Our Mission
The Consortium creates conditions in which people who have faced marginalization, oppression, or otherwise felt invisible are better able to pursue their dreams and strengthen communities through voice, choice, and inclusion. This is supported by an organizational commitment to address systems of oppression and work toward undoing the harms they have caused.
Programs & Communities
Home & Community Connections provides innovative and individualized support that eliminates barriers and empowers individuals to live the lives they choose. Individuals are treated respectfully, and all supports are person centered.
Individuals are supported utilizing trauma sensitive practices following Positive Behavioral Supports universal practices. The division is committed to continuous enhancement through innovative flexible supports and progressive practices.
Wildflower Alliance (formerly known as Western Mass Recovery Learning Community/RLC) creates conditions that support healing and growth for individuals and the community as a whole through learning opportunities, advocacy, peer-to-peer support and the development of regional and national networks.
Offerings include four resource centers, a number of support groups (Hearing Voices, Alternatives to Suicide, etc.), access to alternative healing practices (yoga, acupuncture, etc.), and a variety of trainings, workshops, and consultation for providers, people in peer roles, individuals seeking support and the broader community
Afiya (a part of the Wildflower Alliance) is the first peer respite in Massachusetts (and one of only about 18 in the country). Based in Northampton, Afiya offers a homelike environment where people can stay for up to seven days as an alternative to hospitalization.
Centered around peer-to-peer support, the focus is on providing a safe space in which each person can find the balance and support needed to turn what is so often referred to as a ‘crisis’ into a learning and growth opportunity.
The Support Network supports parents or caregivers who have children, adolescents, and transition age youth effectively navigate through the various systems of care and become strong and successful advocates for their children.
The Network’s goal is to support the unique strengths, insights and skills of families so they may best achieve their individual goals. We do this by offering individual or group support, information on special education and other resources, opportunity to attend trainings and conferences or to participate in child serving agency advisory forums, and also access to an extensive lending library.
The Salasin Project seeks to create a safe community where every member can achieve a full and satisfying life free of violence and its consequences.
We offer solace to those living in fear through trauma-informed supports. We understand all persons and families seeking assistance to be the experts in their lives and in their healing.
The RECOVER Project is a safe, welcoming community that supports recovery from drug and alcohol addiction by sharing the wisdom of our lived experience and strengthens our community through full participation.
We create resource connections and advocate to overcome barriers while promoting the reality that recovery is possible for all. RP members both give and receive support through a variety of educational, volunteer, and social activities that help people overcome emotional and social isolation, develop skills and strengths, build leadership capacity, and prevent relapse.
West Region Self Advocacy is a network for local self advocacy groups in Western Massachusetts to work together.
Members of the Western Massachusetts community created a regional network of self advocacy groups which participate in the statewide self advocacy board (Massachusetts Advocates Standing Strong). Self advocacy groups provide a forum for self advocates and allies to collectively achieve goals and work towards independence. Self advocacy teaches group members how to find their voice and use it responsibly.
The People’s Medicine Project is a small grassroots health justice organization. We offer programs and resources that increase access to complimentary and alternative healthcare and plant medicine. We work in communities across the Nipmuc, Pocumtuc, and Abenaki lands known as Western Massachusetts.
We partner with individuals, communities, and organizations that support our goals of health justice, racial justice, and ecological justice work.
We provide opportunities for healing practitioners and community volunteers to offer work, their time, and skills to folks in need.
The Northampton Recovery Center is a safe, peer-driven community that provides a positive welcoming environment for people on all pathways and in all stages of recovery from addiction, as well as for their families and allies.
Together we share support, resources and hope. Peers lead and design opportunities for social, educational and wellness activities that support recovery. NRC honors the value of life experiences and provides a creative place for people to heal and grow in mind, body and spirit.
The Recovery Center of HOPE (formerly the Ware Regional Recovery Center) is a new organization run by and for people in recovery (from alcohol, drugs, and any other addiction), their families, loved ones, and those who are supporters (allies) of recovery.
Community Members at RCH reach our goals through a strengths-based approach and a community-based approach. We build on the positive skills of individuals and organizational supporters to grow, and we actively seek out ways to add value to our communities.
Trauma Informed Hampshire County is a network addressing the impact of trauma and promoting the healing of individual, group, systemic and historical trauma.
Through community education, advocacy and collaboration, we aim to provide resources and support to help make our county more trauma responsive and increase a sense of wellbeing and belonging for all its residents.
Get Involved
Collective lived experience is what we, at the Consortium, carry as our strength. When we are down, we lift each other up, and embrace our authentic selves, whatever that looks like. We collectively work on creating conditions for us all to thrive: finding our voices, exercising choice in our pathway of healing, and connecting with others. Our commitment to address systems of oppression and work toward undoing the harms they have caused has helped many of us, as a community, to create conditions for change. This empowerment encourages us to realize our dreams and feel a sense of belonging.
We invite you to tap into the values you hold dear and channel them into supporting our communities.
You too can make a difference!
Please consider donating $10, $25, $50 or $100 to help support our mission and sustain our services.
Community Events
In the News
Breaking through bars: New play pulls from the writings of formerly incarcerated women
By LUIS FIELDMAN Staff Writer Published: 11/1/2019 10:01:42 PM Through prose and poetry, women of the group Voices From Inside find a way to express...
Those left behind: In the aftermath of an opioid death, families find ways to cope
By LAURIE LOISEL For the Gazette On a balmy Wednesday evening in late July, 11 people circled up on comfy couches and chairs at the Northampton...
Rally protests Baystate’s plan to close 3 mental health units
Tim Ranney-Blake, of Deerfield, said from his experience with depression and substance abuse, he knows how difficult it would be for patients...