Consumer-Run Organizations: Sharing Experience, Strength, and Hope

February 12, 2008

If you like acronyms, here's a good one to add to your collection: DIY.

It stands for "do it yourself," which is as good a way as any to describe the philosophy behind two resource guides produced recently by Beverly Miller and her team at the Washington Institute for Mental Health Research and Training West (WIMHRT West):

Building Sustainable Consumer-Run Organizations
Building Sustainable Consumer-Run Organizations (with appendices)
Funding the Consumer-Run Organization

What are consumer-run organizations (CRO) and why do they matter?

What Are CROs?

As the name implies, a consumer-run organization (CRO) is an organization, usually nonprofit, whose board of directors and staff includes primarily consumers and family members – not providers or administrators or subject matter experts.

"CROs meld several important themes to provide effective service," says Beverly Miller, Associate Director at WIMHRT West. "They are consumer-directed, which is essential in recovery. They put consumers in touch with peers. And they emphasize that no one knows what's best for a consumer better than a consumer."

The recovery model of mental health embraced by most CROs hinges on self-direction, empowerment, peer support, and hope for restoring individuals to a life that is integrated and meaningful according to each person's own terms.

Established and successful CROs across the country include:

CROs in Washington State, some just getting started, include Consumer Voices Are Born, Washington Health Empowerment Network (WHEN), Statewide Action for Family Empowerment of Washington (SAFE-WA), Continue to Continue, and the New Century Empowerment Project.

Recovery Matters

Consumer service providers in CROs often bring a point of view and a depth of life experience that is uniquely adapted to deliver the help and the tools consumers need on their recovery path.

"Consumers in CROs have already experienced the most basic problems of achieving recovery themselves," says Miller. "They understand the impact of poverty, for example. They don't mythologize it. They know that dealing with financial issues and healthcare needs is critical to recovery. And they know how to help peers cope, find resources, and surmount these issues because many times they have already done so themselves."

Grappling with the problems

While CROs clearly have a leg up on other organizations providing the kinds of uniquely sensitized services they can offer, they still have to make their way through all the painstaking steps as any other to establish themselves. That's where the resource guides come in.

"The more we do this the more we learn there's very little difference between consumer and non-consumer organizations in terms of administration," says Miller. "They all encounter the same problems with planning, budgets, funding, management, and sustainability."

That could well be the single most important insight provided by the resource guides. When it comes to getting CROs up and running, they offer the big picture view alongside detailed step-by-step instructions. Both are key to getting an organization on track and to keeping it moving forward.

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