Mission:
What We Do & Who We Serve

Community-Supported Self Management (CSSM)

Research and experience has proven that outcomes for those with chronic medical conditions—including diabetes, arthritis and heart disease—are dramatically improved by engaging clients as "expert partners" in their own care. This means providing the training, tools, and support with which to self-manage. Today a handful of pioneering mental health organizations are applying the same lessons to chronic mental illness, creating an innovative model which Conard House describes as Community-Supported Self-Management.

Conard House

For nearly 50 years, Conard House has been leading the way in the development and delivery of community-based resources to help people self-manage mental illness. By providing individualized treatment planning and reliable access to a variety of self management resources, Conard House empowers clients to navigate public systems of care, giving them both hope and the ability to take responsibility for a life defined more by aspirations than by illness.

Today, Conard House provides an array of diverse services in a dozen San Francisco locations. Each service is designed to help people reduce their symptoms, find healthy pathways to recovery and promote long-term independent living.

Conard House Programs

Residential Treatment
A licensed 16-bed, 24-hour residential treatment program for adults leaving hospital or institutional care who need counseling and intensive life skills development in preparation for community living and returning to work.
Supportive Housing
Eight residential properties with extended counseling, community involvement and service coordination. Adult residents live in one of these well-maintained residential hotels in the Tenderloin and South of Market. In addition, groups of four to six adults share leased apartments throughout the City.
Supportive Employment (full time, part time)
Vocational assessment and counseling, job placement and job retention services to Supportive Housing residents. Conard House employs its residents as desk clerks, janitorial staff and messengers.
Money Management and Advocacy
Four Community Services Centers in the Tenderloin and South of Market offer money management and client advocacy, for Conard residents as well as non-residents. Case Managers disburse client funds as budgeted for rent, food, clothing and personal needs.

In My Own Words

"I smile everyday because I can deal with my feelings now. I can deal when everyday things come to me. If somebody says something wrong to me I don't say, 'I'll go out there and get me a hit.' I can just sit with it, you know, and that makes me happy. I don't have to numb myself, and that's the best feeling."

Client, 2008