Outreach Therapy is a nonprofit organization based in Pittsburgh, PA providing occupational therapy (OT) services to people who are experiencing and exiting homelessness. We meet people where they are in the community, and continue support through long-term transition to new living environments such as housing.
Founded in 2023, Outreach Therapy was borne out of needs assessment in street medicine and shelter settings from 2021-2023. Outreach Therapy has rapidly bridged a gap in homelessness healthcare and human services across Allegheny County with a unique focus on a clinical approach to skills for the transition to housing and community re-integration.
Across all of our services, our team strongly values strengths-based, trauma-informed, harm reductionist, and neurodiversity-affirming care.
Our Team
Our team at Outreach Therapy is incredibly happy to announce growth to our leadership.
In a shift to a co-leadership model, we have hired Robert Bowery as Executive Director to develop our organization alongside founder and Program Director Julia Lam, thanks to a generous capacity building grant from the Nese Foundation.
In the past three years as an early-stage independent nonprofit we have demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of innovative outreach occupational therapy outdoors, in shelters, and in housing. From Julia with a backpack alone, to a team of three adding Jordann and Rachael (and a little office!), we bring our evidence-based clinical lens to address the physical, cognitive, mental health, and environmental factors that challenge people’s transition from homelessness to housing.
But with our team of three OT’s, our current capacity serves just a small portion of need in the county. To prepare to effectively and responsibly scale our model, we sought a new Executive Director with expertise in organizational development in homelessness services, willing to meet us where we are as a tiny nonprofit, with deeply held shared values of evidence-based practice and trauma-informed care.
Robert brings to us 20 years’ experience spanning direct clinical mental health services, program development, executive leadership, with specialization in homelessness services and cross-sector collaboration. In Seattle, he guided Compass Housing Alliance through organizational development and funding diversification, and has now returned to his roots in Pittsburgh. His attention to detail, pragmatic leadership, compassion, and shared values make him a perfect fit for Outreach Therapy to enter this next stage of development.
