Social Services

The most fundamental commitment that is made to each member of the WSFSSH community is living with dignity, and as fully and as freely as possible. Our staff is committed to the growth and possibility inherent in each person, as an individual and as a member of the community.

WSFSSH recognizes the importance of providing comprehensive social work services in each of our residences. Our residents do well living in a supportive community with meaningful social connections. Community creates the conditions for health, growth, acceptance, and happiness.

The social work services provided are geared to meeting individual needs and strengthening the community as a whole. The services that WSFSSH provides include:

  • Social work services tailored to maximize individual independence, including psychosocial assessment, individual treatment planning, and social work in individual and group settings
  • Crisis intervention
  • Assistance arranging and maintaining medical, dental, and specialist care
  • Assistance in obtaining home care services, as needed.
  • Money management assistance and assistance with budgeting, as needed
  • Assistance with obtaining and maintaining benefits and entitlements, as needed
  • Support and counseling around issues related to health, relationships, and other life challenges.
  • Social, educational and recreational activities

Individualized services are important because each resident brings a rich and complex history, with talents, accomplishments, and dreams as well as serious daily challenges. The range of these gifts and challenges is vast. Many residents live with serious and persistent mental illness, and even with treatment, many regularly experience delusions, paranoid thoughts, and auditory hallucinations. Some of our residents struggle with alcoholism and substance abuse. Many of our residents have suffered serious trauma from their life experiences. A significant number of our residents have spent years living on the streets, in and out of hospitals and shelters. Many residents live with more than one serious medical condition. Most residents live with the challenges of living with low or very low incomes in a very high cost city. The courage, grace, and tenacity with which residents face these challenges is remarkable. Social work services at WSFSSH are designed not only to assist residents with this range of challenges, but also to affirm the gifts and strengths that each person brings to the community.

WSFSSH is committed to the importance of both collaboration and clinical supervision in social services. Each social service staff member, whether working as an individual worker in a building or as part of a larger social service staff in a program, participates in collaborative work and has an opportunity for regular clinical supervision.

WSFSSH buildings and programs are operated using a team approach; social service staff, management, and direct care staff work closely together, focused on the needs of the individual and the needs of the community. Residents are integral and active participants in decision making about life in the building, including areas such as house rules, food service, activities, and holiday celebrations.