Mental Health Residential Services

Stable community living for persons with serious mental illness depends to a significant degree on the availability of assistance in securing and maintaining adequate housing and establishing meaningful roles within the community. The lack of adequate, safe and stable housing opportunities is perhaps the most significant unmet need of individuals in our society with serious mental illness. Access to housing that is decent, safe and affordable has been identified by persons with mental illness as a primary need.

These residential needs are being filled through Bridgeway's Mental Health Recovery Services whose Residential Services include Supported Living Apartment Programs, Supervised Apartments and 24- Hour Supervised Group Living Programs.

Our Residential Services are among the most comprehensive in the rural Midwest and are provided in partnership with our consumers and are designed to assist persons with serious mental illness to achieve success in and satisfaction with community living.

Residential Services has as its overall goal to assist the consumer to maintain an independent, satisfying life in the community. The services strive to impart a comprehensive set of life skills to the consumer: basic survival and daily independent living skills, interpersonal and communication skills, coping and social skills, and skills in the use of community resources. It is a core belief that consumers can and will improve their lives with the help of a humane, supportive environment combined with direct teaching of relevant skills.

Bridgeway operates comprehensive supported housing services for individuals with mental illness that include two residential homes, eight apartment complexes, and one transitional apartment. Locations of these sites are as follows:

Galesburg Residential Sites

Bridgeway Apartment (24 hour supervised)
1084 Lawrence Ave.
Galesburg, IL 61401

Willow Way Apartments (supported)
1235 West Carl Sandburg Drive
Galesburg, IL 61401

Windish Woods Apartments (24 hour supervised)
1974 Windish Drive
Galesburg, IL 61401

Hawkinson Apartments (supported)
1089 Hawkinson Avenue
Galesburg, IL 61401

Michigan Apartments (24 hour supervised)
792 Michigan Avenue
Galesburg, IL 61401

Jefferson Group Home (24 hour supervised)
1191 Jefferson Street
Galesburg, IL 61401

Kewanee Residential Sites

McKinley Apartments (24 hour supervised)
501 North Grove
Kewanee, IL 61443

Division Apartments (supported)
1220 W. Division Street
Kewanee, IL 61443

Dewey Group Home (24 hour supervised)
1023 Dewey Ave.
Kewanee, IL 61443

Macomb Residential Sites

Madelyn Apartments (24 hour supervised)
1106 Madelyn
Macomb, IL 61455

Pollock Apartments (supported)
7 Pollock Drive
Macomb, IL 61455

Community Support Services

Community Support Services promote Bridgeway’s philosophy in that, "Our primary focus is on the needs and desires of the consumers; the development of innovative ways to achieve consumer goals, the removal of barriers that hinder access to services and the continuous enhancement of the quality of our services and the quality of life of the people we serve."

Community Support Services foster empowerment, resiliency and recovery for persons with mental illness. According to research, hope is an essential element in recovery and services have a clear outcome to assist each individual to live, work, learn and participate more fully in the community.

Community Support Services help consumers connect with their own future of living; learning and working by providing opportunities for consumers to acquire, apply, and utilize skills and resources critical to their vision of and plan for recovery. Bridgeway staff will emphasize and encourage consumers to self-direct their recovery process by engaging in services that may compliment the use of medication, therapy or other mental health services in an environment that highlights individual strengths, peer support, leadership, acceptance, respect, dignity of risk, and personal responsibility.

Through Community Support Services the clinician has evolved from doing a skill or activity "for" and "with" the consumer to one of assisting the individual to "do for herself or himself". During Community Support, the consumer actively participates in decision-making and identifies personal strengths and ways to use those strengths to overcome barriers to recovery. The service consists of therapeutic interventions that facilitate illness self-management, skill building, identification and use of natural supports, and use of community resources giving the consumer the chance to experience dignity of risk, be resilient, and recover from the disability in her or his own environment. The clinician is involved in shared decision making with the consumer in regard to: symptom self-management and reduction, environmental modification for stability and growth, resource acquisition, recovery planning, and development of resilience.