Laurel House provides mental health resources to people coping with mental illness, and their families, across numerous communities in and around Connecticut. Resources to Recover is a robust array of integrated services and expertise helping people along the path of mental health recovery. Although more than 80% of our program participants are living with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression, research supports that people can and do recover from the worst effects of serious mental illness.
A young adult diagnosed with a serious mental illness will experience symptoms that can lead to unemployment, disrupted education, homelessness, loss of social ties and a lifelong reliance on medication. Serious mental illness can result in higher rates of suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, obesity, diabetes, and nicotine addiction. It can also result in apathy, despair, or a profound loss of self-esteem.
Laurel House provides Resources to Recover through supportive services and programs including recovery planning, life skills coaching and skill building, education, employment, cognitive remediation (“Thinking Well”), housing and residential services, food service and wellness, social opportunities, and active outreach to individuals who might otherwise be isolated.
Resources to Recover has three fundamental goals:
1. Early Intervention and Remediation – helping families connect as early as possible with the right services to prevent the harmful secondary effects of mental illness.
2. Social Inclusion – reintegration and full participation for program participants in their local communities.
3. Recovery – greater independence and self-sufficiency to achieve one’s life aspirations.
At Laurel House, mental health recovery goals are achieved through the provision of a comprehensive array of services and programs:
The Resource Center – located at 1616 Washington Blvd. in Stamford. It is the hub for a robust array of integrated, evidence-based programs and services, focused on recovery planning, skill building, counseling, advocacy and mutual support. The services are delivered at the Resource Center and out in the eight communities we serve.
Supported and Independent Employment – providing people with a range of services to help them look for, find and keep jobs in a career of their choosing in integrated work settings, at fair-market wages.
Supported Education – community-based placement assistance, identifying appropriate course selection for university/college or vocational certification, applying for and securing financial assistance; tutoring and educational counseling to help people enroll and succeed in college or other post-secondary education.
Thinking Well (Cognitive Remediation) – confronts the long-term cognitive impairment that interferes with the daily functioning of people living with mental illness. This evidence-based program, developed by thought leaders in Neuroscience and Psychiatric Rehabilitation, results in improvement in thinking skills such as: attention; working memory, processing speed, visual and verbal learning; problem solving and reasoning.
Life Skills – transfer of specific life skills and training in: activities of daily living such as personal finance, computer literacy and related technology applications; transportation; entitlements; shopping and food preparation; self care; and social skills. This life skill training is provided through The Resource Center and through Residential Services.
Supportive Housing and Community Support Services – a quality supportive housing program designed to end chronic homelessness by helping people locate and maintain safe, affordable, stable housing and to achieve greater independence.
Outreach and Social Activities – promoting community integration through assertive outreach, the enhancement of natural support networks, and linking of people with mental illness to social and recreational opportunities in their communities.
Laurel House Artists and Writers – art and writing workshops and opportunities to participate in public showings/sales of artwork and publishing of poetry or prose; promoting the self-expression, social integration and employment of people with mental illness in the field of visual arts and creative writing.