CMHA Thompson
Our work is recovery-oriented and focuses on combating mental health problems, substance related and emotional disorders and helping vulnerable community members find and maintain safe, secure and affordable housing.
Our services include research and information, sponsored research projects, workshops, anger management, seminars, pamphlets and newsletters. We provide supportive housing, transitional housing, emergency shelter, information on better living skills and communication, social activities, peer support, stress reduction workshops and public education campaigns for the Community.
What is the Rehabilitation and Recovery Service?
The Rehabilitation and Recovery Service (RRS) promotes personal recovery, successful community integration and satisfactory quality of life for persons who have a mental illness or mental health concern. Rehabilitation and Recovery Services and supports are collaborative, person directed, individualized, and are an essential element of the human services spectrum. They focus on helping individuals develop skills and access resources needed to increase their capacity to be successful and satisfied in the living, working, learning and social environments of their choice and include a wide continuum of services and supports. (PSR/RPS Canada, 2013).
It involves a step by step process to assist people to discover and recover meaningful roles in their life. The process involves the development of the right skills, resources, knowledge and supports that will enable a person to find satisfaction and success in their new role.
RRS approaches are evidence-based, best and promising practices in the key life domains of Employment, Education, Leisure, Wellness and Basic Living Skills as well as Family Involvement, Peer Support and Peer Delivered services. Because of their demonstrated effectiveness and recovery orientation, these approaches should be widely available to people living with long term mental illness and/or substance use problems.
Distinctive and defining features of RRS approaches
- RRS approaches build upon the assessed strengths of persons rather than their deficits and problems. In other words, RRS approaches are strength based–they are based on the assessment of a person’s strengths as the basis for individualized goal setting and recovery. This is a major difference from traditional, illness-based approaches, which focus on problems and deficits.
- Rehabilitation and Recovery approaches are collaborative; person directed and individualized. They assist individuals in rediscovering skills and accessing the community resources needed to live successfully and with a self-identified quality of life. Accordingly, RRS approaches involve the client setting goals rather than goals being set by others.
- RRS approaches support people to have a meaningful life focus on the determinants of good mental health including employment, education, social supports, basic living skills, leisure and wellness.
- RRS approaches generally place persons in their chosen goal settings such as jobs or housing, and then proceed to train and support them in those settings. Similarly, other training, such as social skills training, takes place in the person’s natural environments.
- RRS approaches are supported by scientific evidence as effective. RRS approaches include a number of best practices, which are strongly supported by evidence such as supported employment and wellness programs, as well as promising practices with emerging evidence, such as peer support programs. PSR approaches promote recovery with full community living and improved quality of life.
Description of Rehabilitation and Recovery Service
The RRS staff apply a recovery-oriented approach to their work. The RRS encourages people to be self-directed, empowered and to strive for independence. Staff meet with participants frequently, which leads to increased opportunities in providing the support that participants need to take steps towards their goals.
The RRS assists persons with psychiatric disabilities to achieve goals such as independent living, employment, education, socialization and effective life management. The program takes a holistic approach and places the person – not the illness – at the center of the service provided. Effective rehabilitation builds on a person’s strengths and helps the individual plan to manage the negative impact of their psychiatric disability. The rehabilitation process emphasizes the individual’s unique strengths and addresses self-esteem and confidence through the encouragement of goal setting and recovery work. Goals are broken down in to manageable steps and plans are established to address issues specific to the individual’s situation.
The RRS model focuses on the functioning of the individual in the normal day to day environment and assesses the skills and resources that a person needs to achieve success and satisfaction. The rehabilitation worker meets with the participant to assess readiness for goal work, support choice and decision making, teach skills for increased success and assist the participant to identify and develop coping skills. The participant becomes the expert in managing their disability. Crisis prevention plans are developed and the concept of creating a step by step plan towards goals has been proven to lead to increased wellness and quality of life.
Qualification Criteria
- Are you over the age of 18? (Housing goal)
- Do you live in the City of Thompson?
- Do you have a mental health issue?
- Do you have goals related to housing, education, employment and/or socialization?
Enrollment Process
Any person interested in the Rehabilitation and Recovery Service would need to be referred by a Community Mental Health Worker from the Northern Regional Health Authority. They would then be contacted by one of our two RRS Specialists for an appointment based on the above criteria. After the individual meets with the RRS Specialist and it’s been determined that they qualify for services, the RRS Specialist would then meet with the individual at least three times per month.
Intake Contact
Email: psr1@cmhathompson.ca OR psr2@cmhathompson.ca
Office: 204-677-6050
Fax: 204-677-5534