The Joseph House Workshop is a residential program that promotes the transformation of formerly homeless men into responsible and employed citizens.

The Workshop provides shelter facilities and personal support services to help them overcome the problems associated with homelessness.

Participants in the program learn life skills to prepare them for employment and for being productive citizens. They gain self-confidence and belief in a God who loves them. Graduates of the Workshop have new hope for the future.

Facilities
The Workshop is next door to the Joseph House Crisis Center on Boundary Street in Salisbury. It is a one-storey complex that was constructed out of an unused warehouse. The Workshop has a dormitory that sleeps ten, a kitchen, dining room, bathrooms, laundry room, fitness room, small barbershop, two classrooms, computer room, A/V training room and lounge, two staff bedrooms, volunteer room, and an office for the manager.

Target Population
The Workshop is for men who are homeless and either not working or not working enough to sustain themselves (especially if these are chronic situations).

Men in this category often have other characteristics: addictions to alcohol and/or drugs; little or no ties with family members; a history of making bad choices; self-destructive behavior; a lifetime of negative self-image.

The program is only for those men who are committed to making positive changes in their lives. It invites men to engage in a process that: (1) moves them from homelessness to stable living; (2) trains them to find and maintain employment; (3) empowers them to live productive lives and to reach their full potential.

The Program involves three phases. Students move from one phase to the next when they are ready. The length of time each student spends in the program will vary. They may take as little as a few months or up to two years to finish.

The topics and services covered in each phase are listed below:

Phase 1

• Values such as honesty, responsibility, self-discipline, spirituality, respect for others
• Skills such as teamwork, job-interviewing, communication, money management, and stress management
• Adult basic education
• Coordinated job search and placement in a job
• Addiction recovery support services
• Referrals to appropriate community services
• Guidance in healthy relationships including parenting
• Household management and maintenance

Phase 2

• Help in sustaining employment
• Case management services
• Budgeting and consumer education (required percentage of wages put into savings)
• Establishing personal support services

Phase 3

• Housing in the community with support services at the Workshop
• Employment retention services
• Rebuilding and strengthening family relationships
• Reconnecting with the community
• Citizenship skills

A picture of St. Joseph the Worker hangs outside the entrance to the Workshop.

The kitchen is always the heart of the home.
 

The Workshop provides space for recreation and community living.

The dormitory has room for up to ten men.

 
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