A Nontraditional Support Network
Shaun Sloat is a caseworker at The Retreat at Hampshire Woods, CHD’s respite program in South Hadley, which provides a nontraditional, innovative, and individualized support network for people who need to re-energize in a healing therapeutic space.
Respite programs, which offer an additional option for people needing support with mental health or substance use concerns, have proven to be an effective alternative to hospitalization across the US. However, The Retreat at Hampshire Woods also offers case management, which most traditional respites don’t offer, according to Sloat.
“Our goal from the start has been to give people a more home-like, less institutionalized space,” he said. “It’s a person-centered model—we meet individuals literally wherever they’re at, and they’re in the driver’s seat of their treatment. Our open door policy means that people can continue their lives and not have things completely disrupted simply because they need some help.”
Prior to coming to CHD, Sloat, was a recovery specialist at the Franklin Recovery Center in Greenfield. He earned associate’s degrees in psychology and music from Holyoke Community College, and as an undergraduate he was also a student member of the New England Center for Existential Therapy for a summer series of presentations, lectures, and trainings. At The Retreat at Hampshire Woods, “I feel lucky that I was in the right place at the right time to be a part of this from the beginning and see it develop,” he said.
He is enthusiastic about being involved in a program that provides peer-led support, wellness and mindfulness activities, individual and group therapy, and trauma-informed care. Groups include expressive arts, movement, creative writing, and yoga, as well as such clinical groups as trauma, emotional intelligence, transitions, and stress management.
“We’re still a young program, and still a work-in-progress, so in our person-centered model, we receive feedback from the people we serve, and we have made changes based on that feedback to make it a better experience,” said Sloat.
He said the type of individuals The Retreat at Hampshire Woods serves are varied. “We’ve had people who were just finishing up high school right up to people in their seventies, from vastly different socioeconomic statuses and different racial and identity groups,” said Sloat.
He added that this retreat is “unlike any program I have ever worked in. All of the people who work here have a lot of passion.”