COMMUNITY SUPPORTIVE HOUSING

Full List of Community Support Services
Community Support Program Supportive Housing

To choose where you live, how it is furnished, with whom you share it – why should mental illness deprive anyone of these basic rights?

The main components of CCBC's Supportive Housing Programs include:

The CCBC Supported Housing Services seeks to assist in the recovery of persons struggling with serious mental illness and/or addiction through the provision of housing, supports, and integrated mental health/substance abuse treatment.
Services available:
  • Daily living skills
  • Leisure time programming
  • Budgeting
  • Psychiatric evaluation
  • Medication monitoring
  • Entitlement procurement
  • On-site crisis management
  • Coordination of medical/psychiatric services
  • Rent subsidy
  • Assistance in furnishing
  • Help in finding an apartment
Our residential services seek to provide each client with a supportive environment that enables them to achieve stability and empowers them to renew pursuit of individual life goals. Our treatment approach stresses the ongoing process of recovery from both substance abuse and mental health issues. We are prepared to assist the client through the stages of his or her recovery regardless of motivation, relapse or length of time needed for success. Major goals for program clients typically include:
  • Obtaining and retaining permanent housing
  • Increasing vocational, functional, and social skills
  • Increasing income
  • Achieving greater self-determination
Support services are individualized and detailed in a plan developed jointly by the client and program staff. These services include, but are not limited to, cooking, cleaning, household maintenance, grocery shopping, leisure time programming, budgeting, medication monitoring, entitlement procurement, on-site crisis management and coordination of medical/psychiatric services. In addition to staff support, there is a peer network in which clients help each other by utilizing their unique skills and resources to help others in the program. Residential services are integrated with other services provided by Community Counseling of Bristol County and other community providers. Finally, CCBC provides financial assistance through rent subsidies and assistance with the purchase of furniture and household supplies.

Bridge House is a site based transitional supportive housing program for persons who are homeless and have been diagnosed with mental health and/or substance abuse disabilities. The program can house up to 10 individuals. The central task during the initial period when individuals first enter the program is stabilization, engagement and care coordination. There are counselors on site who provide case management and support services. The program can be utilized up to 24 months and counselors actively work with residents during this tenure to secure affordable housing upon their discharge.
The Transitions program provides scattered site rental assistance for those whose income and/or level of disability requires ongoing support. Up to 8 rental subsidies are provided. Clients using this program typically struggle with serious mental illness and/or substance abuse, and are homeless or at risk for homelessness. As with Bridge House, this program component includes case management and support services. Apartments are located throughout the Greater Taunton/Attleboro area, depending on where the client wants to live. A major service includes landlord – tenant matching, negotiation of issues and ongoing support to both tenant and landlord.
The New Horizons program provides a shared housing model with 3 2-bedroom apartments in which residents have their own bedroom but share the bathroom, living room and kitchen. This is a site-based project for individuals with mental illness and/or substance abuse issues who have been homeless. The program provides outreach and case management services. The program has housing counselors during the daytime hours and by pager after hours. These counselors work directly with residents to assist in maintaining residential stability, promoting their independence and in increasing their income and/or entitlements.
The Home Again (HA) Program is comprised of 10 scattered site apartments for individuals diagnosed with a mental illness and/or substance abuse issues. The program provides outreach and case management services along with a rental subsidy. HA seeks to assist in the recovery of individuals through the provision of housing, integrated mental health/substance abuse treatment and supportive services. Our residential program seeks to provide each client with a supportive environment that enables them to achieve stability and empowers them to renew their pursuit of individual life goals. Our treatment approach stresses the ongoing process of recovery from both substance abuse and mental health issues.
The Dr. Robert Smith Supportive Housing Program provides a safe, stable living environment on a short-term basis for adult men with a history of substance abuse/chemical dependence. The program serves the greater southeastern Massachusetts area and has a capacity of 12 beds. It offers a unique and innovative housing model for individuals who have made the decision to live in recovery from addiction. This model is based on the creation of a caring therapeutic community of recovery that emphasizes resident empowerment, individual responsibility, and the provision of a continuum of professional supports. To maintain their sobriety, Smith House residents agree to be active participants in self-help meetings and mandatory drug screenings.

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In addition to staff support, there is a peer network in which clients help each other by utilizing their unique skills and resources to help others in the program. Residential services are integrated with other services provided by Community Counseling of Bristol County and other community providers. Finally, CCBC provides financial assistance through rent subsidies and assistance with the purchase of furniture and household supplies.

A critical area of need for individuals in the Supported Housing Program is learning how to sustain their housing once they attain it. Our staff work with individuals on the development of recovery and rehabilitation plans, and the provision of concrete support to residents to maintain their tenancy as self sustaining individuals in their communities in order to begin to break the chronic cycle of a return to homelessness so often seen when issues related to successful tenancy are not addressed.

The program thus becomes the major pathway to maintain the recovery process and to help these individuals move forward in a productive way that enables them to economically sustain a recovery lifestyle while living in the program or if they choose to move on from the HA program.

The Supported Housing Service program components are all part of a larger system of community care and housing supports. They seek to address gaps in the housing and supports already offered in the community such as regular Section 8 and Mainstream Subsidies available through the public housing authorities, the South Shore Housing Development programs, specific Department of Mental Health and Public Health programs and the Samaritan House Shelter. Together they provide clients with the foundation for independence and success as citizens within their communities.

Referral Information:
For referrals to the Dr. Robert Smith House call 508-822-6524.
For all other referrals call 508-821-3937.