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Become Empowered

Sometimes it seems that the best educators are those teaching what they’ve already lived through.  Learning a sense of empowerment and control over one’s life, then, might be most effective when one can see this accomplishment in the life of another.   Through the Best Health Project, which is a grant funded by the Consumer Health Foundation, the McClendon Center has a Bachelors level consumer on staff, as well as other consumer group facilitators.  Following the example of group facilitators who have overcome many of the struggles of mental illness, consumers become inspired and motivated to live out their ambitions.

The ‘Become Empowered’ groups are rooted in five wellness and recovery concepts: Hope, Personal Responsibility, Education, Self-Advocacy, and Support.  These concepts are expressed through the following groups that articulate recovery from varying perspectives: Wellness Recovery Action Planning (WRAP), Pathways to Recovery, and Speak Up and Empowerment.  Through these groups, consumers develop many essential skills for maintaining their wellness and harnessing a sense of empowerment.  

Examples of group activities include

• Learning self-assessment skills to determine where they are in their own sense of wellness and recovery

• Learning methods to identify warning signs and triggers

• Identifying tools to help feel better when facing a challenging period

• Creating a crisis plan in case the need for it ever arises

• Pinpointing a contact person for additional support when needed

• Education regarding consumer rights and personal responsibilities

In all of the groups, consumers learn the action steps necessary to being proactive in their own wellness and recovery as they continue to overcome obstacles and move towards their goals for the future.

The stories of consumers, as well as other news about wellness and recovery, are published monthly in the Center’s newsletter, Images of Best Health.