We Believe - www.TheLifeLink.org

Since it beginning, The Life Link’s central focus has been to help individuals and families who are homeless improve their quality of life. In 1987, responding to an urgent need for a place in which homeless families could stay together, Carol Luna and two other women volunteers opened the first Life Link family shelter, La Luz de Santa Fe, in an eleven-unit former motel.

The following year, the organization received 501(c)(3) status and 21 years later is now a licensed Community Mental Health Center with more than 50 employees.

From its humble start in the motel, The Life Link has expanded its services to include mentally ill homeless services, case management, co-occurring       disorders (psychiatric and substance abuse) treatment, multiple-DWI offender treatment, intensive outpatient treatment, supportive employment, psycho-social rehabilitation, homeless prevention and rental assistance, peer-support services, onsite healthcare screening, and a state-wide tobacco use prevention training program.

Over the years, the organization has assisted thousands of homeless and displaced individuals and   families in the Santa Fe area in achieving healthier, more independent lives through permanent housing,   employment, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and other supportive services that make the   critical difference between staying in their homes or returning to the streets. By receiving proper support,   these individuals have been able to develop the confidence and the tools to become – and remain – active,   contributing members of the Santa Fe community. The many Santa Fe community members who now have good homes, jobs, improved mental and physical health, and safe,   secure children are testimony to the long-term benefits of having received timely assistance toward the goal of long-term self-sufficiency.