Holiday, you can find an unassuming lot with tiny homes and campers. It’s a shelter providing living space for more than 70 people, all of them seen by Tracy Hoffman, a mental health counselor with Pasco Hope.

"I've always worked with homeless population, making donations even on my own with a few friends growing up. And it was just always an interest," said Hoffman.

READ: Pasco Hope community begins taking in displaced residents weeks after Hurricane Milton

She’s spent the last year at Pasco Hope, which is operated by Catholic Charities with the Diocese of St. Petersburg, as a mental health counselor, giving people who are homeless hope.

"We'd have one guy who was feral, lived in the woods for 37 years, had severe schizophrenia. He said he came in, he says ‘I’m not used to people, I don't like to be around people,’" said Hoffman.

She's continued to work with him, and sees positive change.

"It was this morning when usually I'd just go by, and I'd say, ‘Hi, I'm checking on you, seeing how you're doing.’ And he usually just to say, ‘I'm good.’ But today he jumped out. He goes, ‘so how are you doing?’ And I was like, ‘wow,’" said Hoffman.

What we know:

"It's a big issue, and then some people are homeless, because of mental illnesses. Some people develop mental issues from becoming homeless," said Hoffman. "So, it could be somebody who has severe schizophrenia, to somebody just having depression, because they don't have, you know, healthy coping skills. They don't have the support system."

Hoffman rotates among different shelter locations within the non-profit, even providing care through telehealth.

"They have trauma, they're constantly in fight or flight, you know, they are in survival mode, and they don't know how to cut that off," said Hoffman.

What's next:

The goal is to hire more workers to serve this critical need in the community, and they are using grant money to help fund the expansion. Catholic Charities also welcomes donations from the community, by texting "CreatingHope" to 44834.

"That's very important because you need to find the balance. It's just healthy mind, body, spirit," said Hoffman.

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Catholic Charities said their Pasco Hope location was initially set up to serve those displaced after the 2024 hurricanes, and they still have a few residents waiting for housing. Their goal at Pasco Hope is to transition everyone into a more permanent housing situation.