Havens : stories of true community healing / Leonard Jason and Martin Perdoux ; foreword by Thomas Moore.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jason, Leonard.

Contributor:

Perdoux, Martin.

Series:

Contemporary psychology (Praeger Publishers)

Contemporary psychology, 1546-668X

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Community mental health services--United States.

Community mental health services.

Healing--Social aspects.

Healing.

United States.

Community psychology.

Physical Description:

xvi, 158 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2004.

Summary:

All Americans are concerned about the cost of health care and mental-health care, since none of us are immune to chronic disease, disability associated with aging, or psychological disorders. Jason and Perdoux present a relatively low-cost and effective solution that is growing in neighborhoods across the country: true community. People are forming grassroots communities to meet one another's needs and bring a higher quality of life than that of institutions. People living in these healing communities include the aged, college students, people with chronic fatigue, recovering alcoholics and drug addicts, and sufferers of mental illness, AIDS, or Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. These communities offer a way to recover the caring, structure, direction, and respect that a strong family can provide. Throughout history, people have lived in communal dwellings. Within the village, people helped each other not out of charity but because it was a natural way of life. Interconnections made survival more likely; mutual respect and working for common goals were therefore central features of these communities. Over the past 100 years, American culture has prioritized individual freedoms and goals, resulting in a decline in the human ability to relate, find bonds, and even -- in many cases -- bond with or be close to family members. Many people have lost both family and community: elders living alone, isolated or warehoused in nursing homes; people released from mental hospitals or detox with nowhere to go; sufferers of chronic illness with no one to support them. Jason and Perdoux show us how communities created out of necessity by their members constitute a natural, more sustained means to healing.

Contents:

Chapter 1 The Shrinking of Community in America 1

Chapter 2 More Than a Blessing 11

Chapter 3 The Dignity of Aging 43

Chapter 4 A Retreat from Mental Illness: Learning the Art of Living 63

Chapter 5 The Invisible Patient 77

Chapter 6 Other Havens 103

Appendix A Oxford House and Alcohol and Drug Abuse Resources 117

Appendix B Elderly Resources 121

Appendix C Mental Health Resources 125

Appendix D CFS, Fibromyalgia, and MCS Resources 127

Appendix E Miscellaneous Resources and Links 131

Appendix F Perceived Sense of Community Scale 133

Appendix G Participatory Action Research with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome 137.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [143]-148) and index.

ISBN:

027598320X

OCLC:

54611184