Normand Flores grew up on the streets of Mexico City. Originally from California, he and his mother moved when he was a child, separating him from the rest of his family. After his mother took her own life, Flores was left to fend for himself. He had trouble enrolling in school without any documentation. Eventually, he made his way back to California with hopes to join the military, but without a high school diploma, he was left with few options.

In his mid-20s, Flores hit rock bottom in terms of his mental health. He was working hard, trying to make it on his own. “I ended up having a nervous breakdown,” he said, losing “pretty much everything as far as cognitive abilities went.”

A counselor from Interim, Inc., a nonprofit offering affordable housing and mental health services in Monterey County, found Flores and told him about the program. “I was so beat up emotionally, spiritually, and physically,” Flores said. Talking to the counselor, his fears began to dissipate. “They pulled me out of a really bad situation,” he said.

That was almost 30 years ago. Back then, Interim was small enough that all of the employees and clients knew each other’s names and stories. Now, the organization has over 300 employees and 20 housing and treatment facilities across the county in Salinas, Monterey and Marina. This year marks Interim’s 50th anniversary. The organization is celebrating its history of helping clients and looking forward to further expanding its services in the future.

Interim was founded in 1975 after Ronald Reagan, who was then governor, closed down state mental hospitals. Many of the patients from those hospitals were left with nowhere to turn. Mental health professionals, community members and clients’ families came together to start Interim as an alternative to the closed hospitals, according to Interim’s website (www.interiminc.org)Interim is a close partner of Monterey County Behavioral Health — staff from the county often refer people to Interim. “I think it’s through partnerships that we’re best able to serve our community,” said Melanie Rhodes, who has been with Behavioral Health for 20 years and has worked with Interim since she started. “They have more flexibility than, say, a larger sort of county system.”

Interim’s first treatment centers, funded by a contract with the Monterey County Department of Health and by private fundraising, were two halfway houses in Monterey and Salinas. Their services only grew from there. Barbara Mitchell, executive director of the nonprofit from 1984 to 2022, oversaw an expansion of programs over her 39 years in the position. In the mid-1980s, Interim added vocational opportunities to help clients train for jobs. They turned the halfway houses into short-term crisis housing and began expanding their affordable housing options.

Interim still receives funding through its contracts with the Monterey County Department of Health’s Behavioral Health Bureau and the California Department of Rehabilitation. They also receive grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the County of Monterey and the cities of Monterey and Salinas. The remainder of their funding comes from client fees and rents, foundation grants and private donations.

Monterey County has some of the highest average rent prices in the state. “Affordable housing has been a problem in this county forever,” Mitchell said. “We eventually decided if people are going to have permanent housing… we were going to have to build it or buy it.”

Affordable housing is a key part of mental health treatment for Interim. “It’s extremely hard, and nearly impossible, for people who are homeless on the streets to engage in any kind of treatment,” said Kristina Johnson, a behavioral health clinician at Interim. When a person’s basic needs are not met, they get stuck in survival mode, not feeling physically or internally safe to meaningfully engage in therapy and other treatments, Johnson said.

Now, Interim has over 270 beds and a range of supportive housing options for low-income adults diagnosed with a serious mental illness. Other eligibility criteria, such as homelessness or substance use disorders, can apply depending on where funding for the housing comes from. Options range from crisis housing to transitional housing to permanent housing. Some clients have lived in Interim housing for decades.

There are 18 housing sites across Salinas, Monterey and Marina. The sites include apartments with private apartments and community rooms, as well as shared homes. There are also several apartments throughout the county leased from private landlords. Most residents pay 30% of their income for rent, an average of around $350 per month, Mitchell said.

“I think one of the biggest gaps that they help fill is supported housing for our adults with severe mental illness,” Rhodes said. “With some support, folks have been able to, you know, live more independently in their communities.”

For Florence Dean, a current client and resident of Interim’s permanent affordable housing, Interim has given her a safe place to recover. “If I didn’t have Interim housing, I think I would be on the streets,” she said.

Affordable housing is still a centerpiece of Interim’s services. But now, they also offer counseling, peer programs, education and a number of specialized classes and programs. “Interim does a really good job of looking at the whole person,” Johnson said. She has worked with hundreds of clients during her eight years with the nonprofit, providing therapy and connecting people with psychiatrists and other mental health care they might need.

Some programs help clients rebuild life skills, allowing them to live more independently. “I had to relearn how to pay bills and care for myself,” said Kontrena McPheter, a former Interim client who now works there as a peer outreach and advocacy coordinator. “They taught me that respectfully and met me where I was at.”

Dean feels like she’s learned to function independently and to be a part of a community through Interim programs. “The skills that I’ve learned have broadened me as an individual so much,” she said.

In addition to building skills that will help clients get and keep jobs, Interim can help them find positions. Staff can even help clients with the logistics of going back to school and getting a certification or degree, said Rhyan Quiton, current executive director of the nonprofit.

Interim even hires back some of their own clients. “About 20% of our workforce are people who identify themselves with lived experience of mental illness,” Quiton said. “That is helpful in creating an environment that is supportive.”

Flores himself works as a custodian for Interim, a position he takes pride in. “I developed this, you know, sense of duty about helping other people,” he said. “And that’s why just being an independent janitor, you know, makes me feel like I have gotten there.”

Interim also brings on former clients like McPheter as peer advocates. McPheter now helps run a program called Success Over Stigma, which aims to reduce stigma around mental illness by having people share their own experiences with their communities. Flores is a part of the program. He tells his story with mental illness and recovery at schools and houses of worship. He wants to help his community understand that mental illness can happen to anybody, regardless of age, gender or ethnicity. “It’s important that people know that so we protect each other,” he said. “The sad reality of this is that people die in the streets because they go untreated.”

Quiton hopes to carry the legacy of Interim’s past into its future. The priority is keeping the housing and mental health resources they offer now sustainable, he said. “It’s not responsible to create something that is going to go away next year,” he said, but he does feel confident about opportunities to grow — in fact, another affordable housing project is in development right now.

While Quiton aims to preserve Interim’s legacy as he pushes forward, past and current clients are the embodiment of the organization’s history of helping people. “There (are) many, many times when the proof is standing right in front of me,” Johnson said. “I know that change is possible for people.”

Former clients like McPheter are proud to carry on the message that recovery is possible. “If I’m a success, if society feels and my peers feel that I’m a success, it’s because of the shoulders I stand on,” McPheter said. “They taught me and they believed in us.”