How Heart House Works

ACCESIBLE SUBSTANCE SUPPORT FOR THOSE WITH NO SUPPORT

HHCRC stands for everyone having a seat at the table. We stand for adding tables and seats that fit each individual’s needs to show up. We stand for honoring the inherent worth and dignity of all people, acknowledging the nuance of the human experience, and not labeling humans into stagnancy. We stand for everyone’s right to pursue recovery how they see it and to be celebrated for it. We stand for accessible substance use support for people with no money, no insurance, and no family support. We stand for housing security, food security, mental health support, community, boundaries, but most importantly we stand for unconditional love as a way of life. 

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EXPANDING SERVICES BEYOND CRISIS

When someone experiencing homelessness in our community seeks to make changes to their substance use patterns, there are very limited services available. Both through personal and professional experience, we at HHCRC have seen folks get stuck in a loop from street to institution and back to the street, indefinitely. Once a person leaves treatment, the hospital, or jail, the options given are expensive and inaccessible such as pricey halfway houses and one size fits all recovery programs. For many people experiencing homelessness, these options just aren’t feasible. If folks wait to be housed through local initiatives, they may find themselves lacking the support they need in such a huge lifestyle shift. Many folks have reported having a hard time finding a group they feel comfortable in after living so long on the fringes of society. Due to these factors, many folks stay in the struggle to survive because thriving feels just too far away.

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TAKING FEEDBACK FROM OUR COMMUNITY

HHCRC is aiming to fill some of these gaps with groups specifically designed with direct input from the folks that they are for. Groups are held in spaces folks already frequent for meals, community, and other resources and are flexible to meet the needs of whoever is in attendance each time. The common thread is the shared experience of everyone in the group seeking positive change in their mental health or substance use, with no singular expectation of what success looks like. 

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TRAINING SERVICE PROVIDERS

HHCRC also provides training for service providers on how to support people who use drugs in creating positive change, even if it doesn't look like abstinence. We have seen too many people just dropped off at a shelter after hours because they couldn’t go anywhere else.

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CREATING A HOME

Finally, the biggest gap we aim to fill is a place for people to live in community, free of charge, with others seeking positive change. We aim to provide not only a bed, but basic food staples, transportation, connections to care, groups, personalized support check ins, and optional classes multiple times a week to learn new skills and maybe even find something to be passionate about! Nothing like this currently exists in our community and we have seen the need for it repeatedly.