Not a Commune - a Community
Co-housing for people with bipolar disorder.
Problem:
1. Bipolar disorder often becomes more difficult to handle as people with the disorder age. For many the bumps and kicks of everyday life gradually overwhelm his or her emotional coping resources.
- The emotional ups and downs associated with the disease take a toll on loved ones, on the financial health of the family and on the community that surrounds the person coping with the disease.
- Long term care solutions for those with severe bipolar tend to isolate the individual from spouses, parents, loved ones and the community about them.
- The necessity of protecting a loved one with bipolar can severely limit the ability of caregivers to find and hold jobs successfully and can threaten intact families with bipolar.
- To delay intervention in cases of severe bipolar disorder can lead to the destruction of families that might have been saved intact had the families been better established or financially independent before things got out of hand.
A Proposed Solution
Rather than wait for the wheels to come off the wagon, I propose creating a co-housing project especially designed for people with bipolar disorder and their families. The community design would take into account the needs of people with bipolar, allow their caregivers to remain with them and provide a permanent supportive environment for residents for the rest of their lives. The community would be designed to become independent and self-sustaining over a short time and offer not only emotional and spiritual support, but would also provide affordable housing, employment and therapeutic recreation. First we need to look at what co-housing is and how it’s unique design can help us set up safe communities for our loved ones with bipolar and those who care for them.
How does co-housing work?
Co-housing is a fascinating new concept in community development. Groups of like-minded individuals purchase a large and attractive tract of land and develop a shared community there. Similar to the way some condominiums and townhouses are done, members of the community purchase small cottages built around a commons area and community center. The commons provides places to walk, to garden, to play games and exercise. The community center provides places where families may gather, where concerts and parties are held, activities conducted, worship services convened, where hobby groups can meet and community business can be conducted. There is often a fully-equipped central kitchen in the center. Some communities even cook regular meals for the residents, provide distribution centers for Meals on Wheels, set up food pantries and other social services for the community. Many of these are senior communities, but others are designed as artist communities, communities of workers from some local industry or even extended family groups.
Proposed Structure for RDPC
- Rainy Day People Cooperative would be organized as a membership-based not for profit organization.
- A board of directors consisting of mental health professionals, residents, founding donors and families of permanent residents of the community will be recruited. This goard will govern the overall organization. Each community’s members will act as its own local governing body for issues concerning that community.
- A tract of land would be searched out and funding raised for the purchase of the land outright if possible. This would greatly reduce the community’s initial operating cost.
- A core group of potential residents would be identified. The board of directors would help identify potential candidates. Candidates should be a mix of low, middle and upper class residents to allow the community to operate with a sustainable budget.
- Policies and Procedures for the nonprofit and operating guidelines will be drawn up and approved by the board to insure the health and sustainability of the project and to create a healthy community for its residents.
- Designs for the community would be drawn up and submitted to the board and founding residents for approval.
- A sustainability plan will be developed utilizing private foundation, state, local and federal housing funds to support low income residents. Additional funds will be raised through grants, special events, contributions by residents, their families, sliding scale membership fees and money-making enterprises conducted by residents and supported by the RDPC.
- Funds will be raised to begin construction of the commons areas. Residents who will be purchasing cottages will begin construction as they are ready to proceed. Some units will be purchased by the nonprofit as rental units as money can be raised or our budget grows to support the cost. A project director’s cottage and office will be constructed near the commons area construction.
- Once ready for move-in the project director will move in and direct the operations of the community from on-site. See the director’s job description in the appendix.
- The director shall be the only full time staff and will live on-site in a suitable office/residence. Various landscape, food prep and maintenance services may be hired as needed or requested by the community members, however, much of the care of the community will be in the hands of volunteers. The director shall supervise and coordinate volunteer groups charged with some cleanup, landscaping, simple maintenance and neighborhood watch activities. The director will closely attend to upkeep of the community to keep maintenance costs as low as possible.
- Transportation resources will be arranged for residents who cannot drive. This may be provided by a community operated van if desired by members, through access to bus lines and other public transportation, through community ride-sharing or other means.
- The director will facilitate partnerships and act as liaison with social service agencies, government agencies and community or faith-based nonprofit organizations to provide support services or programs within the community.
- Quarterly community meetings will acquaint community members with the state of the budget, issues raised and addressed and challenges facing the community. The quarterly meetings will provide members an opportunity to help plan the activities and projects undertaken on behalf of the community. If the members want a shared garden tool shed, they will find money in the budget; make decisions about raising funds or making economies to afford such a new project. The meetings will also provide an opportunity for members to come up with new ideas for activities, services or programs and help plan how to implement those ideas.
- The community, once filled, will provide a clearing house to encourage and support other groups in establishing
Conclusion:
Creativity is one of the hallmarks of individuals with bipolar disorder. This type of community structure allows individuals struggling with this disease to find a place for themselves in the world where they are not alone. It allows spouses or partners to remain with their loved ones or parents with a deeply troubled child. It provides ready access to help finding jobs or creating their own businesses. It makes available support groups, recreation opportunities and financial supports needed to provide them a safe stable place in the world. It allows them to contribute their own brand of creativity to the community through recreation, work and community service so they may become participants in their community rather than mere recipients of community tolerance and charity.
Finding the funding, recruiting members and managing the whole thing will be challenging, but no more so than the challenge faced by caregivers and individuals with bipolar disorder in coping with an often unfriendly world. The community we create will not to be a cloister, but a rather a home – a safe little village in the old style where everyone knows everyone and everyone looks out for each other. A place from which its members might go forth and conquer, knowing there’s a safe place to retreat to if it goes badly out there.
Co-housing is a lifestyle uniquely suited to the creative temperaments that go with bipolar disorder. If the community nurtures that urge to create, provides opportunities to express that creativity and structures itself to support and protect it, we will ultimately create a model for other sustainable small communities for individuals that have difficult surviving in large unstructured settings.
For information contact:
Tom King
903-363-7218
Project Director Job Description
Qualifications:
3 years experience as director of a nonprofit organization
Experience with nonprofit cost accounting style bookkeeping
Experience providing therapeutic recreational programs
Experience maintaining houses, landscaping and grounds
Experience working with individuals with behavioral health issues and disabilities.
5 years experience in social service settings
Bachelor’s Degree in social service, psychology or related field or Bachelor’s degree plus related work experience
Experience managing public relations
Experience raising funds, writing grants and managing special events
Experience working with individuals with bipolar disorder
Duties
Manage day to day operations of the facility, keep up with maintenance, record keeping, community member relations and logistics.
Work with the bookkeeper/CPA to provide financial data and obtain reports needed by the board of directors to assure the financial health and viability of the project
Develop new sources of funding, write grants and conduct special fund-raising events to support the community.
Assist residents in finding jobs, creating money-making businesses of their own and obtaining funding to support them in the community.
Create and manage an on-site food pantry to provide assistance for residents and members of the surrounding community as an outreach and volunteer opportunity for residents.
Conduct community meetings to develop strategic plans for the future of the community, to address issues that crop up, to clarify existing policies and to plan activities and community events.
Collect rents, membership fees and other monies and deposit those funds in the organization’s banking account.
Approve and sign checks for paying bills, fees and expenses for the community with the approval of the board president or treasurer. Most payments will be disbursed by the accounting office hired to manage the books and provide annual reports for tax purposes.
Manage on-site kitchen according to community set policy. Insure that the kitchen and cooking/cleaning procedures meet local health codes.
Obtain annual health, fire and safety inspections per local requirements for all facilities.
Set up and support on-site group therapy sessions as needed and requested by residents and help create supports for caregivers within the community.
Plan 4-8 community activities per month with an emphasis on therapeutic activities that promote physical and mental growth especially for those with bipolar disorder.
Manage grow box garden spot assignments, tool checkout and help residents learn how to do grow box gardening.
Encourage physical exercise through community activities and maintenance of attractive and accessible walking trails and park areas.
Develop agreements with utility or service providers that are of benefit to community members.
Maintain a monthly community newsletter, develop promotional and marketing materials, recruit new community members until all available homes are built and occupied.
Develop new co-housing groups and projects for bipolar families as waiting lists make it evident we have enough to create a new community.
Facilitate partnerships with social service agencies, government agencies, private companies and community or faith-based nonprofit organizations to provide support services or programs within the community. Act as liaison with such organizations, vendors or providers.
Develop transportation resources for transportation challenged community members. This may include working with bus lines to create nearby bus stops, creating ride-share resources with other community members or purchasing and operating a community van (this will be determined and financed by community members if it is done)
