Trauma is both a cause and an effect of homelessness. We nurture communities that are welcoming, safe, and stable. Residents heal in shared culture of caring.

We sometimes describe our housing model as “an eddy behind a rock.” The image is of fish finding refuge from the torrents of the stream, gathering strength, and nourished by food swirling into the calmer space. 

When a family steps into their beautiful new unit for the first time, the most common reaction is astonishment and tears of joy. In their experience of homelessness they may have had shelter, but now they are enveloped by beauty and welcome. They are safe, and they are home. They have space to make theirs. They are not alone in their struggle.

With those essentials in place, our residents find that external and internal challenges don’t simply melt away. Some issues actually intensify after basic survival needs are met. Deeper realities now clamor for attention (as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs paradigm suggests). Family conflict may erupt, children may act out, health issues emerge, and shame responses manifest themselves. These are normal, rather than abnormal, responses to trauma. 

In any housing facility there are rules, expectations, responsibilities, and consequences—our program is no exception. But rules are never the heart of our approach, or a primary strategy for engaging vulnerable people. Our staff and volunteers, along with our residents, work hard to cultivate a community culture of caring and mutual support. Understandably, families often arrive cautious and mistrustful. In most cases, over the course of the program, they develop friendships for life. There is a sense of rising to challenges together. There never have been more dramatic examples of this at MHM than during the pandemic.

People who have been wounded relationally are healed relationally. Our staff family advocates are not simply case managers, though they are highly skilled at connecting residents to resources. They are kindred-spirit companions who listen deeply. They co-imagine and co-plan with each program participant. They grieve disappointments and celebrate successes. 

We offer professional mental health services on site in the form of psychotherapy for both adults and children (play therapy). We also offer workshops and classes that promote physical, emotional, and relational well-being. 

Our housing programs include a rich array of services in support of people working toward their own aspirations. Residents often come to us feeling weighed down by a sense of their disadvantages, deficits, and limitations. Homelessness ravages self-esteem. We help our program participants see doorways of opportunity. As they begin to recognize their giftedness and worth, we (and fellow residents) cheer their courage in stepping ahead.

We offer in-depth employment and education services. Job coaches support residents through each step on the road to a sustainable wage. Those who need training receive compassionate and expert guidance.

Employment support includes career assessments and help with job search, referrals, resume, and applications. Once they’ve landed a job, they have access to on-one-one coaching and mentoring through our program.

Adult education support includes academic assessments and identifying pathways that fit—GED, ABE, ESL, vocational training, and higher education. Mentoring and tutoring keep students in the game. 

Youth support includes tutoring, school liaison, tutoring, enrichment activities, and mentoring. Summer day camps are fun, educational, and creative. Water balloons abound. 

Growth is NOT linear. Residents stumble personally, relapsing where they’ve made progress. They get in conflicts with neighbors. They make decisions that are unsafe for themselves and their children. They become angry with our team. Blunt conversations are sometimes needed. We walk alongside. 

Our residents often reflect on “who I was when I arrived” and “who I am becoming now.” We watch them grow in confidence, pride, and self-sufficiency. They become leaders in our community, in our city, and in more than a few cases, our organizational team.

Our faith-language term for this is the ancient Hebrew word Shalom—personal wholeness and social flourishing. Residents become neighbors. Each one has a place of belonging and interdependence. They are stretched and grow in leadership roles. They are community contributors. Our city experiences the benefits.

We are energized by the ways of Jesus, who invites us all into the ways of peace—and gave us an example in his own life. As Jesus showed us, we join with people from of all walks of life—beginning with those on the margins of society— for this beautiful work of transformation. We delight in “unlikely partners,” and blurring distinctions of who serves and who is served in our programs. As Jesus also showed us, we don’t proselytize for any religious group, but we intentionally create spaces for people to connect their own spirit with God’s loving presence—in ways they wish to engage.

Justice and equity are peacemaking essentials. Denver’s current homelessness crisis is in large measure a product of injustice—including racial injustice—woven into local and national housing policy for many decades. Each of our BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) residents has experiences of painful discrimination on a personal level—often in the course of navigating their housing. 

For this reason, we support initiatives for structural reform. Practically as an organization, our own best gift is demonstrating tangibly that “we can do better” as a city and society. Peacemaking, along with its sister activity placemaking, must be done on a neighborhood level. Even more locally, we are building small “pockets of peace”—localized versions of the justice and peace we imagine for our city and world. 

Joshua Station and Clara Brown Commons are energized by the vision of shalom and the dynamic virtues that bring it to life: faith, hope, and love.