Housed at the Errera Community Care Center in West Haven, the CRP is a community-based transitional educational center offering educational, skill building and supportive services to veterans with severe psychiatric illnesses or co occurring disorders.  Many are also homeless.  At CRP, eight professionals serve a client base of more than 175 veterans to successfully pursue their recovery plans.  While the CRP staff provides individualized services to a large client base, it maintains an extraordinary level of quality, timeliness, and client satisfaction. 

CRP is a Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Center. The program focuses on helping veterans function in the community rather than on their underlying pathology.  Through education, skill building and therapy the veterans are empowered to enhance community and life functioning and enhance life satisfaction. The program helps veterans to establish and strengthen community based supports, to increase their ability to live as independently as possible in the community of their choice and to instruct the veteran in those avenues which lead to consumer empowerment.

Every veteran’s recovery in the CRP is individually determined based on the veteran’s current needs.  Each veteran works collaboratively with a CRP Coordinator/ Case Manager who works in collaboration with the veteran’s outpatient treatment team.  The coordinator collaborates with other VA service providers as well as stakeholders from community agencies to streamline care and maximize support to veterans. 

The goals of the CRP are to assist veterans in re establishing normal roles in the community, enhance the quality of life for veterans involved in the program, resolve acute crises,  and build productive, meaningful, and valued lives in the community.  The program helps veterans focus on maintaining safety, expanding their support networks and maintaining sobriety, if indicated. The specific services provided include:

• Veteran constructed individual recovery plans
• Case management
• Group psycho-education: coping skills, community living, problem solving, cognitive behavioral therapy, anger management, relapse prevention
• Connection to community resources
• Veteran empowerment
• Peer support
• Crisis management

CRP offers programming Monday – Friday, (9:00-4:30)  The length of participation and the attendance schedule for each veteran  is individually determined. The Positively Silver track (Veteran’s 55+) within CRP offers group meetings targeted at healthy aging and the transition to retirement for appropriate veterans.

There are specific groups for Women only that focus on skill building and women’s issues.  These groups are held on Tuesday’s  and female veteran’s are welcome to attend the program on that day only if they choose.

But a description of the CRP programs doesn’t begin to capture the extent of commitment of the CRP team to its veteran’s and the impact they make in improving the quality of the veteran’s  lives. 

CRP has had enormous impact on the lives of a significant number of veterans who in the past were hospitalized for many months, and now, through the efforts of CRP, have been living successfully alone or with family in the community.

 “Without these people the CRP staff I don’t know where I’d be.”

“If there had been a program like CRP 35 years ago we’d have a lot less problems with our Vietnam Vets.”

“CRP is the wheel that gets your life moving again.”

“CRP has saved my life.”

“It is the only place I have felt safe in years” (a female veteran)

“Safety and acceptance for every woman.”

“The only place where I feel I am not being judged.” (a female veteran)