Text Box: Susan Mader The Gathering Place, Inc. is recognized as one of the most successful and long-standing consumer-operated organizations in Wisconsin. The Gathering Place is a recovery center in Green Bay for adults with severe and persistent mental illnesses and co-occurring disorders. The Gathering Place is operated 100 percent by “consumers” of mental health services; therefore, The Gathering Place provides an environment of “peer support” that no other mental health service in Brown County can. Many members of The Gathering Place are in the process of recovering from mental illnesses and are able to mentor others who are discovering that recovery is possible and are coming to The Gathering Place to seek help in their recovery. This mentoring process is called peer support. Membership in The Gathering Place is free. There are opportunities to volunteer and receive recognition for doing so. Those who are seeking recovery just need to walk through our door to become a member of our unique community. The Gathering Place runs very smoothly and fulfills its mission on a daily basis: The Gathering Place is a community of peers, furthering each other’s recovery through the healing process of empowering activities and the sharing of life experiences, in an environment of dignity and respect.   Grassroots Empowerment Project (GEP) has played an instrumental part in the inception and development of our organization, taking us from our grassroots beginnings to being the incredible organization that we are today. GEP continues to help fund us and provides much-needed guidance and technical assistance.   The Gathering Place has an interesting history. Four mental health consumers founded the organization in 1996. A Federal Mental Health Block Grant provided funds to the Grassroots Empowerment Project to create centers in Wisconsin that would be operated by mental health consumers. At the time, this was a very new and bold initiative. The President of NAMI-Brown County, Eileen Mader, wrote the grant, and we were awarded the money. Virginia Bryan, Kim Hoffman, Julie Seidl and I met to decide how best to use this money. We decided to open a center where adults with mental illnesses could come to receive friendship, understanding and support from their peers. NAMI-Brown County was our fiscal agent and helped us to form an Advisory Board. Soon, a Management Team was established. We started at the grassroots level, renting the first floor of a house; we raised money to purchase a house in 2000. Initially, we had a small volunteer base, limited hours of operation, and a handful of activities. We sold hot dogs for 25 cents. It did not take long for The Gathering Place to flourish – and what a success the organization has become!   The Gathering Place incorporates its core values of peer support, education, advocacy and collaboration in its daily programming. We hold three weekly support groups; one on peer support, one to address dual diagnosis issues, and one for members who wish to share their “hearing voices” experiences. We offer Lifeskills classes presented by N.E.W. Curative and an anger management course facilitated by a mental health professional. We have a computer lab with internet access. Various expressive arts therapy classes take place throughout the year, in addition to an art show and an open house. We have a gallery to display our members’ artwork. We have daily meals and a monthly cooking class with a free dinner. Scholarships are available for those who wish to attend conferences and trainings. For those with spiritual needs, we offer a weekly Bible study and prayer. For fun, we hold arts and craft classes, crochet classes, bingo, pool tournaments in our recreation room, exercise, movie nights with popcorn, and Packer tailgate parties.   One of the most important things The Gathering Place organization has done is to combat the stigma that surrounds mental illness. Our resource center offers community links and we have a lending library of educational books and videos. We do community outreach through public speaking engagements and presentations, and our newsletter, Gathered News, goes out to over 500 individuals each month. We offer educational speakers and educational videos. Through The Gathering Place’s programming and peer support, our members have been able to accept and to overcome various disabling, devastating and alienating mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, depression, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and personality disorders. Many of our members are living meaningful lives in the community. In order to live a meaningful life, someone with a diagnosis of mental illness must go through the process of denial, acceptance, hope and treatment. By sharing life experiences with one another, members of The Gathering Place move through these stages and ultimately toward recovery. We at The Gathering Place believe treatment works and we promote it.   I attribute all of the success of The Gathering Place to the perseverance, leadership and heart of the Management Team. I also attribute the success of our members’ recovery to the dedication and support of the Management Team. All who have served on our Management Team have set the example that people with mental illnesses can recover, contribute to the community and lead full and productive lives. Some of our members may not reach such a level of recovery, but by coming to The Gathering Place, they are improving the quality of their lives bit by bit.

Spring/Summer 2008
Text Box: The Gathering Place, Inc.: Beginning at the Grassroots and Filling a Niche

With the $454,000 we received from DHFS and additional donations in 2007, we were able to: 

- Fund 10 mental health consumer-run organizations throughout WI that provided peer support such as: support groups, non-crisis phone line services, community presentations on mental health, consultation to state and local mental health committees, formal and informal education seminars, social activities, and  community events. All services were provided by mental health consumers. 

- Provide training and technical assistance to those organizations to ensure their success

- Hold an annual consumer conference - a 2-day educational opportunity by consumers, for consumers, with over 150 participants.

Consumer network news

Grassroots Empowerment Project presents
Text Box: Creating opportunities for people with mental illness to exercise power in their lives