Today we’d like to introduce you to Travis Larson.
Travis, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
In recollect, my entire life has been preparing me for a future in human services. My education – B.S. in Psychology, Masters of Educational Psychology, Teaching Credential, Marriage and Family Therapist, Doctoral Student (presently). Taught high school in English; coached 2 sports for nearly 10 years. I have been a Program Director and now, Regional Director of Programs in San Diego for Alpha Project for 9 years. (The mission of the Alpha Project is to empower individuals, families and communities by providing work, recovery and support services to people who are motivated to change their lives and achieve self-sufficiency.)
More specifically, I am the Director of Alpha Square: Permanent Supportive Housing: “Housing First Model” to address the most vulnerable on the street: everyone in my residential program is dual-diagnosed: Mental health diagnosis+ either a substance abuse issue or a physical disability. In addition, we consider these (201) individuals to have co-occurring issues: mental health/substance abuse and homelessness (each person in the program has been previously homeless).
Although I’ve never been homeless or addicted to drugs or suffered from any (diagnosable haha) mental illness, I have had tragedy in my life that made me question myself, my faith… the universe. Several years ago, I lost my beautiful young wife; when giving birth to our son. Our family went from two parents and one incredible little girl to one parent and two very small children. This was my reality. The lessons learned from this tragedy would prove to be invaluable.
As much as I loved teaching, I felt that my calling was more in-tune with the mission of Alpha Project and what they were trying to do; to change the culture and best practices in: to addressing our city’s homeless.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t always been a smooth road: you can understand my personal challenges from becoming a widower and leaving my amazing job as a high school teacher to become a therapist but within the world of social work and human service the obstacles are many. I believe the initial obstacles come in the way of the myths that surround are homeless humans. The general public typically considers our homeless population to be crazy or addicted to drugs or have the desire to be homeless. No doubt, these three conditions exist within the population but many, many more reasons lead to an individual being homeless. Next, are cities politicians normally rather not talk about human beings but what this population does in regards to accessing and abusing the Public Services; such as getting arrested, going to the emergency room, spending nights in the hospital. All of these services have a per day cost associated with them. Part of my job is to prove that our program saves the city money, at least theoretically, by eliminating the need to access these (expensive) public services. By providing surrounded services like legal aid and medical as well as social opportunities we have seen drastic cost savings to the city. But the oxymoron that is San Diego’s affordable housing, coupled with a very difficult job market, and limited Social Services, make addressing this serious problem, difficult.
Please tell us about Alpha Project.
I believe what sets us apart from other social services organizations is our grassroots, hand-up, not a hand-out approach. Although we, on the surface, appear to be a small non-profit, we actually have services that include: a state-licensed treatment center, 3-outreach teams in varying areas of San Diego, we run the Bridge Shelter (houses 350 single men and women), affordable housing from San Diego to the Bay Area… but we have no thrift store (important to note: all of our donations go directly to the people most in need).
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I have so many: I was so lucky to be able to travel most of my life. My parents weren’t/ aren’t rich but made all efforts to give us the opportunity to be cultured; to travel to other countries (and within our own country). Those travels instilled in me a great appreciation for culture; what other experience in their world/ lives. My brother’s and I talk often about the positive effect that our childhood trips had on our adult life/work and school life.
Contact Info:
- Address: 550 14th St., San Diego, CA 92101
- Website: alphaproject.org
- Phone: 619-696-6500
- Email: travis@alphaproject.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alphaprojectsd/
Image Credit:
Travis Larson, Allison Just
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