Community Strategies is located in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts and provides individuals with mental illness or mental retardation, severe psychiatric or developmental disabilities, or complex medical needs with specialized residential or community-based services. These services might take the shape of adult foster home care or staffed adult shared living and are developed and adapted to meet the needs of the people in our programs. We bring a unique combination of a clear understanding of people with developmental disabilities or mental retardation as well as competence in treatment of psychiatric disorders. This expertise has allowed many people who would be living in institutional settings, the opportunity to live in the community in less restrictive settings. Through our models of care, our staff provides a balanced mix of supervision, treatment and freedom in that helps these community settings be nurturing environments.

With a firm belief in the therapeutic benefits of human relationships as the basis for growth and change, we challenge the individuals in our programs to become as independent as possible. We encourage them to exercise their right to take risks (the “dignity of risk”) as well as their responsibility to actively participate in their service planning. We ensure that both our clients’ human rights and civil rights are in place, and that they are informed on self-advocacy.

Through Community Strategies for Massachusetts, CRJ operates 15 private shared-living residences occupied by 4 or 5 individuals and staffed 24-hours-a-day. Tailored programs include individual and group therapy and are geared to foster independence and improve living skills and pro-social behavior. For some clients, therapy and treatment are augmented with job development and on-the-job support. Shared-living clients may qualify for the less structured environment of our apartment-living program.

Through Community Strategies for New Hampshire, CRJ offers services delivered in private homes where clinical support and respite is available to caretakers around the clock. This model offers a structure different from the shared-living model and individuals live with greater independently while also receiving comprehensive treatment.

At CRJ, Community Strategies helps people with developmental disabilities to break the chain of failures they may have faced in the past. Most live with chronic conditions which severely limit their ability to function independently. Nonetheless, with the right amount of support and supervision, and within certain limits, they can learn to live with greater independence and confidence and pursue their personal goals. These services are provided under contracts with the Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation and with private agencies working for the Division of Health & Human Services of New Hampshire.