Rehabilitation
through craftsmanship
Restoration
Project is a nonprofit vocational rehabilitation program teaching
traditional methods of furniture restoration to adults with
mental illness, head injuries, and at-risk adolescents.
We
teach participants to refinish and upholster furniture to
build the confidence and work habits needed for success. Furniture
restoration is especially suited to this goal because it is
difficult and at the same time, so rewarding. Each job is
broken into manageable, cumulative tasks, and mistakes are
easily fixed.
In
the end, the participant has created something beautiful.
We expect our participants to accomplish a great deal - to enjoy meaningful, fulfilling and self-sustaining lives. Since 1992, over 200 individuals have worked at Restoration Project, and seventy percent (70%) are currently employed, which represents years of employment for some. (In contrast, the national employment rate for adults with mental illness is 10%.)
The
ingredients of our rehabilitative success are:
- A
peaceful, congenial and supportive environment
- Apprenticeships
with mentor craftsmen, continual learning and problem solving
foster individual growth
- A
skilled handicraft that promotes concentration and hand/eye
coordination
- A
difficult task that improves work habits and tolerance
- Artistic
expression in a Montessori Method-style context that involves and inspires
- A
marketable product that makes time and quality meaningful
- A
paycheck
Restoration
Project is the 2001 winner of the Lilly Reintegration Award
for Occupational Therapy. We
are a grass-roots nonprofit organization that relies on the
generosity of its supporters.
Help us by clicking now to make a secure, tax-deductible donation.
Read
the Channel 5 story on Restoration Project by clicking HERE.
Watch the video HERE.
To watch a nice, short documentary by film
maker Ben
Gurney
click the Quicktime icon (to view
it in that format),
or click on the photo (to view it using Real Player). 
(Videography by Don
McConnell, Photograph by Larry
Maglott)
Restoration Project, 40 Beharrell Street,
West Concord, MA 01742 — (978) 263-0416
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