Medford, Ore., — Christopher Folden has struggled with mental health issues…
“I actually isolated myself in my house for a year and a half before coming to the Compass House.”
But through the services at Compass House in downtown Medford, he’s overcome them.
The non-profit focuses on psycho-social services, and bringing people struggling back into society.
“I couldn’t get that help in a clinical setting.”
And Compass House is plenty busy these days.
Aand they’re not alone.
Jackson County Mental Health Services is understaffed, and hiring.
They currently have 36 job openings on their website.
And they’re trying to entice prospective employees to the county, by starting a student loan rewards program.
“They’re hard to find, and the cost of education is really expensive so this is one the way we can recruit them and bring them into our area.”
In exchange for their commitment, staff would be awarded a certain amount of money to pay against their loans.
And while there’s plenty of people who need mental health assistance, Christopher Folden isn’t one of them.
You see, he’s no longer a member of Compass House, today he’s on their staff.
“My job is to go out in the community and talk to people, so I’ve come such a tremendous amount of distance in such a short amount of time.”
And he’s hoping others can follow the same path, and get the help they need.
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