About Oasis Ascension
A Virtual Playground For The Homeless
About The Oasis
Therapeutic Life Choices LLC (TLC) is a Tulsa based, ODMHSAS certified, mental health provider that has invested resources in a project named Oasis Ascension.
“Through the ODMHSAS certification of Medcross.org as a Medicaid provider, this program will be self-sustaining in its 18th month of operation. The Oasis Ascension Training Academy will be developed to educate providers from other areas on Tulsa’s new model.”
MEET THE OASIS TEAM
Dr. Charles Van Tuyl
MD
Director
Vadim Yerokhin
PhD
and Innovation
J. M. Kirk
PhD, LADC
Director
Mark Turner
LPC, LADC
Recovery Services
Roger Ruth
LPC, LADC
Clinical Services
Christopher Taylor
BA, BHRS, PRSS
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Serenity Room
MedCross.org
501- C3 Charitable Organization
We have assisted in forming the Medcross.org 501- C3 Charitable Organization to run the nation’s first medically assisted, curriculum driven, transitional living program for homeless people. Our incentive-based program will focus on the subsection of the homeless population that suffers FROM chronic mental illness and substance abuse issues. Information gained from our 35 years of experience in the Tulsa area supports the premise that this subsection makes up 87% of Tulsa’s transient population. Our research also suggests that this is the population that includes those incarcerated numerous times, in and out of psychiatric facilities, banned from homeless shelters, drop ins, and other programs that serve those experiencing homelessness. This population does not possess the mental stability or skillset to be successful in a traditional living situation without extensive curriculum based transitional living skills training. During my time at Youth Services of Tulsa (YST) in the 90s we initiated a successful curriculum-based model that continues to prove successful and has for the last 30 years.
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Clinic Rooms
The Oasis Will Maximize Their Wellness
shepherd them in the direction
Adding a medical component allows us to provide necessary medical treatment to maximize this population’s mental and physical wellness thus increasing their ability to develop, practice and retain the habilitation skills necessary to be successful in any type of housing opportunity. Tulsa has been successful in developing an extensive network of organizations in our community that has demonstrated success in reducing homelessness through Away Home for Tulsa (AWH4T). Their research illustrates that the average time to find placement for homeless Tulsans is 10 months. In this same amount of time, these same residents will be able to establish a successful medication regimen and complete our transitional curriculum making them 73% more successful in maintaining their placement past the 12 month mark compared to 7%. (TLC AR 2021) for those placed without these two components. Our program will identify each individual, research them, study their psychosocial response to treatment, assess their strengths and shepherd them in the direction that they are capable of going.
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Mailroom
The Oasis Program
4 Phase Approach
Despite reports to the contrary and criticism of Tulsa’s coalition, through their efforts including the Wyndham Hotel emergency shelter program, AWH4T has saved lives. The coalition has also decreased unfair evictions, assisted in securing emergency overflow beds and significantly shortened the time span first time homeless families have spent before securing housing. These successes often go unnoticed because successful participants are not as visible as the those suffering from chronic mental illness and substance abuse disorders that line the sidewalks of Archer St. and most QuikTrip lawns. The “village” approach of the 4 phases of The Oasis Program will complement the AWH4T coalition by providing a web to catch or service those that more traditional programs are not equipped to handle. The psychiatric and clinical aspects of this program will afford real-time data that will assist Oasis Ascension’s 7 emergency response teams in providing crisis intervention to assist de-escalation of mental health emergencies. It will also serve as a much-needed additional destination venue for law enforcement and PACT teams short of hospitalization or incarceration. Our facial recognition equipped camera vans will identify those experiencing mental health emergencies by providing our staff crucial, client specific information to assist in the intervention and de-escalation process. Our prototype CMMV (Camara Assisted, Mobile, Mental health Venue) is already in use by our team.