About the Oak Centre
Oak Centre is a community mental health program serving people in the Niagara Region who have mental health problems. We support people to go back to work and school, provide assistance with legal/family/transportation/housing issues, and help navigate through mental health services such as ODSP, OW and CPP. We also organize and attend various social and educational events.
The Oak Centre Clubhouse is an intentional community designed to foster a restorative environment where people can grow, build self-confidence, and experience themselves as citizens in creating a world for themselves and others.
Oak Centre is part of an international clubhouse community whose beliefs include:
- learning comes by doing
- that people have the desire to be productive
- that people working together can be powerful and deeply satisfying
The people who come to the clubhouse are a diverse group with similar experiences that come from receiving ongoing traditional psychiatric services. They share life experiences that include:
- discrimination
- long-term poverty
- reduction of general quality of life
- difficulties in living
- high rates of unemployment
The healing process begins with the person finding a voice, naming his/her own story and rediscovering personal and collective power. To achieve this, the clubhouse is structured into two units: The Garden/Cafe Unit and The Clerical Unit.