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108 5 The St. Louis Empowerment Center, St. Louis, Missouri Helen Minth The St. Louis Empowerment Center is a peer-run drop-in center designed to meet the needs of St. Louis City residents with mental illnesses who want to take responsibility for their recovery through self-help. The center is located in downtown St. Louis, in the basement of a mansion built in the 1890s that was originally the home of a lumber baron. The three-story brick building has interior woodwork imported from Germany and four stained glass windows. The St. Louis Mental Health Association (MHA) purchased the building in the 1980s and restored it. The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance of St. Louis (DBSA) (formerly, the Depressive and Manic Depressive Association) now occupies the first floor and the MHA, the second. Until the 1960s, the basement was a livery stable. Now it is the home of the Empowerment Center and is the only level of the building that is handicapped accessible. It is divided into a kitchen, living room, library, office, and a large meeting room that also includes a pool table and other recreational facilities. It is comfortably furnished with couches and chairs, creating a homey environment. Up to seventy-five people can use the space at one time. Since the Empowerment Center is located in the heart of the city, participants easily reach it through one of four bus lines. The St. Louis Empowerment Center came into being in 1996 through the hard work and advocacy of a former mental health consumer who dreamed of establishing a place for other consumers. Vicki Fox Wieselthier (now Smith), herself recovered from mental illness through selfhelp , worked for the City of St Louis assisting mentally ill or homeless people find housing. From that position, she wrote a grant proposal that OnOurOwnFinalPages.indd฀฀฀108 4/16/05฀฀฀6:10:18฀PM St. Louis Empowerment Center 109 brought funding to the Empowerment Center from the City of St. Louis Mental Health Board of Trustees. Under the contract that was awarded, the Empowerment Center is jointly operated by the DBSA and MHA. I was hired as the first director of the Empowerment Center, becoming at the same time director of DBSA. I am a mental health consumer. I earned my master’s degree in social work and worked in the mental health field for thirty years. As I assumed my new role, I was assisted by Bob Swart, another consumer who had participated in DBSA groups. Bob began working with me as a volunteer before becoming a regular staff member. Together, Bob and I put together the Empowerment Center program and created its original schedule. The main components of the Empowerment Center are the drop-in center, the Friendship Line, peer support program, community or facilitybased self-help/support groups, and advocacy and referral services. The Drop-In Center The drop-in center operates every day of the year, from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. It is not intended to duplicate or replace professionally run psychosocial rehabilitation programs. Instead, it provides an option for consumers who are unable to use existing services because of the limitations funders of these agencies place on participation. For example, the St. Louis Empowerment Center is the only drop-in center in the city available to mentally ill people who are not homeless. The St. Louis Empowerment Center is clean, safe, alcohol and drug free, and intolerant of intolerance. The Empowerment Center’s philosophy is that there is no “right way” to use a peer-run drop-in center. Some consumers want companionship and the opportunity to enjoy a cup of coffee or to participate in group recreation. Still others use on-site resource materials to locate food pantries or housing. Some people use the computer equipment to develop a resume, write a letter, or learn a new software application. Some attend every day, and others come by when they are bored, lonely, or in crisis or when they have worn out their welcome at another program. Learning and growth occur because people choose to participate in activities that foster learning and personal growth. People move on because they are ready and they want to—not because their benefits are exhausted. The Empowerment Center has become a daytime safe haven for many people with mental illness who are homeless. The center offers them a place to do their laundry or take a shower, and a place where they...

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