"Gainesville Opportunity Center Inc. is dedicated to comprehensive support of the severe mental illness recovery process by promoting community reintegration-through-employment partnerships and social inclusion opportunities, utilizing the International Clubhouse Standards of helping people with a mental illness to better their lives with dignity and to honor their choices."
Vision
Our Vision is a world that is stigma-free, universally accepting of people experiencing mental illnesses, and enabling each person to live a dignified and meaningful life to his/her individual potential as part of the community engaged in important work that encourages financial independence.
Intern opportunities at GOC for University of Florida students.Read more. . .
Who We Are
We are a community partnership where people whose lives have been drastically interrupted by a major mental illness come voluntarily to rebuild their lives.
At heart of this successful university research evidence-based international model is helping people with mental illnesses stay out of hospitals so that they can achieve their dreams and social, financial, educational, and vocational goals
Donations and Gifts are what run Gainesville Opportunity Center. All donations are tax deductable. Click here
Employer Business Partners
Area employers benefit from Gainesville Opportunity Center member employees. Read more . . .
Enriched Lives
People with mental illnesses can enrich our lives!
Here are just a few famous people with a mental illness.
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The "Community-Engagement-Work-Partnership" Model
The workforce includes many individuals who are eager to work, but who have mental illness disabilities that are stigmatized and therefore contribute to isolation.Medical school researchdemonstrates that recovery/rehabilitation from the major mental illnesses is grounded on self-empowerment derived from meaningful work. The program we utilize is a widely recognized and well-testedevidence-based modelthat has been internationally proven to be highly effective in reintegration/rehabilitation for persons living with serious mental illnesses.
This model demonstrates that people with a serious mental illness can successfully live productive lives and work competitively in the community, regardless of the nature or severity of their illness. Gainesville Opportunity Center, Inc is founded on the International Center for Clubhouse Development (ICCD) model. Programs under this model are certified by rigorous standards set by theInternational Center for Clubhouse Development (ICCD).
Recovery from a serious mental illness must involve the whole person in a vital and culturally sensitive community. The participants contribute to the community as they grow. The Gainesville Opportunity Center community offers respect, hope, mutuality and unlimited opportunity to access the same worlds of friendship, housing, education and employment as the rest of society.
In the model, participants are called 'members', not patients, and the focus is on their strengths not their illness. Work in the program-whether it is clerical, data input, meal preparation or reaching out to their fellow members-provides the core healing process. Every opportunity provided is the result of the efforts of the members and small professional staff, who work side by side in a unique partnership. Membership and participation are voluntary.
One of the most important steps members take toward greater independence is outside employment, where they work in the community at real jobs. Members also receive help in securing housing, advancing their education, obtaining good psychiatric and medical care, and maintaining government benefits. Membership is for life, so members have all the time they need to secure their new life in the community.
The employment of people with mental illnesses helps employers fill job openings and contributes to society through the return of paid taxes and Social Security, as well as reduced use of government health and disability benefits.
Employers who have hired individuals with mental illnesses report that their attendance and punctuality exceed the norm, and that their motivation, work quality, and job tenure is as good as or better than that of other employees.
