Consumers As Providers helps people help others
Program treats mental illnesses, provides counseling training
The Consumers as Providers Training Program, or CAP, gives people with mental illnesses the opportunity to get treatment and go on to help others in the same situation.
By Dylan Sands
Monday, October 22nd, 2007
Petra Robinson knows what it’s like to hit rock bottom. She said she had lived life at the bottom of the barrel while struggling with bipolar disorder for most of her life. Deana Farm also has bipolar disorder She said she used to spend days on end in bed and abused alcohol to quell her depression.
A training program through the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare has paved the way for both women to recover and provide counseling to others suffering from mental illnesses. The Consumers as Providers Training Program, or CAP, will receive a 2007 Eli Lilly Reintegration Award in Indianapolis on Oct. 26. The award will come with a $5,000 grant to help pay for program’s efforts.
The program works in conjunction with mental health agencies to select patients with severe mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and forms of depression. The patients then undergo a training process that qualifies them to treat others dealing with the same disorders.
Anna Collins, program coordinator and trainer at the School of Social Welfare, said the program taught patients to help others by helping themselves.
I still have bad days; it doesn’t go away, but education and support have shown me that recovery is real, and you can lead a successful life. It is a very empowering thing.
-Petra Robinson
“The program enhances peoples’ recovery journey,” she said. “They enter the program and graduate with their own health improved. They’ve adapted a new role, they’re empowered by new knowledge, and it enhances their self-esteem.”
The program puts trainees through an education process that is similar to typical college courses. They meet in a classroom setting once a week during closed sessions at universities and community colleges. They work through a 15 week course on social welfare. Collins said the classroom setting was essential to inspiring the trainees to continue post-secondary education later in life.
“When you think about accommodations at universities, you usually think about physical disabilities, not mental health issues,” she said. “When the individuals are in a class, they are seen as students and treated as students. Everybody in the class has a severe mental illness, so no one feels stigmatized.”
Once the class is complete, the students have a seven-week internship working with a mentor in a mental health facility.
Robinson said the program changed her life. She said she experienced deep depression and lacked motivation when she turned 18. Many people often begin to suffer from depression and other disorders when they reach college age.
“That’s really when it comes to a head,” Robinson said. “You’re an adult, and you’re on your own for the first time. It can be very lonely.”
Robinson, now 28, said she heard about the program when she was 24 and immediately enrolled. She completed the training program and took a position at Johnson County Mental Health as a peer specialist supervisor.
“CAP has played such a miraculous role in my life as part of my mental wellness, and I’ve found my calling in life,” she said. “It showed me a whole new world.”
She said the experience had motivated her to pursue a bachelor’s degree from the KU School of Social Welfare.
“I still have bad days; it doesn’t go away,” she said. “But education and support have shown me that recovery is real, and you can lead a successful life. It is a very empowering thing.”
Deana Farmer, 41, said she was first diagnosed with bipolar depression when she was 12. She completed the program six years ago and became a care counselor at Valeo, an adult mental health provider in Topeka.
Farmer said young people suffering from depression often did not realize help was available.
“When I was younger, I didn’t know what my options were. I had no confidence in myself,” she said. “I worked hard on my recovery. I couldn’t have done it without CAPS.”
She now works with people who are in the same situation.
“They’ve had no help, especially around college age,” she said. “I help them focus and find new avenues they can take. I can’t believe how much CAP opened doors for me.”
— Edited by Kaitlyn Syring
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