Programs Offered for Our Residents

Residents learn, listen, talk and grow, preparing for the future
by Beverly Robinson, Valley Mission Chaplain

An article originally published in the Mission's newsletter in Spring 2012.

   Valley Mission offers so much more than just housing and meals, though we do that every day of the year. We also offer a full menu of programming to support Mission residents in their personal, spiritual and professional growth. Our goal through this programming is to enable our residents to access the community around us with the skills and confidence to obtain and maintain employment and affordable housing.

   The programs we offer are designed to strengthen residents' current skills, teach them new skills, guide them away from behaviors which are holding them in negative places, and give them hope for their futures. Through programming structured for their specific needs, we hope to help each resident of the Mission develop productive work skills, find and keep employment, establish positive relationships with those around them, and establish a stable living place which is safe and warm.

   We are currently offering multi-week courses and group discussions in these areas: Recovery Group, a Christ-centered 12-step group; Narcotics Anonymous Group, meeting three times each week; Group Therapy, women's and men's groups meeting with a licensed professional counselor. We offer Transforming Your Emotions, an anger management course.

   Also offered on a continuing basis are the GED classes sponsored by The Adult Learning Center. Because we are housing more and more families with children, this winter we are offering Parenting 101, a course to help parents and soon-to-be-parents improve their skills with their children. There is a Legal Advocacy guide who assists residents in obtaining legal documents. Later in the spring, we expect to have periodic visits from a licensed Registered Nurse who will hold a triage clinic for residents.

   This spring, in our newly renovated basement space, we will initiate an afternoon program of structured activities for children resident in the shelter. We already have the 'playplace' for our children, but soon we will add a part-time staff person to offer supervision and direction for the children. During the school year, this program will serve as an after-school, quiet place offering assistance with homework and reading.

   By early summer, we expect to have three additional programs active: Tobacco Cessation Group, a 12-step program; Life Skills Program, covering budgeting, time management, interviewing skills and more; and the Computer Class, teaching skills for online job searches, preparing resumes, and filing job applications.

   As we always have, in order to support the spiritual life of our residents, the Mission offers bi-weekly chapel services with concurrent children's church, morning Bible study, and daily morning devotions. These activities are open to the public, not just Mission residents.

   We at the Mission believe that food and shelter are necessary but not sufficient for a successful life. Through education, guidance and prayer, we will help each person who turns to us in ways we hope will make desperate need less likely to recur. It is a privilege for us to reach out to our residents. We want each and every person to seize the opportunities around them with courage and confidence in their abilities to provide for themselves.