Empowering Youth to be Independent

Thanks to community partnerships and the generous support of donors, Columbia River Mental Health Services has offered the Options youth program to young adults living with mental health disorders in Clark County for 20 years. Options works with youth making the transition from adolescence to adulthood by focusing on housing, education, employment, and community life adjustment.

Your kindness has a direct impact on young people in our community, like David. David went from refusing to even leave his room, to making new friends and obtaining employment in under eight months!

David, 16, was suffering from severe social isolation as a result of his mental health disorder. David isolated himself in his room, he was missing appointments and staff were struggling to engage him in the program. He was rarely leaving the house. Staff needed to find a different way to get David to interact with them and decided to set up an appointment with David’s mom at
their home.

The first week the Transition Specialist met with David’s mom in the living room with David’s bedroom door open. They spoke loudly so he could hear them talking about the ways the Options program could help to support him. The staff member shared about the activities going on at Youth House.

The second week visiting, David curiously came out into the living room and met with the program staff member and his mother. The next week they sat on the porch of his home and had their visit. Shortly thereafter, David and the Transition Specialist went to Starbucks to meet and after some guidance on riding buses, he began taking the bus over to the Youth House for meetings.

David worked with one of our therapists and made friends with other youth in the program. Hearing about their successes, David started working with the Employment Specialist to help him find a job. David was achieving so many of his goals and continued to make real-life connections. Soon he was ready to exit the program and continue his new life of independence.

Your gift empowers youth like David daily and is an investment in your community.