What is Community Integration?
Community Integration is a significant and advanced step in the mental health recovery continuum where individuals focus on finding a meaningful role within their community. For those experiencing homelessness and serious mental health conditions, this step is often crucial in achieving long-term recovery and overall life satisfaction.
What this “meaningful role” looks like is highly individualized and varies from person to person. It is based on personal goals, desires, and aspirations. For some, a meaningful role could be maintaining a steady job; for others, it could be pursuing a GED or other educational degree or certificate; For still others, it could look like volunteering time at a local church or nonprofit.
Community integration can take the shape of:
- Gainful employment,
- Schooling or other educational opportunities,
- Volunteering,
- Any other activity that contributes to a sense of meaning, belonging, and purposeful interest.
What do Step Up Community Integration
Services look like?
All Step Up members are encouraged to pursue community integration activities as appropriate. Step Up provides an array of comprehensive community integration services to help members on their community integration journey. Following a person-first approach, specialized Step Up staff work directly with members, both individually and in a group setting, to help them identify a meaningful role in their community and then take steps to achieve it.
Step Up’s Community Integration team includes Occupational Therapists and Community Integration Specialists. Licensed Occupational Therapists address common barriers like difficulty with attentiveness, concentration, executive functioning, sensory integration, and gross and fine motor skills. Community Integration Specialists support employment and educational activities such as building a resume, completing mock interviews, assisting with obtaining work-related clothing and supplies, finding jobs in the community, and developing study skills- all while promoting readiness through skill building. Services are aimed not only at securing employment and education opportunities but also at retaining them.
Step Up’s Community Integration Team includes:
- Occupation Therapists to help improve concentration, executive functioning, and gross and fine motor skills.
- Community Integration Specialist to support employment and education activities.
The Step Up Community Integration Team will also provide linkages to any community programs and resources that may best serve members to maintain their active community participation.
Phone: (310) 394-6889 
