The philosophy behind CHOICES is reflected in both its name and the words which create the acronym CHOICES -- Consumers Having Ownership In Creating Effective Services -- which is people having options of their own creation and choosing.
CHOICES, Inc., a tax exempt, 501(c)(3) organization, was formed to provide alternatives in the community to the current medication dominated mental health system. CHOICES is a peer run community mental health provider established to facilitate self-directed empowering opportunities for people experiencing psychiatric symptoms to assist in achieving thier individual self-directed recovery life goals.
CHOICES specializes in assisting people improve their lives and we help people learn practice and develop methods and habits whish serve their behavioral health needs and healthy lifestyle choices. CHOICES believes that individuals have the right to direct the services they receive in order to promote and enhance their individual recovery. CHOICES exists to assist our clients in achieving their recovery goals. Empowering them for lasting change.
CHOICES is what is known as a Consumer Run program, where "consumer" means someone who has been labeled with a serious mental illness and is a past or present recipient of mental health services.
CHOICES has three primary modes of operation.
- To provide people the types of services or other resources they choose to help them recover.
- To develop and provide, to the extent possible, the types of community mental health services described by Loren Mosher and Lorenzo Burti in Chapter 9 of their excellent book, Community Mental Health: A Practical Guide.
- To be a conduit for "pass-through" grants to other Consumer Run programs that do not have tax exempt status or the administrative wherewithal to do so themselves.
"BE THE CHANGE THAT YOU WANT TO SEE IN THIS WORLD" - Gandhi