[Camerota:] The number of homeless people in Los Angeles has spiked by 16 percent this year. Why? CNN's Maeve Reston is live in Los Angeles with more. What have you learned, Maeve?
[Maeve Reston, Cnn National Political Reporter:] Well, we've been chronicling this issue over the past year, Alisyn, and there are so many obstacles to getting these 60,000 people housed in L.A. County. And it's not just the fact that there's resistance in neighborhoods, but in many of the many of the folks that we've talked to who are living out on the streets, you know, are facing mental health issues, substance abuse issues. And this huge tent culture has really grown up here. And a lot of people want to stay in their tents, you know, feeling that that if they're put in housing, they'll be subject to rules, they'll lose their freedom. And so it's just a really difficult problem that they're facing. Some of the most vulnerable out here are women, obviously. And one of the folks that I spoke to, Officer Deon Joseph, who has worked with this population for two decades now, talks about how difficult it is to get some of these women into housing. And I think we have that sound, Alisyn.
[Deon Joseph, L.a. Police Officer:] A friend of mine named Lena, she was 70 years old. I tried to house her, tried to house her, tried to house her right there. And then one day I came back and someone found her dead in a pile of garbage.
[Reston:] Yes, so just a lot of tragic situations that we're seeing out here. And really there really needs to be a focus on getting community support to get these people into housing, as well as, you know, sending outreach teams out to deal with some of the mental health issues that they're facing, Alisyn.
[Camerota:] Maeve, it's such an important topic, because as we've been discussing, it's not just L.A. It's San Francisco. It's New York. Something's happening. So, thank you very much for the reporting on it.
[Reston:] Thank you.
[Berman:] All right, up next, we're going to remember the extraordinary life of Gloria Vanderbilt, mother of our friend Anderson Cooper.
[Camerota:] But first, one in five people suffer from a mental illness in any given year, yet most do not seek help. In this week's "Impact Your World," a national program called Mental Health First Aid is training the public to recognize the symptoms and learn how to get people the help they need.
[Betsy Schwartz, National Council For Behavioral Health:] Our goal for Mental Health First Aid is to make it as common as
[Cpr. Unidentified Female:] I would like you to draw me a picture of what does anxiety look like.
[Schwartz:] Mental Health First Aid teaches people the basic signs and symptoms for major mental health and addiction problems.
[Unidentified Female:] Your heart racing, sweaty palms, shaking, racing thoughts.
[Schwartz:] For example, it might be depression or panic attacks or even psychosis.
[Unidentified Female:] In your groups of three, one person is going to be a hallucination.
[Karen Vondeylen, Maumee Valley Ohio Guidance Center:] How do we ask the right questions? How do we see if someone's suicidal? This class is not teaching people how to be a professional.
[Schwartz:] We're only teaching people how to be an empathetic friend or family member or coworker.
[Vondeylen:] We do role play. We can see someone really utilizing the skills.
[Schwartz:] Classes are offered in every community around this country. We've trained almost 2 million Americans.
[Peggy Oyer, Lost Brother To Suicide:] I lost my brother to suicide. I was very uninformed. I was one of those people who said, well, get over it, pull up your bootstraps and go on. If you know anyone that's struggling, it will give you confidence in how to show them the resources.
[Mary Kay, Pastor, Christ United Methodist Church:] Almost immediately, both times I took classes, I encountered people who needed help. There was a person who was contemplating suicide. I knew enough what to say. I think anybody in any position can use this because it's so practical.