Jack Tsai, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Yale Division of Mental Health Services and Treatment Outcomes Research, is the guest editor of a special issue of the journal Psychological Services titled, "Homelessness Among Veterans, Other Adults, and Youth."
The issue contains 18 articles, including "Homelessness as a Public Mental Health and Social Problem: New Knowledge and Solutions" written by Tsai and co-editors Thomas O’Toole and Lisa K. Kearney. Other Yale affiliates contributed writing to the special issue.
Tsai has dual appointments at Yale School of Medicine and the VA Connecticut Healthcare System in West Haven. He is affiliated with the National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans, a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs organization which works to promote recovery-oriented care for veterans who are homeless or at risk for homelessness by disseminating evidence-based policies, programs, and best practices.
Established in 2009, the center supports implementation of the VA’s five-year plan to end homelessness among veterans.
Tsai, O’Toole, and Kearney wrote that homelessness remains a major public health problem, and that “new and innovative measurement approaches, interventions, and study methodologies are presented in this special issue to shed light on how psychology can help benefit and improve homeless services.”
According to their paper, the most recent nationwide count in 2016 estimated the number of homeless at 550,000 people. An estimated 68 percent were staying in shelters, while 32 percent were unsheltered.
Psychological Services is the official publication of the Division of Psychologists in Public Service (Division 18) of the American Psychological Association.