TO PROVIDE A TRANSITIONAL COMMUNITY LIVING OPPORTUNITY FOR RESTORING BASIC LIFE SKILLS AND IMPROVING THE SOCIAL WELL BEING OF INDIVIDUALS RECOVERING FROM SERIOUS AND PERSISTENT MENTAL ILLNESS.

At Karis we specialize in helping individuals who are recovering from serious and persistent mental illness. While individuals with various types of mental illness may live at Karis, all of our Community members live with illnesses which seriously impact their ability to function successfully in everyday life. As a result, most will have to deal with certain limitations or vulnerabilities for years to come. Part of our challenge at Karis is to help each of our Community members accept his or her chronic illness and live appropriately with it. We do not pretend to offer cures to our residents, but rather we offer methods and awareness which they can use to cope sucessfully with a potentially debilitating mental illness.

Typically, individuals who are served at Karis have become ill in their early adult years. Prior to their illness they had developed the basic life skills necessary to live as productive people. One effect of serious mental illness is that individuals have a diminished ability to use their previously acquired skills, and as a result, productivity typically is far below potential. Through a shared living environment, the Karis Community creates a process which assists in restoring and reestablishing these previously acquired basic life skills.

Another characteristic of serious mental illness is that social relationships often are quite difficult to establish and maintain. This results in isolation which produces feelings of negativity and worthlessness. At Karis, one of our more important goals is to provide the support and encouragement needed by individuals living with serious and persistent mental illness. This support is necessary to build healthy support systems, to make and keep friends, and to be successful in everyday social interactions. It is our hope that the positive change will result in an improved sense of self and social well-being.

Our ultimate goal is to help our Community members return to their highest possible level of healthy community involvement, resulting in a life of higher quality than would be likely without the transitional opportunity offered at Karis. We do this by helping our Community members accept their illness and assisting them in finding ways to successfully manage it.