CHARG Resource Center

Locations

CHARG Resource Center is a unique program in Denver, Colorado serving adults who live with severe and persistent mental illnesses.  The typical CHARG consumer is voluntary, has some degree of functional independence but is unable to manage his/her life without support.  Most have a spotty employment history, at best, and have had multiple hospitalizations for schizophrenia, bipolar illness, major depression or fairly severe anxiety and/or personality disorders.CHARG operates under a governance model which is unique in this country.  All programs are governed by two nonprofit 501.c.3 boards acting as equal partners. One is elected yearly by the CHARG consumer members (anyone receiving services from CHARG qualifies) and is totally comprised of people with major mental illnesses. The other board represents people in the larger community; some have backgrounds in mental health, others are family members, people from the business community, and others who have an interest in this model of equal partnership. No major policy may be enacted at CHARG without a positive vote from each governing board.CHARG Resource Center was founded in August, 1989. At that time, consideration was given to a model which would have entailed one board, with at least 50% of its members being mental health consumers. This idea was not carried out because the consumers wanted to preserve their own independent voice. Some of them were also concerned that they might be liable to “take a back seat” to non-consumers on the board with more board experience and business savvy. At the same time, they did not want to be completely on their own as a governing body, and thus were interested in the partnership model as a means to access the expertise and experience that they might be lacking, while at the same time preserving their independence as a board.The mission of the CHARG Resource Center partnership is “to advance a model of genuine partnership among individuals who live with mental illness, mental health professionals, and the larger community, through respectful, comprehensive services.” Under the oversight of the two boards, CHARG operates a Drop-In Center which is completely staffed by consumers. Other programs include a team which provides case management and supportive services to homeless mentally ill people, and the only mental health clinic anywhere in the world which submits all of its policies to an elected board of its own consumers for approval.” CHARG is also active in advocacy and public education activities, particularly through a consumer-run Speakers’ Bureau which trains mental health consumers in public speaking and gives them opportunities to speak to a variety of community audiences about their own individual stories and about mental illness in general. This is a very powerful means to counteract stigma in the community, and their presentations are invariably well-received.CHARG Resource Center is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year. It has become a well-known and well-respected program in Colorado, representing a true equal partnership of mental health consumers and their supporters. It is notable that CHARG consumers vote on the annual budget of the organization, hire and supervise the Executive Director in partnership with the community-based board, and even concern themselves with administrative and program issues as mundane as the need to replace the facility’s antiquated plumbing system (which was done this year). CHARG Resource Center is an inspiration to consumers, professionals, and many in the larger community. It is a place where consumers do not simply come to be served, but to join in a vibrant community and to help each other, which is perhaps the most therapeutic activity of all.