Social Rehab/Social Clubs/Learning & Wellness Centers

Social Rehab/Social Clubs/Centers/Learning & Wellness Centers are integral to the DMHAS goal of offering a recovery-oriented system of care for persons in recovery who experience behavioral health conditions.  The Social Rehab/Social Clubs/Learning & Wellness Centers promote recovery, full citizenship, and improved quality of life for persons who have been diagnosed with any mental health condition that seriously impairs their ability to lead meaningful lives.  Social Rehab services are collaborative, person directed and individualized.  Services offered by DMHAS Social Rehab Clubs/Learning Centers are geared toward helping individuals cultivate the necessary skills for success in the living, working, learning and social environments of their choice.

Currently, DMHAS funds 24 Social Rehabilitation Clubs/Centers/Learning Centers. They offer a vast array of services and activities (not all services/activities are available at all clubhouses).  Here are a few examples of the opportunities available:  Friends and family events, group activities (men’s, women’s, recreation, relaxation, arts & crafts, sports, health & fitness such as In Shape, Yoga, Zumba, nutrition, dancing, meditation, grief & change, and smoking cessation).  Many Social Rehab Clubs offer trips to fairs, farmers’ markets, museums, movies and sporting events as well as advocacy training, connections to community resources, WHAM, and WRAP.  Other opportunities might include skill building/training, culinary skills/cooking, customer service skills, computer skills, GED, job readiness training, and Intro to Employment.

All DMHAS funded Social Rehabilitation providers offer counseling supports, case management, and crisis assistance.

This Quarter’s Featured Program:

EXPRESSIVE ARTS AT FELLOWSHIP PLACE
New Haven’s Fellowship Place aims to serve adults with mental illness by offering a full range of therapeutic support and rehabilitation services that promote independence, wellness, and a meaningful life.  A meaningful life could be in the form of developing healthy relationships and social skills, obtaining employment, striving for a higher education, supportive case management to live independently or simply consistent meals in a warm and inviting environment. For many of our members, the Expressive Arts in our Social Rehab Program has become part of their daily or weekly routine which has helped to promote recovery, health and wellness.

Anyone who enters Fellowship Place’s campus for the first time is immediately struck by the richness and diversity of the arts coming out of our Expressive Arts program. The Art Studio is a beautiful sunny space with lots of color, inspiration and talent bursting through its walls. The Art Studio offers weekly therapeutic and recreational art groups led by our Expressive Arts Coordinator. Members also have the opportunity to do free art during open studio and can utilize all the beautiful supplies provided. Original artworks of all levels of artistic ability adorn the walls of every building on campus. Members with artistic talent can be part of Artship, a small group of extremely talented fine artists that have to be voted into the group based on their portfolio.  As members of this group, they are provided with opportunities to sell their original pieces in shows both on campus and in the community. Fellowship Place has an annual Expressive Arts Festival, highlighting the many talents of members on campus including, art, music, dance and poetry. Our members also participate in off campus art shows such as City Wide Open Studios, shows at the State Capitol or the halls of Yale New Haven Hospital.

Fellowship Place has contracted with Musical Intervention and Infinity Music Therapy to facilitate the Music Program.  “The Ships” are the in-house band, made up of amazingly talented individuals.   Musical Intervention helps to lead the group and on Wednesdays, live music can be heard playing through the halls of the Clubhouse.  The original pieces of music the band has created are performed at all of our Community and Holiday events.  For those not interested in joining the band,  a music therapist from Infinity Music Therapy  runs a monthly group where members have the opportunity to play different instruments, write original lyrics to a rhythm or sing along to a popular song.

Members who enjoy writing can share short stories and poems in weekly writers groups. These eloquently written pieces are made available to all in a quarterly publication ‘The Beacon’ with topics ranging from  family genealogy, historic events, holidays, seasons, extra terrestrial experiences and childhood memories, and personal experiences with mental illness. 

Movement and Dance has always been the backbone of the agency.  The agency was established in 1960 in the form of a weekly dance for mentally ill adults in the New Haven Community and has evolved into a multi-purpose center.   The social rehab program keeps the dancing tradition alive.  We have partnered with the Jamie Hulley Foundation and are now able to offer a weekly Latin Dance Class where members can learn a variety of choreographed dances as well as social dances during the day and evening for all members to enjoy.  Dance is just one of the examples of the non traditional method of mental health treatment that helps to promote healthy social skills, positive touch with trusted peers, memory and concentration which ultimately helps members with improved confidence as well as a positive self image. 

The Expressive Arts program inspires & promotes artistic expression as a therapeutic tool among low-income adults who have a history of serious mental illness, substance abuse problems, and in many cases, a history of homelessness.  The guiding principal is that creative self-expression is an essential part of the recovery process and mental wellness for the people we serve.  They also find the arts at Fellowship Place to be relaxing, exciting, comforting, and inspiring and many discover untapped talents and an affinity for the arts that has gone unnoticed for years.  For more information on the Fellowship Place Social Rehabilitation Program, please visit the website:  https://fellowshipplace.org/psycho-social-rehab/

Consumer/Family/Support Tools

• Connecticut Legal Rights Project (CLRP)
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
• Advocacy Unlimited
• Recovery University

• Connecticut American Job Centers
• Connecticut Department of Veteran’s Affairs 
• Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR)
• Department of Labor – Education & Training Connection