Success Stories

Every consumer served by CHD has a unique story of issues and successes.  Listed below are just some of them. The names of the consumers have been changed to protect their identity.

Jane's Story

Jane, a 39 year-old, single, divorced mother, has two children, an eight year-old daughter and a 16 year-old son. She has custody of her daughter, while her son lives with her ex-husband. In 1997, Jane's housing situation became difficult. She and her daughter had lived in a single bedroom apartment after her divorce, but needed to leave due to rent increases.

At that time she was experiencing multiple hospitalizations due to manic depression. Upon release from the hospital, she lived at a local homeless shelter and bounced between couches of friends and family. Her daughter stayed with Jane's mother during this periodIn August of 1999, Jane became a member of Atlantic House's Family Project, who provided Jane with case management and a housing subsidy using federal grant monies for homeless families.

With this support, Jane was able to able to move into her own apartment and was reunited with her daughter. In March of 2000, Jane began working at a local retail store through the support of Atlantic House's Transitional Employment Program.

This lead to her own independent job at Old Navy six months later. In September of 2001, Jane graduated from the Family Project.  She continues to work and live independently. She has not been re-hospitalized since her intake to Atlantic House and the Family Project.

Tom's Story

Thomas came to the Alpha Day Rehabilitation program in November 1998. At that time, he was on probation and going to a day program was a stipulation of his two-year probation sentence.

Although the highest education level he had achieved was 9th grade, Thomas was very smart. He liked to read and had clearly learned a lot from life experiences. Coping with a diagnosis of chronic paranoid schizophrenia, Thomas was also in recovery from alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine abuse.

After attending the program five days a week and becoming an active participant, Thomas decided that he wanted to get his G.E.D. Having already demonstrated discipline and responsibility, he sat down and worked out a plan with the education coordinator and his primary staff counselor.

In March 1999 Thomas was referred to the Urban League of Eastern Mass. (ULEM) in Roxbury. Thomas successfully passed both the math and reading pre-tests. He began a 13 week program of course work at ULEM and tutoring at the day rehab program three days a week.

His attendance was perfect. The following are quotes that the course instructor documented to the education coordinator, who kept Thomas' support team on the same page regarding his progress and achievements.

April 1999     “Excellent work Thomas. We appreciate your leadership by example.” “Congratulations on perfect attendance for the month.”

June 1999     “You're a great student, continue to prepare.”

Thomas received an award for perfect attendance from ULEM.

In July 1999, Thomas sat for the G.E.D. examination at Roxbury Community College and passed all five tests! In August 1999, Thomas received his G.E.D. from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Board of Education.

Thomas took on additional maintenance duties at the program in July 2000 which enabled him to meet the community service requirements of his probation. His probation ended in November 2000. Thomas was a Human Rights Advocate on CHD's Human Rights Committee from December 2000 through July 2001. He graduated from the program in July 2001.

Jeffrey's Story

Jeffrey is a 40 year-old single man dealing with schizophrenia. He came to CHD's Horizon House in order to have a place to go where he could be productive instead of his usual daily routine hanging out about town.

Initially, Jeffrey didn't do much, but he soon began to make friends and see others receive appreciation for their contributions in running the kitchen and helping other members. He started out, as many members do, contributing a little then gradually doing more.

He began helping clean up the unit and run kitchen counter shifts. When a friend he'd made went to work on a transitional employment placement, the kitchen dishwashing station needed someone to take his place. Not only did Jeffrey take on this role, but he became a steady leader in the kitchen for over a year. Other members and staff could count on him everyday.

He had no stated intention to go to work when he first came but heard others come back to the clubhouse at the end of their work-day excited about what they had achieved. This made working appear to be something he wanted to do.

When a member finished his transitional employment placement washing dishes at a nearby bakery, Jeffrey agreed to investigate the possibility of the job for himself. Not only did he obtain the job, he has worked there twenty hours a week for over a year. The bakery kept him on for an additional year because they needed the help and Jeffrey was a reliable worker. He is currently going through a transition to find his own independent employment.

There are many other such success stories at the Center for Health and Development.