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574-534-2591
www.the-papers.com Tuesday, November 30, 2021 Serving Elkhart County and parts of Noble, LaGrange & Marshall Counties
Know Your Neighbor. . . . . . . 2➤ Good Neighbors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Miracle On Main & Market. . . . . . . . 6 - 8 Millersburg Christmas . . . 4 & 5 Vol. 49 No. 34
Goshen (574) 534-2591
134 S. Main, Goshen, Indiana 46526
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creating family with its members %\ -$60,1( 025(+($' 6WDII :ULWHU Elkhart County Clubhouse is a community of support for individuals 18 years old and up with a history of mental illness. Generalist at the clubhouse, Chris Torres has worked there for the past nine years and shared the clubhouse truly needs its members. “Our members who come in here on a daily basis, come in to basically run the program. Clubhouses very intentionally keep their staffing levels low. So, that way when our members come in here they know that they are needed in order to make this program run,” he said. He explained the clubhouse wants its members to be involved and use that involvement to achieve recovery. “We just want people to know that we’re here. We want people to know that we are here to help,” he said. “We are here to welcome them into our clubhouse and help them on their road to recovery.” He explained when new members come to the clubhouse there are usually two to three things they ask for assistance with. “When people come in the door as a new member usually areas that they identify that they are in need of is either employment, housing and sometimes educational needs,” Torres said. They have a list of landlords, applications for HUD, connections with shelters if the members are homeless and allow members to use the clubhouse as a mailing address if needed. In addition to the work they do to help with housing they have also created the transitional employment program. “It is a program for folks who are looking for part-time entry level positions. For a lot of our people the desire to work is there, but due to their illnesses that has stopped them from being able to hold on to a job,” Torres said. He shared two staff members go in and train for the job and in
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turn train the member who will be working that job. This is to make the transition easier and if something happens the member can’t go into work then one of the two staff members trained will cover the shift for them. While this program is different from other agencies, it it not the only thing that sets the clubhouse apart. “The clubhouses in general are very different than other agencies, because most agencies work from the top down,” Torres said. “We make decisions at the community level. Whenever any decision of any sort of importance that has to be made that affects programming or anything else at the clubhouse we come to the community, to the household.” The way they handle their organization has drawn in quite the Continued on page 4
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