People House

Impact Statement

Top accomplishments of last year
1. Hosted the first “People House Presents” event in collaboration with the Relational Empowerment
Therapists of Colorado. The daylong personal and spiritual workshop featured Terry Real founder of
The concept of “Full Respect Living” concept. Three hundred persons attended.
2. Developed the Veterans Reintegration Program to provide assistance to military personnel suffering
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and families. Collaborated with ONE Freedom to provide specialized training for People House practitioners and interns regarding special mental health needs of returning veterans
3. Began professional development training for counselors in Eye Movement Desensitization
Redirection (EMDR) and trauma response.

Goals for the current year
1. Increase the Board of directors from 11 to 15 members and diversify the membership in order to be
more responsive to community needs.
2. Formally adopt an anti-discrimination policy.
3. Continue to promote and the Veteran’s Reintegration Program. Collaborate with other veteran
organizations to develop a web-based directory of veteran’s services.
4. Working in conjunction with Rebuilding Together-Metro Denver to explore options in which to make
our 120+-year-old building handicapped accessible while conforming to codes for historically
designated buildings.
5. Hire an experienced LPC to supervise interns for our Affordable Children’s counseling program,
enabling us to expand the number of children we serve.

Needs Statement

Funding to hire an experienced LPC.
Supplemental funding for the sliding fee scale of the Veterans Reintegration Program for clients who require EMDR to address severe post traumatic stress disorder.
Funding to remodel the first floor of our building to make it handicapped-accessible.
Obtain resources for the preservation and exterior painting of our Victorian building and upgrading the electrical wiring.
Funding to retire the second mortgage.

Background Statement

People House was originally incorporated in 1974 as a nonprofit, non-religious spiritual organization dedicated to fostering conscious awareness of body, mind and spirit in individuals, families and groups through fellowship, education, facilitation and leadership training. Founded on the principles of the Human Potential Movement it has evolved as a community of counselors and facilitators who believed in the ability of every human being to experience meaningful personal growth. In 1990, it merged with All One Community Church and incorporated a more holistic approach to addressing the wellness needs of our community.
People House has a successful 34-year history of responding to the community’s need for personal and spiritual growth and emotional healing. We serve people who are in crisis, life transition and/or who are motivated to develop themselves physically, psychologically, and spiritually.
People House currently plays host to a wide variety of workshops and classes, which are open to the Denver community. Free “Heart of Service” programs cover a variety of topics such as general and specific support groups, mediation, and “spiritual cinema”.
The Affordable Counseling programs, which began nearly a decade ago, now serve adults, children, couples, families and veterans with specialized counseling and therapies. The Affordable counseling for Adults has provided more than 13,000 direct client hours in 9 years of service the and Affordable Counseling for Children program has provided over 1500 additional hours since its inception in 200. Additionally, since 1999 People House has provided high quality counseling experience through its Affordable Counseling Program for 17 Master’s level psychology interns working towards graduation and licensure.

Executive Director Statement

For over 33 years, People House has operated with an unwavering commitment to the belief that the integration of mind, body, and spirit is fundamental to becoming healthy and fulfilled. Nearly 50 volunteer facilitators, interns and non-sectarian ministers work in collaboration with 25 private practitioners who office at our facility to provide individualized healing, education, and growth opportunities through a comprehensive array of therapeutic modalities.

The Affordable Counseling Program provides counseling to individuals, children and their families who might otherwise be unable to experience the transformative power and support of professional counseling. Our sliding scale is based on income and life circumstance. The adult program has provided over 13,000 direct client hours, the children’s program has provided over 1,500 hours of child and family counseling, and 23 Master’s level interns have acquired practical hours for licensure under the guidance of experienced professional counselors.

The Veteran Reintegration Program provides specialized counseling and trauma treatment for veterans and their families. Considering that substance abuse, domestic violence, and severe depression often go hand in hand with reintegration adjustment and PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), the risk to individuals, families, and communities is very high. In an effort to help veterans address needs beyond their mental health issues, our social work interns are compiling an-line resource guide for veterans.

The Affordable Wellness Program provides herbal and nutrition coaching for individuals who are uninsured, under insured, or simply wish to pursue a nature based approach to wellness.

Our free “Heart of Service” programs cover a wide variety of topics such as general and specific supports groups, mediation, Sacred Circle, and Spiritual Cinema.

Board expanded will include persons who can advise us regarding culturally relevant programs and fiscal issues.

Board Chair/President Statement

People House is a center for personal and spiritual growth. We are an educational organization that does service and believes that in helping people who come to us, we are helping the world. One of our main services is an affordable counseling program for adults and children of all ages and for returning Iraq veterans and their families. We offer free classes, movies, discussion and support groups and lectures on meditation and ecological topics. In addition, we rent space to therapists with a similar philosophy as ours. Importantly we are a community of all these people trying to have a beneficial effect on the larger community around us. We have many challenges, but our main one is financial. To meet this challenge we remodeled our house to increase our office space and rental income. We have hired an Executive Director to oversee our money management and expand our fundraising efforts. We sponsor a "People House Presents" event, which brings in nationally recognized speakers to present timely topics to the community at large. All of our board members contribute financially. We have set up and increased our membership base. We are also challenged to increase the community awareness of our affordable counseling programs for adults, children and Iraq veterans. We have and will continue to increase our liaisons with social service organizations, physician, psychologist and Spanish speaking referral services and will continue to reach out to people who need help and can't afford the mainstream costs. We supervise and educate (pro bono) interns who do low cost therapy, give them office space and the hours and experience needed for licensure. We are partnering with other nonprofits with similar intent. We are also challenged to continue and to increase the personal and spiritual growth of our community members and to increase their numbers if that seems appropriate. To do that we are constantly improving our "heart of service" programs which are free or donation based and given by volunteers in our community. We continue to offer programs such as meditation, spiritual cinema, lectures, drop-in support groups and a Sunday morning discussion group we call "Sacred Circle". Our interns can facilitate groups they are interested in and our practitioners offers groups on a sometimes on a fee for service basis. The Victorian building we have been in for 25 years requires constant upkeep and repair. Our facilities committee works hard to keep us warm and safe.