The DBHIDS Porch Light program, a joint collaboration with Mural Arts Philadelphia, focuses on achieving universal health and wellness among Philadelphians, especially those dealing with mental health issues or trauma. We do this by providing opportunities to contribute to meaningful works of public art.

Porch Light projects are driven by issues that have tangible effects on local communities, such as mental health, substance use, spirituality, homelessness, trauma, immigration, war, and neighborhood safety. The program helps to create murals that focus specifically on mental health and substance use, as well as other issues that affect our mental health.

The program strives to:

• create positive changes in the community,
• improve the physical environment,
• create opportunities for social connectedness,
• develop skills to enhance resilience and recovery,
• promote community and social inclusion,
• shed light on challenges faced by those with behavioral health issues,
• reduce stigma,
• and encourage empathy.

The Porch Light Program Replication Manual provides an overview of the program model and its implementation. The manual describes the program’s rationale, phases of implementation, and the participation of various community stakeholders in the cocreation of public murals.

Promoting Wellness for all Communities

In 2019, DBHIDS launched the Community Wellness Engagement Unit, a multilingual engagement team designed to provide greater access to behavioral health and wellness-related resources and support for all communities within its scope.

CWEU works in some of Philadelphia’s most challenged neighborhoods to meet the people most in need and make sure they get access to the services the City has available to them.

Critical in the work of CWEU is to ensure that community-identified priorities inform their day-to-day activities. CWEU consistently shares community-identified priorities, needs, and trends with Department leadership.

Some of the ways CWEU engages community include:

• providing resource tables at community events;
• engaging in on-foot outreach in high priority neighborhoods;
• attending civic association, business association, and neighborhood meetings;
• building partnerships between community residents, behavioral health providers, and community organizations;
• and providing presentations on DBHIDS services and wellness practices.

CWEU operates in the community and makes use of teams of certified peers and behavioral health specialists to assess individuals, link them to the appropriate services, and coordinate with agencies and community stakeholders to address any barriers to treatment and wellness.

If you have any questions, please email CWEU@phila.gov.

CWEU at a glance (palm card PDF)

DBHIDS is committed to TEC, the lens we use to prioritize our work:

• Addressing Trauma – transform operations to be trauma-responsive and trauma-mitigating
• Achieving Equity – transform systems to reduce behavioral health disparities and promote racial equity among Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) by intentionally addressing structural and systemic racism
• Engaging Community – shift services to become increasingly community based which will ensure long-term and sustained impacts of programs

TEC Comprehensive Plan

DBHIDS’ TEC Comprehensive Plan outlines the many ways the Department works to address Trauma, achieve Equity, and engage Community through individual and community-level interventions and immediate and longer-term strategies. Our approach is holistic and our goal is to increase wellness and the quality of life for all Philadelphians.