Community Support Program

 The Community Support Program (CSP) is offered as a service of Community Connections to individuals who have a mental illness, their family members, and behavioral health professionals in the two-county area. Interested persons from each of these groups meet monthly for education, for support, and for advocacy in order to promote a successful, quality life in the community. 

 Developed in 1977 at the National Institute of Mental Health, CSP is based on principles that are now accepted both state-wide and nationally. CSP is focused on creating opportunities for people rather than fostering a life of dependency and disability. Dignity and respect are at the heart of the CSP principles along with recognition of the importance of peer-run services. Community Connections holds the CSP principles in high regard and has incorporated them into the planning and implementation of the services provided to the residents of Clearfield and Jefferson Counties. 

 

Person-Centered/Person-Empowered: BH services are based on the needs of the individual and incorporate self-help and other approaches that allow those individuals to retain the greatest possible control in their own lives. 

 

Culturally Competent: BH services are sensitive and responsive to racial, ethnic, religious, and gender differences. 

 

Flexible: BH services are designed to allow people to move in and out of the system and within the system as needed. 

 

Meet Special Needs: BH services are designed to meet the needs of persons with mental illness who are also affected by other factors such as old age, substance abuse, physical illness or disability, or involvement with the criminal justice system. 

 

Accountable: BH service providers are accountable to those who use the services. All stakeholders in the quality and availability of those services have a recognized part in planning, developing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating services. 

 

Strengths-based: BH services build on the assets and strengths of individuals and help people maintain a sense of identity, self-esteem, and dignity. 

 

Community Based/Natural Supports: BH services are provided in the least coercive manner and in the most natural settings possible. Individuals are encouraged to use the natural supports in the community and to integrate into the living, working, learning, and leisure activities of the community. 

 

Coordinated: BH services and supports are coordinated on both the local system level and on an individual level. Coordination includes linkages among individuals, families, advocates, and professionals at every level of the system of care. This improves both the efficiency and the effectiveness of service delivery. 

 

 The Community Connections Community Support Program meetings are coordinated by our CSP Ambassador, Corrine Charles. The group meets monthly with the location alternating between the Dream Team Drop-in Center in Clearfield and The Cove Drop-in Center in DuBois. Program speakers, agendas, dates, and locations for each meeting are available from the CSP Ambassador. Special events are also held throughout the year to raise awareness of mental health issues and to recognize accomplishments in recovery and services. All interested individuals are welcome and encouraged to attend. 

 

 

 September 2020 click here
 

 

October 2022 click here