Ownership Strategies

Resident's council
The residents of our community have a weekly council meeting in which they discuss corporal aspects of the program, and certain decisions are made by the resident’s council. These decisions include: what the monthly activity will be, organizing larger events, community-wide problem solving, and other decisions that affect the community as a whole.

Mentorship Program
The mentorship program is closely modeled after the sponsorship component of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. When a new resident arrives in our community, a resident that has been in our community for longer than six months is assigned to him, to help the newer resident become acclimated to his new surroundings. The Mentor is often consulted with by staff and other residents if a behavior by the newer resident is observed by other community members that is negative, or self-destructive. Using a team approach, the resident being mentored is talked with, and helped to be made aware of the problem behavior, in a non-threatening manner. In this way, we are "our own eyes and ears".

Self-motivated Goals Determination
Each new resident is asked to fill out a goals sheet, which is a precursor to determining realistic goals. This goals sheet begins the process of change for each resident. The stages of change* model; Pre-contemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Maintenance, and Action is used within the goals concept. Motivational Interviewing also plays a significant role in the accomplishing of goals. Our goals concept is in the following pattern: 90 day (short term), 6 month (mid-term), and one year (long term). This also coincides with financial awareness/budgeting.

Financial Awareness
Many of our residents have, in the past, lived beyond their means. Along with substance abuse, financial mismanagement plays a significant role in homelessness. Each resident is worked with to create a realistic budget, in addition to being required to save 10% of his income... This budget is monitored periodically to help the resident become more financially aware, and responsible. Within this context, we also use the principles of Motivational Interviewing. It is our belief that each of our residents ultimately will become more financially responsible through awareness positively, or negatively. We are helping to supply the positive awareness, thereby reducing the negative.

Amending the Past
Amending the past covers a lot of ground. Many of our residents have wreckage in their past, either financial, criminal, damaged relationships, poor employment history, and other areas. We help our residents take ownership of these areas, and while us help him to look at these honestly; we also provide the support that is necessary to face the reality of negative past occurrences. We, the staff, residents, and volunteers perform what we call wreckage repair. This analogy is not without its irony. Many of our residents past mistakes were done in times when they weren't their true selves. We look at those past events, we work on what we can do in the present to rectify them, and we move forward, cognizant of those mistakes, but not consumed by them. It's not where we have been that counts, but where we are going.

Opening the Heart
Each resident is encouraged to open up, and trust another human being within our community. To start, that other person is the Mentor, but the circle expands until many of our residents trust each member of the community without restriction. In this way, the resident is taught that taking risks can have positive outcomes. Because Substance Abuse is such a secretive problem, opening up is a huge risk for some of our residents. When a resident does open up, he is encouraged to open up even more. Within this context, we show that trusting another human being is a positive thing.

Pathways to Spirituality
It is our firm belief that spirituality plays a role in personal growth. When we are asked the question, "Which part of your program is the spiritual part?" Our answer is: All of it. Becoming more responsible personally is inherently a spiritual thing. As far as direct spiritual components, we emphasize spiritual principles rather than specific religious teachings. This has enabled us to transcend religious dogma and focus more directly upon practical application of spiritual principles. We hold a weekly 90 minute long recovery-oriented spiritual principles meeting wherein a specific principle is discussed. Generally, the meeting after the meeting lasts much longer- this is the time when the residents loosely discuss what they heard, and what they thought, among each other. Providing a positive atmosphere has helped many of our residents learn what the 'right' thing is to do in situations that in the past may have brought them trouble. Additionally, many of our residents also are involved in their own religious activities. We, as a program, do not suggest any religious activity for any resident unless that resident approaches us, looking for information regarding local churches. We believe that religious involvement is a personal choice, and that choice should be made freely and without any catches. Through our emphasis on spiritual principles, however, many of our residents have revisited their own spiritual beliefs, and decided that they wanted religion to be a part of their life.

Wholeness
Our quest to provide the best possible program that we are capable of offering has brought us to the conclusion that what we are doing isn't merely housing, or merely recovery, it is helping each resident become whole again. All of our residents have come to us after having lived homeless- many wondering where the next meal was coming from- where survival was a full time job. It is no wonder that many have broken spirits, and feel as if they are unable to accomplish much. We believe that each of our residents has the capacity to accomplish his dreams. We also believe that we can help him to find himself- and eventually become a whole person again, comfortable in his own skin, and able to handle living within society. Through all the components we have previously mentioned, along with service work, community building, and personally seeing the evidence of spiritual living, each resident strives to get closer to wholeness. Those who have left our program continue to stay involved here- by volunteering; by maintaining contact with friends; and by coming back to speak to our current residents. It is community we are building at Cassell House. And, this community will always be under construction.

*The Stages of Change was developed by Carlo Di Clemente and James Prochaska. You may find out more about the Stages of Change here: Stages of Change Overview