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Program of the Year

The Homebound Program
a service of Orange County’s Mental Health Department

The Homebound Program offers mental health services in the kitchens and living rooms of those with limited mobility. Established in 1985 by Orange County’s Mental Health Department, The Homebound Program has grown to serve children as young as eleven and adults in their nineties.

As a young woman, the founding director, Jenny Flanagan, became responsible for a loved one’s medical needs. She learned first-hand how hard it is for patients and even their caregivers to find support, both medical and emotional, when either one of them has limited mobility. “When one person is ill,” she recently explained, “no one is immune.” All too often, she discovered, the devoted caregiver finds that they have no life of their own, and counseling becomes an unreachable luxury.

The Homebound Program is an outgrowth of Jenny’s empathy, the enlightenment of the County’s Mental Health Department, and the dedication of the staff and the program’s current director, Carolyn Donely. Carolyn comes to the field of human services naturally; her mother is a social worker with a specialty in gerontology and her cousin was a civil rights activist. Working with Elant for 13 years, hired in 1996 as a therapist for the Homebound Program and promoted to director ten years later, Carolyn has a long history of serving those in need. “People’s mental and physical health are so intertwined,” she explains, and her appreciation of this connection makes her work at The Homebound Program especially rewarding.

Over the years, Carolyn says, they have seen an increasing number of younger clients, including those in their fifties struggling with cardiac problems. Jewish Family Service frequently calls upon The Homebound Program to assist its frail clients, young and old. Those seeking help from Jewish Family Service for grocery shopping and escorts to the doctor often need professional emotional support which tends to be inaccessible to them. Cross-referrals are common and a warm partnership has blossomed. The Homebound Program staff are quick to respond and they do so with compassion and skill.