Programs

These program endeavor to substantially decrease community resources utilized by chronic recidivists, which are ancillary to actual wellness and treatment, through documented cost savings. Housing one chronically homeless individual saves taxpayers $60,000 per year in emergency service expenses. It costs harbor house about $12,000 per year per individual to house and provide recovery services.

Harbor House is a unique housing facility in the region that works with this “hard core” population. The program requires a commitment to complete a six-week intensive outpatient substance abuse treatment program (IOP); at the point of entry into detoxification, targeted individuals receive motivational counseling in order to engage them with this next level of treatment. 

Several components of our program lead to success: 

1) Client engagement in traditional, 12 step self-help programs, 

2) Participation in intensive outpatient treatment, which mandates nine hours per week in the classroom,

3) Outside meetings and activities. 

All facets or our program are client centered and geared towards helping the client understand the power of addiction and its impacts; practical tools are learned and applied, and residents gradually become integrated into activities within the recovery support community.  Without this integration, clients are likely to relapse immediately and begin another episode of living on the streets and frequenting hospitals and shelters.

Intensive case management is another key component.  Many clients are unable to read, lack the skills to develop a resume, and many are unable to interact socially.  A package of basic living skills training, vocational assistance, remedial reading and money management classes supplement linkages with medical, dental and benefits eligibility resources.  Many Harbor House residents move from the ranks of the "unemployable" to "productive citizen" in a matter of months due to the intense nature of these case management services.

In April 2009, the Harbor House Collaborative purchased a 12 unit apartment complex for our transitional, sober living program and will continue to link residents with medical, dental, employment, life skills training and other resources that are making a difference between living under the bridge and becoming a contributing member of our community.

Lives are being saved in Harbor House Supportive Housing and the community is benefitting by experiencing an improved quality of life for these individuals.