Buckelew Programs

Affordable, Supported Housing:

Buckelew provides a range of supported living situations for adults with mental illness. Some homes have staff onsite 24 hours a day for clients who need more intensive, long-term supports. The majority of the clients live in apartments that are owned or leased by Buckelew, where they receive daily or sometimes weekly visits from staff to assist them to live semi-independently. Clients who don’t need daily visits by staff still benefit from our supportive services as they increase their self-management capabilities and move into their own houses or apartments.

Effective, Supported Employment:

Buckelew provides a comprehensive approach to assisting people to secure and maintain employment. Services include pre-employment counseling, vocational training, job development, placement, and job-coaching. Our Blue Skies Personnel Services is a staffing service that places qualified clients in temporary and permanent jobs through collaboration with local businesses and government agencies. Blue Skies Cleaning Services is a janitorial business that provides clients with training and paid employment. Buckelew is participating in the Social Security Administration’s Ticket to Work and Self- Sufficiency Program; this new program provides Social Security beneficiaries with disabilities greater opportunities for employment.

Wellness & Recovery Supports:

Buckelew provides a range of services that promote wellness and recovery for people with mental illness. By this we mean that our services are individualized, personcentered, and holistic. Our focus is on our client’s strengths and capabilities. We encourage personal responsibility, empowerment, and engagement with peer-supports. Our approach offers respect, and hope.

Wellness & recovery services are an important part of what we do because studies show that client self-management— their determination to get better, manage the illness, take actions, and make choices—facilitates recovery from mental illness. And by helping our clients to better manage their physical health, we’re making an impact on their quality and duration of life.

Adults with serious mental illness are 5 times more likely to have a co-occurring medical condition than the general population; 42% have at least one chronic physical illness severe enough to limit daily functioning. And, due to largely preventable risk factors like smoking, physical inactivity, and poor nutrition, people with mental illness have a life expectancy that is 25 years shorter than other Americans. We, at Buckelew, are engaging clients in better managing their health and wellness through improved nutrition, exercise, medication monitoring, and smoking cessation throughout all of our programs.

Family Supports:

Our program in Sonoma County offers a full time Family Service Coordinator to provide education, support, and other assistance to family members and others identified as support persons of adults and transition-aged youth with mental illness. While our family support services in Napa and Marin are more informal, we always seek to provide information, referrals, and support to families in need.

Specialized Programs:

Recognizing that one size does not fit all, Buckelew has developed programs that are tailored to the unique needs and interests of different groups of clients in our communities. These include programs specifically geared to transition-aged youth (16-25), to adults with serious mental illness, to adults with a dual-diagnosis of mental illness and substance abuse disorders, and to adults who are also involved in the criminal justice system.