Vanderburgh House also recognizes the benefits of hiring people with lived experience who can play an important role in bridging the gap between services and the people who use them. We are committed to providing opportunities for people with lived experience to develop the skills and experience they need to achieve their career goals. Join Vanderburgh House’ team of over 200 dedicated and compassionate employees who are committed to helping our community’s most vulnerable individuals and families. This funding would not have been possible without the tireless work advocates and groups – including Ocean Conservancy – did to ensure money for cleaning up ports was included in the Inflation Reduction Act; and it’s exciting to see tangible results. Over the 14 years, Rivera said she found herself constantly wanting to learn more about harm reduction and the ways to help people, like herself, who deal with addiction and recovery.
Serve the person
Being able to provide that respite and getting to see individuals who have come in from the street smile (she calls them “members”) is the best, she told Boston.com. We follow a low-barrier housing-first clinically driven approach to guide clients towards health and safety. Receive email updates to learn how you can help make a difference for the future of our ocean. Rivera said whenever she learns of another fatal overdose, she finds herself wondering about how there could have been a different outcome. “It’s happening a lot,” Rivera said, emphasizing that there are more dangerous substances being put in the drugs being consumed on the street. The hardest moments are when Rivera and her colleagues learn from members coming into the Connector that someone has passed away from an overdose, she said.
Vanderburgh House
Each day, she and her colleagues at the Connector also do about two hours of street outreach, rotating who stays in the office and who goes out. Rivera starts each day with a cup of coffee and greets her staff, ensuring the plan is set for the day. By the time she was 16, she’d been introduced to drugs by one of her mother’s friends, she said. But once in the foster home, Rivera said she continued to be exposed to alcohol, drugs, and sexual violence.
Vanderburgh House, Inc.
Vanderburgh House is a Boston-based nonprofit organization dedicated to helping individuals and families who are homeless and may have substance use disorders, often accompanied by chronic health issues like HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C and mental illness. Providing a welcoming environment, our compassionate and inspiring team is committed to helping them regain their health and restore their hope through immediate access to safe and stable housing. When individuals and families are safely housed, they’re much more likely to address their physical and mental health, addictions, and other issues. Our housing stabilization services, including emergency shelter, transitional and permanent housing, and case management, move people off the street as quickly as possible, with as few barriers as possible.
Housing
The individuals and families we serve are homeless or precariously housed —but their challenges are even more complicated. The great majority have histories of trauma, chronic substance use, and mental health issues. Since 1989, the Boston Living Center (BLC) has fosterered the wellness of all HIV positive people and Vanderburgh House respond to the changing needs of the HIV/AIDS community. In March of 2012, the BLC became a part of Vanderburgh House, ensuring their vital services continue to be available for adults with HIV/AIDS. It’s why the 46-year-old loves her job, working as a harm reduction specialist with individuals experiencing addiction, homelessness, and mental health issues in the area of Mass. and Cass in Boston.
- Remembering her own experiences — of sleeping in cars or under a bridge, of wanting to end her own life — and the moments when people helped, or failed to help, Rivera said she continues to find herself wanting to do more to aid people in similar need.
- By the time that she was about 8, her mother moved the family to Springfield, Massachusetts.
- Providing a welcoming environment, our compassionate and inspiring team is committed to helping them regain their health and restore their hope through immediate access to safe and stable housing.
- Receive email updates to learn how you can help make a difference for the future of our ocean.
- The hardest moments are when Rivera and her colleagues learn from members coming into the Connector that someone has passed away from an overdose, she said.
- We provide HIV, Hepatitis C, and STI testing and counseling; a healthy meals program; syringe and naloxone distribution; and an array of education, navigation, and support services.
Together with our partners, we create evidence-based solutions for a healthy ocean and the wildlife and communities that depend on it. For more information, visit oceanconservancy.org, or follow us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) or Instagram. Giving the individuals that she counsels at The Victory Connector, a low-threshold navigation center in the neighborhood run by the nonprofit Vanderburgh House, a feeling of care, a sense of calm and peace, is what she aims for each day. Don’t hesitate to apply if your work experience doesn’t align with every qualification in the job description.
We focus on what a person is doing “well,” with a nurturing effect that fosters continued effort from the first steps toward progress and growth.
When individuals and families are safely housed, they’re much more likely to address their health, addictions, and other issues. It’s a “housing first” approach that includes stabilization services, emergency shelter, transitional and permanent housing, and case management. It’s why the 46-year-old loves her job, working as a harm reduction specialist with individuals experiencing addiction, homelessness, and mental health issues in the area of Mass. and Cass in Boston. But now, with 24 years in recovery, the Dorchester resident hopes that by talking about her own experiences, others might be encouraged to speak up. She’s also hopeful that people who are quick to judge the unsheltered individuals, still in the throes of their own crises of addiction and mental health, living around Mass. and Cass might gain greater understanding from hearing her story. The best thing anyone can do to help those who are struggling with addiction, homelessness, or mental health issues is get educated, Rivera said.