ORANGE — Social service agency GAAMHA has expanded its adult day program model to Orange.
The program aims to pick up where schools leave off, helping people with intellectual and developmental disabilities find employment or community service work after they turn 22 and the schools no longer provide services.
The new location actually opened in November in a former tattoo parlor and barbershop in the Aubuchon Plaza at 119 New Athol Road. But GAAMHA — the name used to be an acronym for Gardner Athol Area Mental Health Association but has been legally abbreviated — celebrated a grand opening Tuesday.
Shawn Hayden, the agency’s chief operating officer, said the people served at the Orange location used to come to the Gardner location, which undermined the goal of connecting them to their home community.
The goal of the program, said Hayden and GAAMHA Chief Executive Officer Tracy Hutchinson, is to keep people connected.
“It’s like homeroom — they come in here, they check in, this is like the hub — but the goal is to get people back to their own communities, so instead of segregating people, warehousing people, we’re trying to get them to be an integral part of their community,” Hayden said.
Hutchinson said the old model was peer-only “sheltered workshops,” where people would turn out piecework of various kinds. The result was segregated groups whose members had limited opportunity to make friends outside. Now, she said, they can make friends in a broader range and do more meaningful work.
People referred to the program may work individually with local employers or in small groups with not-for-profit programs like Seeds of Solidarity, food pantries or Hazel Lackey’s Community Clothing Center.
Participants are referred by the Department of Developmental Services, which funds the program. The Orange location was kick-started with a $39,000 grant from the Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts.
Along with this program, GAAMHA, which began in 1967, has added substance abuse, veterans’ employment and transportation services along the way.
You can reach Chris Curtis at: ccurtis@recorder.com