Programs

Client Assistance and Supports
Legislative Education
Public Policy
Education and Community Outreach
Affiliate Relations
National Depression Screening Day
Operation Santa

Client Assistance and Supports
Bridges Clubhouse -MHASC offers a Clubhouse program in partnership with the Lexington Mental Health Center. Bridges offers an array of psychological, social and vocational programs, housing assistance, and case management services in a family oriented atmosphere to assist recovery. The Clubhouse is run through a fountain house model where everyone is involved in a unit. There are four units at the clubhouse, the kitchen unit which purchases, prepares, and cleans up for lunch everyday. The snack bar unit, which runs the snack bar program, also purchasing, selling, overseeing inventory, keeping records. The maintenance unit which cleans, maintains, and oversees the property, and the clerical unit which does all the billing, maintaining, and Medicaid for every client. These units are used to build skills that the recovering mental health client needs in order to achieve independence and re-enter the work force. For more information on Bridges please contact Jean Ann Lambert at bridgesclubhouse@yahoo.com.

Cemetery Preservation - Consumers searching records of the South Carolina Department of Mental Health to locate names of every individual buried at the State Hospital cemeteries since its beginning up to 1986. Consumers are participating on the Committee to Restore and Preserve Historic Cemeteries and have worked to restore the Pisgah Cemetery.For more information please contact Anita Baker at abaker@mha-sc.org.

Housing -At least 12,000 low-income South Carolinians diagnosed as mentally ill are in need of housing in South Carolina. To meet this need, MHASC created Turnkey Housing Corp., an arm of the organization that develops housing, especially in rural areas. The housing staff works with the local community to design housing that best fits the needs of consumers and may use federal, state and private funding sources for construction. MHASC and its affiliates are the single largest non-profit sponsoring housing for the psychiatrically disabled in South Carolina. For more information please contact Joy Jay at jjay@mha-sc.org or Britni Hartis at bhartis@mha-sc.org

Legislative Education
MHASC provides up-to-date statistics and information on mental health issues to the Legislature. MHASC also participates in the Partners in Crisis group which hosts a legislative breakfast each session, giving those in the mental health field the opportunity to talk face to face with legislators about mental health issues. For more information please contact Joy Jay at jjay@mha-sc.org.

Public Policy
MHASC works on all policy fronts to ensure that South Carolina mental health clients receive quality treatment as close to their community as possible and that sound mental health policies are promoted. Board members and professional staff sit on more than a dozen policy-crafting boards to influence the delivery of mental health treatment, promote a legislative agenda, serve as watchdogs of the quality of care in state and private facilities and work to educate the media and public about mental health treatment. For more information please contact Joy Jay at jjay@mha-sc.org.

Education and Community Outreach
MHASC conducts an active public education campaign through public appearances, media contacts, statewide speaking engagements, targeted workshops, legislative education days, special mailings, newsletters and community collaborations. Priorities include expanded program development, more public education workshops and educational conferences. MHASC also participates in national and state depression screening days.

MHASC has also facilitated an Olmstead Implementation Training Workshop in conjunction with the NMHA as part of the Governor's Task Force for Home and Community-Based Services. Suicide Prevention -MHASC is part of the suicide prevention network in South Carolina and hosts suicide prevention trainings, as well as Survivor of Suicide groups. Please contact Donna Soileau at dsoileau@mha-sc.org.

Affiliate Relations
MHASC board and staff are currently making affiliate relations a top priority to strengthen advocacy efforts throughout the state. MHASC vigorously solicits ideas and input from consumers and citizens about the needs for innovation and new approaches in their areas. We are also interested in models of successful advocacy programs in other states that might be tailored to the needs of South Carolina. For more information please contact Constance Shepard at cshepard@mha-sc.org.

National Depression Screening Day
Mental Health America of South Carolina is one of the biggest sponsors of National Depression Screening Day always held in October. We have won several national awards for our commitment and numbers of people that we have screened in our state. More than 54 million Americans are affected by mental health disorders and this screening is a wonderful tool to help people detect if they need further help. For more information please contact Constance Shepard at cshepard@mha-sc.org or Britni Hartis at bhasty@mha-sc.org.

Operation Santa
Operation Santa is an annual holiday event for Mental Health America of South Carolina, in years past we made sure that all patients in the state facilities received at least one present, as people have moved out into the community we have continued this wonderful tradition by making sure that those individuals who may not receive any Christmas joy does get presents to make their holiday merrier. For more information please contact Britni Hartis at bhasty@mha-sc.org.

Please send your ideas and suggestions to us at: MHASC 1823 Gadsden Street Columbia, SC 29201