Mental health, permanent housing, and peer support through community living in the Fairweather Lodge: implementation through collaboration
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explain the history of the Fairweather Lodge Program, its utility, the development of one program in a small Midwestern city, the role of psychology, and the importance of disseminating information about the program to combat homelessness.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper takes a short case study approach to describing the evolution of a peer support-based housing program for individuals with serious mental illness and a history of homelessness.
Findings
The Fairweather Lodge facilitates peer support, community engagement, stable housing, and work engagement in those struggling with mental illness and homelessness.
Originality/value
The Fairweather Lodge Program is a program intended to support the mental health and employment needs of individuals with severe mental illness who are at increased risk of homelessness. Housing alone often does not address the complex needs of chronically homeless individuals.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The work reported here was supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Rural Health, Veterans Rural Health Resource Center-Central Region, and the Health Services Research and Development (HSR & D) Service through the Comprehensive Access and Delivery Research and Evaluation (CADRE) Center (CIN 13-412).
Citation
Bermingham, C., Manlick, C.F. and Liu, W.M. (2015), "Mental health, permanent housing, and peer support through community living in the Fairweather Lodge: implementation through collaboration", Housing, Care and Support, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 26-30. https://doi.org/10.1108/HCS-02-2015-0002
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited