Approach

Empowerment Initiatives’ believes firmly that elimination and/or successful management of mental health symptoms is only the first step in mental health recovery.  We see true recovery as a result of creating a productive, integrated life where mental health challenges are only one part of a person’s identity.  To this end, we use Person-Directed planning to help residents create concrete pictures of what they want their lives to be like, and then help them identify manageable action steps to move in that direction.  We help residents take these steps by connecting them with resources in the community like community college classes, WorkSource programs, Vocational Rehabilitation, and Community Solutions.  We also connect residents with Benefits Planners to help them understand how their benefits work and to dispel the idea that one will lose their benefits if they are employed.  Also, simply through their presence, Peer Mentors model successful employment in spite of mental health challenges.  We continually remind the residents and their support teams that recovery and self-sufficiency are possible for all of us.

Our company’s policies and procedures enhance residents’ independence and reduce their dependence upon publicly funded services to the maximum of their level of self-sufficiency.

• Hiring policy: Insofar as possible, Empowerment Initiatives attempts to staff positions with individuals who, through similar personal experience and with appropriate skills, can understand the needs of customers with mental health issues and provide effective assistance.  Because of this hiring policy, our trained peer mentor staff are able to model the possibilities of self-sufficiency and independence despite having mental health challenges and/or diagnoses.  Some of our staff have graduated from our programs and all of our employees have been mental health consumers in one form or another.
• Four principles of self-determination: Our agency’s services are based on the four principles of self-determination:  freedom, authority, responsibility, and support.  Just as we value freedom from coercion and the ability to make our own decisions, we believe firmly that part of recovery is leaving behind any sense of entitlement to supports from the system and taking as much responsibility as we can in our lives.  This does not mean that we should not access publicly funded services in our times of need, but it does mean that as we grow, stabilize, and recover, our level of self-sufficiency should grow accordingly.
• Person-Directed planning and Practices: Our agency uses person-directed planning in order to facilitate this self-sufficiency.  These planning practices (described above) help residents create their own plans for moving towards self-sufficiency and identify resources they will use to do so.
• Connecting with resources/Collaborating with community partners: We value collaboration with other community support providers and community resources.  Our policy is to be a catalyst for change.  One way we do this is by being knowledgeable about what resources are available in the community and helping the people we support access these.