Fairweather Lodge

Jump-Start is the blood that pumps and motivates the heart. The experiences taught here are those of the soul. Every hour we spend strengthens the possibilities of our own life, to create an imagination and change it so it may live and breathe as we do. Jump-Start is the ER team, which resurrects our hearts and shows our minds.
- Gabriel, participant, Fairweather Lodge Program

Fairweather Lodge is a collaboration between Jump-Start and the Urban Ministries’ Fairweather Lodge program that utilizes the arts to assist adults with chronic mental illness. Participants are Lodge residents who are in a long-term program that includes housing, job training, work opportunities, life-skill training, illness monitoring and other assistance. Through arts techniques, participants can discover and explore their own self-worth, hone their higher-level thinking skills, explore group process, and learn to problem-solve.

Jump-Start artists and Fairweather staff co-teach life-skill training and arts curriculum. These sessions deal with themes such as weight management, dietary needs, medication, coping skills, exercise, and financial services. The arts are incorporated into the curriculum to reinforce the trainings. Projects include sculptural “Dreamboxes,” a community quilt, a radio-show written and recorded by program participants, individual “zines,” textile projects, and self-portrait puppets.

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