History of Go-Getters

Go-Getters is a psychiatric rehabilitation program offering a broad array of programs designed to assist people recovering from severe mental illness to integrate more fully into their chosen home communities.

Founded in 1979 by Mary Kay Noren, then a social worker at Eastern Shore State Hospital, Go-Getters was one of many community rehabilitation programs modeled after the Fountain House Clubhouse in New York. The program offered a site for a day activities in which club members were responsible for much of the work, and attracted people who were seeking to overcome the isolation they felt since leaving the hospital.

In the past 30 years, through the addition of multiple programs, expansion of multiple sites, development of regional outreach and a current caseload of over 350 members, Go-Getters has championed these two elements: the value of each individual member, and the collective community of friendship. We still mark our successes in terms of enhancement of individual responsibility and increase in belonging.

The program offers residential and crisis services, social skills and vocational training, emergency response 365 days a year, outreach and assertive community support throughout our three rural counties and are currently expanding focus on jobs for members.