Peer Support Services
More in this section:Intentional Warm Line
The Intentional Warm Line is available toll-free from anywhere in Maine, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is a mental health peer-to-peer phone support program offering mutual conversations with a trained specialist who has life experience with mental health and/or substance use issues and recovery. The focus is to encourage and foster recovery, moving toward wellness and reconnecting with community. Call 1-866-771-9276.
Peer Support Services
Peer programs have been gaining recognition in recent years for their proven effectiveness in reducing the need for more intensive and costly treatment services, such as hospitalization. Sweetser's Learning & Recovery Center in Brunswick serves adults who are recovering from the effects of trauma, mental illness and substance abuse.
Peer Support Services include the sharing of personal stories of one’s recovery journey offered to another person who is attempting to make his or her own journey of recovery. Services offer guidance through the experience of mutually supportive relationships with another individual who has been working on their own recovery.
Once a consumer has participated in the orientation for Sweetser’s Learning & Recovery Center in Brunswick, he or she has the option to stay in a respite bed over night at the center if needed, and/or have a discussion with a peer support specialist during a crisis event.
Peer Support Services are critical to a consumer’s ability to achieve a productive and fulfilling life in the community of his or her choice despite a mental health disability.
Peer Crisis Respite
The Learning & Recovery Center hosts Maine's only Peer Crisis Respite Overnight Program. Using an intentional peer support model based on the work of Shery Mead, Sweetser's Peer Services offer mutual support for people recovering from mental illness, substance abuse or a history of trauma. Crisis Respite includes a short-term stay at the Learning & Recovery Center in Brunswick, recovery groups, art groups, complementary therapies and self-directed learning.
For those who anticipate that they may want to stay at the Learning & Recovery Center in the future, as an alternative to hospitalization, a Crisis Respite interview must be conducted. A respite plan is mutually created between the client and a peer at the center when the client is doing well. It is our belief that it is easier to consider what works for us and is comforting for us when we are not in the throes of a crisis.
Peer Crisis Respite challenges us to move forward through our crisis, allowing ourselves to be vulnerable, feel strong emotions and consider those times an opportunity to grow and change.
The Learning & Recovery Center
At The Learning & Recovery Center, we challenge participants to do something different. That may mean opening oneself up to the possibility of making a new friend, expressing oneself through art, writing or other expressive mediums. Through art, movement therapies, support groups and educational resources, the center aims to empower individuals with opportunities for transformation. When you enter The Learning & Recovery Center, it may not be immediately clear who the employees are and who the participants are. This is by design. We come here as equals and everyone participates as teacher and learner.
For more information, call the Sweetser PromiseLine toll-free at 1-800-434-3000.
The Sanford Clubhouse
The Sanford Clubhouse is a safe and welcoming place for individuals with long-term mental illness to socialize, build lasting friendships and develop job preparedness.
MaineCare, health insurance provided through Maine's Department of Health & Human Services, covers the cost of services. There is no additional cost to be a member. Members are free to attend as they please and participate in a work-ordered day with other members and staff. In addition, members can obtain paid transitional and supported employment positions in the community.
Clubhouse Hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30am - 4:30pm. Most adults receiving adult community integration, ACT or community rehabilitation services can become members. Contact the PromiseLine to determine eligibility - 1-800-434-3000.
What Our Clients Are Saying
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