Earth House Care Concept
Earth House offers psychiatric patients a unique and innovative alternative to current hospital programs by providing a complimentary medical model, focusing on wellness and health rather than illness and pathology. This lifestyle-changing program includes sound nutrition, a daily schedule of exercise, educational courses, and support groups, combined with excellent medical care providing a minimum of required psychiatric medication. Earth House residents are called students, rather than patients, as they are engaged in learning a new way of living that will help them overcome the challenges of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression.
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In addition to medication, Earth House students take nutrients that have been prescribed by a physician in therapeutic doses to help restore normal balance in brain chemistry, allowing for lower doses of medication, reduced side effects, improved functioning, and fewer symptoms. Along with other components of the program, this greatly improves quality of life and compliance.
Earth House students gradually become self-sufficient through learning how to function successfully in our structured environment before adding responsibilities in the real world. Individual talents and capabilities of each student are recognized and cultivated. Students are expected to attend all scheduled courses, which include Literature, Drama, Art, Tai Chi, and Yoga, and participate at the level at which they are capable. Each learns cooking techniques and how to manage their individual nutrient and medication program. Those who have successfully completed the Earth House program, "graduates", are able to maintain part-time or volunteer employment, drive a car, and manage their own affairs with a minimum of guidance. This is especially significant as the majority of students come to Earth House as a last resort, after years of psychiatric treatment and numerous hospitalizations.
"The road home is through wellness."
— Jim Karwoski, Executive Director Earth House
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