According to Allen Miller, founder and director of C.O.P.E., these activities are the essence of self-empowerment, which is the goal of the program. You don't want to have a lecture by any means. Marcel Fraix, site coordinator at the Santa Monica Shelter agrees that teaching through discussion and not through lecturing is the best idea. Among the Santa Monica Shelter's weekly activities is an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Residents of the center must either choose to join the alcoholic group or participate in C.O.P.E. once a week as a requisite for staying in the transient shelter which only houses adults.
Stress is also a major concern among the residents, one that extends to the other shelters.
As the site coordinator at the Lieucap Homeless Shelter, where only mothers, adolescents and children reside, Christie Arnold encounters this topic on a regular basis. They love talking about their children. Although groups are separated between the adults, teenagers and children, C.O.P.E. interns are still able to help enhance mother-child relationships and promote family cohesiveness, while targeting each group's individual problems. One of the first C.O.P.E. interns since the program's inception in April 1996, Arnold said she appreciates the bonds formed between the interns and the homeless residents. Sobol at the St. Joseph Drop-in Center echoed these sentiments.