INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Grand Harbor Community Outreach helps the men of Camp Haven pave the way to a better life with a $13,000 grant to support the nonprofit’s Pathways to a Purposeful Life Program, which offers on-site professional mental health and life skills counseling for residents.
Camp Haven is a residential setting where homeless men can regain financial independence and self-esteem. They do so through a structured program of counseling in the areas of social and relationship skills, acquiring and maintaining employment, educational opportunities and reconnecting with the community in a healthy, drug-free lifestyle.
The Pathways to a Purposeful Life program supports the process of transformation from homelessness to community living by modifying life skills behaviors the men need to be successful before leaving Camp Haven.
Recent studies indicate that 94 percent of people living on the street have behavioral health or substance abuse challenges that are compounded by the lack of mental health and substance abuse services available. Education and counseling are the remedies for this dilemma.
With on-site counseling and support, the men at Camp Haven can begin to identify their dysfunctional behaviors and pinpoint the underlying causes of their lifestyle choices. As they work one-on-one and in small groups, they learn coping skills and alternative behaviors that enable them to develop the social skills needed to maintain positive relationships, obtain and maintain employment, and eventually rejoin the community as productive citizens.
“Having an in-house psychologist working with the men allows them to re-evaluate their lives under the guidance of a professional,” said Lalita Janke, Camp Haven executive director. “We’re most grateful that Grand Harbor supports our psychological program because while at Camp Haven and their basic needs are met, residents can begin focusing on themselves; the men can change the way they look at themselves and their situations. Instead of looking from the rearview mirror of what they haven’t accomplished, they start to look forward and can prepare themselves for a brighter future.”
“Camp Haven provides an opportunity for homeless men to regain employment, independence and dignity through their Pathways to a Purposeful Life program,” said Dale Jacobs, Grand Harbor Community Outreach Program, Inc. president. “The Grand Harbor Community Outreach Program has funded Camp Haven and this program since its founding in 2014, and we are pleased to be their partner supporting this important community organization. They provide a very valuable service to the homeless men in our county.”
To learn more about the great work the Grand Harbor Community Outreach Program does for the community, visit GHCOP.org. For more information about Camp Haven, visit CampHaven.net.
