Keep Our Doors Open

Receiving a diagnosis of a serious mental illness is devastating.  It is one of the biggest challenges a person can face.  

Mental illnesses are serious medical conditions that affect the brain.   They disrupt a person's thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning.  

All the members of SOMI Club are living with a mental illness and in treatment for that illness.  Not only do they work hard every day to deal with their symptoms and the difficult side effects of the medicine they take, but they do so while struggling to make ends meet on a disability check, food stamps and public transportation.  That's a pretty tough challenge.  But if that's not difficult enough, they do so while living in the midst of a population that generally has little understanding or compassion for their illness.

In order to achieve recovery from these illnesses, it is critical to have  a solid support system surrounding you. Things like a qualified psychiatrist, the proper medication and a good therapist.   But something else that is equally important is having a place to socialize - somewhere you feel accepted, not judged.  A place to be around others that face the same challenges - a place to feel "normal."

By nature, we as human beings are all "social" creatures. We have a basic need to be with others who share common interests.  SOMI Club fills this need for those living with a mental illness.  

Being able to participate in a positive and supportive social environment is an essential component for the success of someone's treatment plan.  If people living with a serious mental illness do not adhere to their treatment, it is likely their symptoms will return.  This can lead to hospitalization, incarceration, homelessness, or attempt at suicide.


SOMI Club (Survivors of Mental Illness Outreach)

What does SOMI offer?  For those who have been sitting in their homes looking at four walls 24 hours a day, they begin to see the world with light, meaning and purpose.   Isolation is an enemy to all of us but it makes someone living with a mental illness get sicker.  SOMI Club (Survivors of Mental Illness) provides the perfect supplement to their clinical treatment - a safe and accepting environment where they can improve and advance their recovery.

SOMI Club is open Tuesday through Friday from 8:00 am until 2:00 pm.  We offer a variety of activities in which members can participate.  There are education classes, support groups, recreational activities, arts & crafts, creative writing and a computer lab with internet access.

We serve a daily light breakfast, a hot lunch and a healthy afternoon snack.  You can help us continue to provide these resources to our members by donating towards any (or all!)   We serve an average of 30-40 individuals four days a week.  The need is great but the funding is not.

Please help us if you can!

Levels of support:

$5 will pay for a members breakfast for one week
$10 will pay for a members lunch for one week
$5 will pay for a members afternoon snack for one week

A $20 donation will provide a member with a 31-day bus pass.

I wish every community had a place like SOMI Club, because in every community are people struggling to survive with a mental illness.  

Mental illness is not a choice, but recovery is!   Please help us continue providing much needed support for those working to maintain their recovery!