Please join us to learn more about Pathways Vermont's Soteria House, its role in Vermont's system of care, and the plan to create a permanent home for this innovative program - the only one of its kind in the United States. Soteria House is available to all Vermonters. We'll have a short program with a video and an opportunity to ask questions. RSVP at http://rb.gy/3evp3.
What is Soteria House Vermont?
Soteria House Vermont is a home-like environment providing alternatives to hospitalization for those experiencing non-consensus reality, also called psychosis, for the first time. Open to all Vermonters, it is located in Chittenden County. Soteria House residents, many of whom are young adults, may stay for 3-6 months or longer. Soteria provides a less restrictive setting and promotes self-expression and community as primary sources of healing. Antipsychotic medications are de-emphasized, although available through an on-staff psychiatrist. Creating a community of former and current residents and staff members allows an approach of 'being with' people rather than 'doing to' them.
The first Soteria house was founded in San Francisco, in 1971. The work of this house was based on the philosophy that "being with" or being accompanied during a crisis could have similar or even better therapeutic outcomes than hospital methods, particularly in a small, supportive, non-hospital, and family-like environment with low or no medication. This initiative showed such promising results that it led to the opening of many Soteria-like services internationally, including Israel, Germany, the UK, Switzerland, and in the United States, Soteria House Vermont.
Today Soteria House Vermont is the only program of its kind in the United States. Funded by the Vermont Department of Health in 2015, it is now in its 8th year of operation and is a viable and strong component of our Vermont mental health system of care, with a proven track record.