Agency Details:

"Making Friends and Changing Lives" is the vision of Compeer. Compeer recruits, screens, trains, and pairs volunteers to be friends with adolescents and adults experiencing mental illness.

Description:
Volunteers serve as positive role models, as they raise self-esteem, increase social and communication skills, and encourage independence for their Compeer friend. The Compeer program, a complement to therapy, reflects the belief that a volunteer's friendship, advocacy and support help to offset the loneliness and fear experienced by those with mental illness and alleviates the stigma often attached to it. The book and movie "The Soloist" is a good example of that.

History:
Compeer Inc. was started in Rochester, NY over 35 years ago and now has over 100 affiliates, one of which is SouthCoast Compeer at UMass Dartmouth.

Contact people:

Sister Joseph Marie Levesque, Program Coordinator, (phone), (email) Christine Frizzell, Executive Director, (phone), (email) Sharon Sousa, Board President, (phone), (email)

Address:

SouthCoast Compeer 285 Old Westport Road Dartmouth, MA 02747 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.umassd.edu/compeer

Directions:

Volunteers are needed for the Greater New Bedford and Fall River areas. Training takes place at SouthCoast Compeer's office in Modular Bldg. 4, Room 1, adjacent to parking Lot 17 on the main campus of the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth, MA. The university can be reached by following the signs off Route 6 in Dartmouth, MA.   Nearest Bus Stop: on campus, 3 minute walk

Last updated on November 24, 2009