Homeless for two years and addicted to drugs and alcohol, Scott Christy couldn't stop the descending spiral of depression that left him with little relief except that found while intoxicated.
Then, more than two years ago, social workers directed him to Appleton House, a transitional residential facility in Simi Valley for people who are homeless and mentally ill.
"It's given me a completely new lease on life from being homeless, when I couldn't see a way to get off the streets," he said.
Last month, Appleton House, owned by the Turning Point Foundation of Ventura, finished its own transformation.
The former four-bedroom home now has three more bedrooms, enough to take in two more residents, said Turning Point's Executive Director Clyde Reynolds.
Turning Point, a nonprofit organization, has worked with the county's homeless and mentally ill since 1988. Appleton is one of three transitional homes it operates. It also runs permanent residential facilities and a homeless shelter.
Reynolds said the transitional program takes in residents for about two years. The residents must be clean and sober for three to six months before they can move in. Once there, they continue attending support groups and seeing their doctors while they rebuild their lives.
Turning Point's programs cover clients from the moment they come off the streets until they can be as independent as their conditions allow. At least 75 percent of the clients successfully make it to permanent placement, Reynolds said.
"That's the unique thing about us. It's a continuum of housing. We try to, if the person has a relapse, keep their housing so they can come back to them," he said.
Christy has anxiety and social disorders requiring daily medication. Like many of his housemates, he is considered permanently disabled and unable to work.
"It's having a caseworker to walk you through the red tape, having somebody to help make sure you're getting to your doctor appointments and taking your psych meds," he said.
Blake Latimer, one of Turning Point's counselors, said Appleton House's renovation will greatly help existing residents, some of whom were sharing rooms.
Christy said the improvements to Appleton House have made it nicer, but he was happy to live there before.
This is cache, read story here
