Eliot Community Human Services

What It Means to Belong The Clubhouse Model and the Power of Community Many mental health programs are built around symptoms. The Clubhouse model is built around people. That distinction matters more than it might seem. At Eliot’s Renaissance Club — and at more than 300 Clubhouses operating in over 30 countries — members with a diagnosed mental illness don’t come to receive services. They come to work, to contribute, and to belong. “I would describe the Clubhouse as a workplace,” says John Kirton, Director of the Renaissance Club. “Members voluntarily participate in all aspects of running the Clubhouse. It gives members ownership and builds a sense of community.” That ownership is structural, not symbolic. Members and staff run the Clubhouse side by side as equals. Changes go before the full membership for a consensus vote. Members weigh-in on everything from hiring decisions to what’s on the lunch menu. The goal isn’t programming, it’s partnership. Read full article below. ...Show more

What It Means to Belong - Eliot Community Human Services

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When the Caregivers Need Care Inside Eliot’s Critical Incident Response Team Eliot’s staff show up every day for some of the most vulnerable people in our communities, sitting with grief, witnessing trauma, holding space for people in crisis. They do it with skill, compassion, and selflessness. At the same time, behavioral health work can carry a weight that doesn’t always lift at the end of the day. Secondary trauma and vicarious stress are occupational realities, not personal failures. Addressing this requires real infrastructure, which is why Eliot built its Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT). CIRT is a fundamental component of Eliot’s intentional, in-house staff wellness infrastructure: a trained team of clinicians and leaders who provide structured, evidence-based support following serious incidents, alongside ongoing proactive wellness programming across the organization. As Mental Health Awareness Month invites us to focus on the mental health of our communities, it’s worth turning that lens inward toward the people doing the work. Read full article below....Show more

When the Caregivers Need Care - Eliot Community Human Services

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Eliot at NatCon 2026 (Part 2 of 2) – Unpacking Evidence-Based Practices! Rethinking the Playbook: How Eliot Is Making Evidence-Based Care Work for Everyone Eliot was honored to share the stage at NatCon 2026 — the nation’s leading mental and behavioral health conference — for the first time. Alongside fellow researchers, practitioners and systems leaders from across the country, two of our teams presented original clinical work. As we mark Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re sharing what they brought to that stage: a culturally grounded model of care, and a vision for the field to rethink how evidence-based treatment actually gets delivered. There’s a problem hiding in plain sight in behavioral health: the very system designed to get people the best possible care has, in many ways, made that care harder to access. At NatCon 2026, Eliot’s clinical leadership named it directly — calling it the “EBP Industrial Complex.” It’s a pointed phrase, but the argument behind it is grounded in data and years of on-the-ground experience. Read full article below. ...Show more

Eliot at NatCon 2026 (Part 2 of 2) - Unpacking Evidence-Based Practices! - Eliot Community Human Services

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Eliot at NatCon 2026 (Part 1 of 2) – Equipo Renacer! Eliot was honored to share the stage at NatCon 2026 — the nation’s leading mental and behavioral health conference — for the first time. Alongside fellow researchers, practitioners and systems leaders from across the country, two of our teams presented original clinical work. As we mark Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re sharing what they brought to that stage: a culturally grounded model of care, and a vision for the field to rethink how evidence-based treatment actually gets delivered. In Lynn, Massachusetts, more than 44% of residents identify as Hispanic or Latino. For years, that community and the behavioral health system meant to serve it were speaking different languages — not just linguistically, but culturally. Eliot’s Equipo Renacer team set out to close that gap. Not with a translation service. With a fully Spanish-speaking, multidisciplinary care team built from the ground up around the concept of familismo — the deeply held cultural value of loyalty, collective identity, and mutual care. This May, as the field marks Mental Health Awareness Month, it’s worth sitting with what that actually means in practice. View full article below. ...Show more

Eliot at NatCon 2026 (Part 1 of 2) - Equipo Renacer! - Eliot Community Human Services

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