The Foundation's aim is to reduce the social isolation and stigma felt by people with psychiatric disabilities, while increasing access to community and recovery-oriented resources. Below you'll find descriptions of the programs we're currently working on.
If you are interested in either program, please consider volunteering and/or donating to the Foundation.
The purpose of the Friend-to-Friend™ project is to help individuals with psychiatric disabilities become integrated into the social and recreational life of their community. he Friend-to-Friend™ initiative of the Foundation for Mental Health is modeled after a highly successful project, entitled “The Partnership Project,” conducted by the Yale School of Medicine in the early to mid 1990’s. This project offered people with psychiatric disabilities who were socially isolated the opportunity to become friends with a volunteer from the community who agreed to join this person in social and recreational community activities of mutual interest. This research demonstrated that having a partner lessens the loneliness and isolation experienced by those with mental illness due to the stigma and rejection they face in trying to take part in community activities enjoyed by the general public.
What do volunteers do?
Volunteers spend 2 to 4 hours per week with a partner, sharing such activities as going shopping, bowling, or to a movie, taking an adult education course, attending a social function, or having a bite to eat or a cup of coffee. Volunteers are not expected to provide counseling or other mental health services to their partners, nor are they expected to give their partners money or other items. They are only expected to offer their time and friendship - two important and generous gifts.
Do volunteers get support?
Volunteers receive an initial 4 hours of training on the nature of mental illness and its effect on social relationships, on strategies for successful socializing, and on what to do if they have concerns about their partners. In addition, there is a monthly support group in which volunteers meet together to talk about how their friendships are going and to exchange tips on things to do in the community. Ongoing individual support is also provided for all volunteers by project staff.
Who can volunteer?
Anyone with a desire to extend friendship to someone in their own community. Volunteers may be people who have themselves recovered from mental illness, or who have a family member or close friend who is disabled. Still others may have a special sense of compassion for the loneliness and isolation that many people with mental illness experience living in the community. Volunteers have in common the desire to help people with psychiatric disabilities become more comfortable and confident taking part in the social and leisure time activities available to other members of the community.
Are volunteers paid?
Volunteers are not paid for their services. However, everyone involved in the project, both volunteers and their partners receive a stipend each month to help defray the cost of community activities.
How can I volunteer?
If Friend to Friend™ interests you or if you know someone who may be interested, contact one of the following locations for an application or for more information:
Malika Jonas
We Can Clubhouse
587 East Middle Turnpike
Manchester, CT 06040
(860) 646-3888 ext. 309
Paul Acker or Michael Nappi
InterCommunity Mental Health Group, Inc.
281 Main Street
East Hartford, CT 06118
Paul Acker: (860) 291-1328
Michael Nappi: (860) 291-1359
Milton Jones
CHD/Connecticut Outreach
237 Hamilton Street
Hartford, CT 06106
(860) 591-3325
Not Crazy© is designed to help educate teenagers in the general population who may currently have, or may develop, psychiatric problems. This program has the following aims: 1) To provide resources to people working with teenagers in any capacity; 2) Help kids and parents identify early warning signs; 3) Reduce barriers to effective psychiatric care; 4) Help kids, parents, and teachers identify and use school and community resources; 5) To educate students, educators, administrators, and parents about culturally responsive care and culturally normative issues in psychiatry; 6) Reduce stigma around psychiatric issues; 7) To help teenagers talk to parents and other adults about these issues; 8) Decrease the duration of untreated symptoms by accelerating at-risk youth’s access to care prior to, or in the earliest stages of, illness onset. The curriculum is free of charge and is presented in a web-based and CD-ROM format, to be used as a teaching tool in many settings with various audiences: classrooms and educational settings, as a resource guide for teenagers and their families, and as a stand-alone source for comprehensive mental illness information. This program has been developed in consultation with consumers, teenagers, mental health professionals, and educators.
