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Cut
off from the outside community with little chance of returning
home, the people living at the Residential Community Care
Alternative (RCCA), a 135-bed group home, located on the grounds
of Rockland Psychiatric Center, can come daily to Strawberry
Fields.
Strawberry Fields was
started in the winter of 2000 as an enclave of peer support in a
previously neglected arena. Named by the residents in loving
tribute to the principles of peace and compassion as espoused by
John Lennon, it is a place of healing and comfort where
friendship flourishes with mutual respect and understanding.
As a Peer Support
Center, Strawberry Fields provides conversation and the wisdom
of experience offered from like minded individuals who have
experienced the personal isolation common within the mental
health system. Residents of the RCCA are met with a palpable
sense of joy and can often be seen having fun dancing with each
other or singing to Billy Joel on the Jukebox, a response to a
newly restored sense of personal worth.
Staff is upbeat and personable while giving
credence to the authentic experience within individual life
context. There are no patients here, only friends.
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