SOAR Case Management Services

09/01/2025

This month, SOAR is teaming up with Boulders Climbing Gym to support Solstice House Peer Respite!

Here's how it works:

➡️ Feeling adventurous today? On the first of every month, it's Boulders’ Climb for a Cause Day, which means **100% of proceeds from day passes purchased** will be donated directly to SOAR in support of Solstice House.

➡️ Anyone who visits Boulders can get **$5 off a day pass all month long** by using the code "Solstice House" (in-gym purchase only).

Every climb helps you feel good about your physical wellness while fostering community-rooted healing through our work at Solstice House.

Send a message to learn more

08/13/2025

Follow SOAR on Bluesky: soarmadison.bsky.social

Send a message to learn more

08/13/2025

Join us this Sunday to celebrate Madison's vibrant LGBTQIA2P+ community and explore the diverse resources and support systems available, along with our community partner, OutReach LGBTQ Community Center!

Visit the Solstice House table for more information about our peer respite services. Discover our ongoing peer-run support circles, which are facilitated by experienced leaders in the non-carceral peer space.

We look forward to seeing you there! 💜💚💙💛

08/07/2025

People in the U.S. facing mental health and substance use challenges deserve compassionate, community-based support rather than outdated institutional care.

If you care deeply about this cause, we invite you to join us in signing a petition that urges Congress to prioritize non-carceral alternatives for addressing behavioral health needs. This approach will help create a supportive environment for those living with mental health and substance use challenges.

Sign the petition here: https://chng.it/wLS9W9Ct7r

Send a message to learn more

08/01/2025

LIVING MADLY & BEYOND Support Group Update!

Hosted by Solstice House and facilitated by Nze Okoronta, Executive Director of Peer Services at SOAR Case Management Services, Inc. 💜

To accommodate everyone, we meet weekly, alternating days:

* Tuesdays: 3-4:30 PM CST
* Thursdays 4-5:30 PM CST

Upcoming group dates:

* 8/7 (Thurs)
* 8/12 (Tues)
* 8/21 (Thurs)
* 8/26 (Tues)
* 9/4 (Thurs)
* 9/9 (Tues)
* 9/18 (Thurs)

Our first two groups had about 10 participants each, with continuing strong interest. To ensure everyone gets time to share, groups may soon be capped at 15-18 people.

🖤 Please keep reaching out even if the group is full! More groups are in the works—including affinity spaces, community organizing, networking, and more—to support Mad Pride efforts both locally and nationally.

07/31/2025

SAVE THE DATE! Solstice House will be tabling at this year's Magic Pride Festival sponsored by our community partner, OutReach LGBTQ Community Center!

📅 When: Sunday, August 17 | 1:00–6:00 PM
📍 Where: Warner Park

It will be a day filled with connection, color, and community — and here’s what you can look forward to:
✨ A stage show featuring local drag artists
🛍️ Vendors with q***r pride merch
🎉 Activities for youth and families
🍔 Delicious food

Stop by our table to connect with Solstice House staff, learn about peer respite and our community-based, non-carceral services, and collect some pride swag .

We're ready to share who we are and what we do, while having a blast! 💖

07/28/2025

SOAR and Solstice House were recently featured in an important article on Mad In America! If you believe in community care that doesn't rely on institutions and forced treatment, please share this article with others. Read here: https://www.madinamerica.com/2025/07/america-is-legislating-a-return-to-the-asylum-one-policy-at-a-time/

Nze Okoronta, SOAR's Executive Director of Peer Services, said, "This is a significant piece highlighting the urgency of our work and the broader context of non-carceral, peer-led alternatives to forced treatment."

Federal and state policymakers across the partisan divide are defunding vital programs and rolling back policies and rights protections.

07/25/2025

We strongly oppose the new executive order that criminalizes houselessness and targets people who use drugs or live with mental health challenges—coercing them into treatment or hospitalization. Read here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/07/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-takes-action-to-end-crime-and-disorder-on-americas-streets/

This is not a step forward.
This isn’t care. It’s control.
And, it's harmful and dangerous.

We believe in a different approach:
- Care should never be forced
- Harm reduction saves lives
- You can’t punish people into stability, housing, or healing

This order threatens the rights and dignity of our unhoused neighbors—especially those living with mental health challenges or substance use. It redirects resources toward control, not care, and punishes people for surviving under oppressive systems.

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How To Support the SOAR Community:

If you believe in non-carceral, community-based care, please support our work:
👉 https://shorturl.at/xK3vv

Be an advocate. Contact your representatives. Let them know you choose care over cruelty:
👉https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

ENDING VAGRANCY AND RESTORING ORDER: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to restore order to American cities and remove vagrant

07/09/2025

SOAR and Solstice House Peer Respite has started a new peer support group. See below for details and more information! This group is open to anyone (not limited to Wisconsin). Please share this post and our flyer widely!

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🌠 Living Madly & Beyond
A Mad Pride Support Space | Hosted by Solstice House Peer Respite – Madison, WI

Living Madly and Beyond is a weekly online Mad Pride support group—a space for people with lived experience of madness, crisis, distress, extreme/altered states, or psychiatric systems to gather, share, and explore what healing and resistance can look like outside of traditional systems and clinical/medical frameworks.

Rooted in the values of Mad Pride, we affirm the wisdom in lived experience and reject the pathology, misunderstanding, and criminalization placed on our minds, bodies, and ways of being.

This is a peer-led space hosted by Solstice House Peer Respite where we center voice, autonomy, and non-carceral responses to pain, transformation, and meaning-making. Together, we practice community care through storytelling, listening, creativity, and connection—living madly, and beyond.

🌀 Who It’s For:
People with lived experience of madness, crisis, distress, extreme/altered states, psychiatrization, or psychiatric systems

People with the lived experiences above who are wanting to reimagine what it means to radically self-define identity outside of symptoms and diagnoses

People seeking to explore new language and share about different meanings of their experiences

People who want to build community and learn from others who are also surviving, thriving, grieving, and living with madness

You do not need to identify as “mad” to join—just come as you are. Bring your truth and curiosity. All identities, bodies, neurotypes, and experiences are welcome

🏡 Group Details:
Location: Online (Zoom)
Time: Weekly
Cost: FREE
Hosted by: Solstice House Peer Respite – Madison, WI
Open to: Must be 18+, anyone in the US

Questions or want to join?
To ask questions about the group + sign up to receive the zoom link, email nzeo@soarcms.org or call (608) 886-9735.

07/04/2025

This Fourth of July, we’re holding space for what freedom means—especially in uncertain times.

For many, this holiday feels complicated. Amid uncertainty, we want you to know: it’s okay to feel heavy. You’re not alone.

At SOAR, we remain committed to walking beside you—with care, dignity, and support that centers your humanity. Freedom can be many things: safety, rest, connection, healing. You deserve all of them.

Take gentle care of yourself this week.

06/19/2025

Today we honor Juneteenth — a day of freedom, reflection, and resilience.
We hold space for the healing journey, especially for Black communities whose strength continues to inspire us.

At SOAR, we believe mental health is part of true freedom. You deserve care, rest, and support.

🖤 With love,
SOAR Case Management
Solstice House

06/14/2025

🌈 Join TONIGHT for Pride Night at Henry Vilas Zoo! 🏳️‍🌈
📅 Saturday, June 14th

We’re thrilled to be part of this year’s celebration—and proud to sponsor a special prize for the event! 🏆✨

This joyful evening is all about honoring LGBTQIA+ pride, community, and connection. Come say hi, grab some goodies, and share in the love and color of the night!

Let’s celebrate together. 💖