(Courtesy of OHEL) OHEL Children’s Home and Family Services Supported Housing program helps provide adults recovering from mental illness the support they need to live as independently as possible.
OHEL’s supported housing units are located throughout the city to prevent a marginalizing clumping of people with mental illness while promoting full community integration. The program raises the self-esteem, confidence and life tools of such individuals, thus helping to ensure they are able to live their lives to the best of their ability.
OHEL offers four levels of housing for adults recovering from mental illness.
These are crisis/respite beds, known as The Lodge, which provides short-term help for those recovering from psychiatric crisis. OHEL’s Community Residences offer 24/7, on-site, daily support with a focus on psychiatric rehabilitation. The Apartment Treatment program, where individuals share an apartment with other program participants, provides support and supervision with a focus on psychiatric rehabilitation. Our Supported Housing program is the “graduate” program for those effectively managing their psychiatric condition, where individuals are able to manage their lives with minimal support from a case manager.
Every program participant can rely on OHEL for assistance. Program supervisors are on call 24/7 for urgent matters. The 42 new beds at OHEL are a continuation of a very successful program that OHEL has been operating since the mid-1990s.
There are no signs posted on the residences or apartments so as to protect client confidentiality and promote a mission of inclusion and full community integration.
Yitz Elman, OHEL’s director of adult mental health services, says, “The new beds enable OHEL to serve even more individuals who are managing their psychiatric conditions, and allows us to further help them re-join the community and live their lives to the fullest.”
Individuals interested in the many programs and services that OHEL provides should contact OHEL at 800-603-OHEL (6435), or visit www.ohelfamily.org.
