The Drop-In Center
The CHARG Drop-In Center is open to any person
with a major mental illness, regardless of where they live or receive
treatment. It serves approximately 500 unduplicated individuals
per year. Every day during the week mental health consumers can
visit the center and participate as much as they wish in its ongoing
activities. Some of these activities include support groups, life
skills groups (cooking, shopping, etc.), art groups, recreational
outings and seasonal events. The Drop-In Center provides hot coffee
and snacks free of charge, and an inexpensive ($1.00) hot lunch
is offered on Tuesdays.
Drop-In Center visitors can also use one of
the Center's donated computers for word processing, writing resumes
and communicating with others via the Internet. Telephones and newspapers
are available for those who may not have these readily available
in their boarding homes, apartments, or shelters. Mental health
consumers also use the Drop-In Center to meet with vocational counselors
and consumer advocates.
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Dental and Eye Care
CHARG Resource Center has a track record of targeting needs of
persons with mental illness which are unmet by any other agency
or program. One of the most significant of these is dental and eye
care. Routine dental and eye care is not a funded benefit of Medicaid
or Medicare, which are the only providers of health insurance generally
available to this population.
CHARG Resource Center has responded to these needs by instituting
a Dental and Eye Care Program. We will pay for necessary dental
and eye care for our clients, or assist them in obtaining free treatment
if it is available. We ask the client to agree to pay back the cost
of treatment over an extended time period, as they are able to do
so. In this manner, expenses are more often than not paid back into
the fund, thus becoming available to help the next person in need.
Several years ago CHARG started the "Smart Mouths" Program. This
project grew from our recognition that our overall goal of promoting
optimum oral health among mental health consumers requires more
than simply facilitating and financing visits to the dentist. The
project entails classes in oral hygiene in addition to regular preventative
check-ups and care. On the first and third Monday of the month,
dental hygienist Cherry Jelm teaches an oral hygiene group. After
completing two classes, participants receive a battery-operated
toothbrush and become eligible to receive services through our Dental
and Eye care program. For more information, contact Margie Carlin
or Peggy Daniel at #303-830-8805.
The Heartland Clinic
This outpatient clinic provides intensive services
to 40-50 chronically mentally ill people. The clinic staff includes
a part-time psychiatrist, a full-time psychiatric nurse, 1 full-time
therapist, 2 part-time therapists, a recreational therapist and
student interns.
Services provided to consumers include individual
counseling, group counseling and medication management. Through
the clinic, the nurses and social workers work alongside consumers
to help them maintain an independent lifestyle
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Community Education
Both CHARG Resource Center staff and consumers
actively work in the community to educate the public about mental
illness. In particular, mental health consumer speakers from CHARG
have spoken about mental illness in front of a variety of audiences
of all sizes, from church groups and college classes to workshops
and conferences.
Beginning in 2003, CHARG Resource Center collaborates
with several other mental health consumer and professional organizations
on our annual Innovations in Mental Health conference. Our partners
include WE-CAN! (the statewide Colorado mental health consumers'
organization), the Mental Health Association of Colorado, the National
Alliance for the Mentally Ill – Colorado Chapter, the Federation
of Families For Children's Mental Health – Colorado Chapter, the
Mental Health Ombuds Program of Colorado and Starfish II, LLC.
Prior to the first annual Innovations in Mental
Health conference in 2003, CHARG hosted an annual mental health
conference that was also designed to stimulate creative thinking
and foster interaction between consumers, professionals, family
members, and the community.
Consumer Advocacy
Based at the drop-in center, mental health consumer
advocates keep track of legislation that will affect people with
a mental illness, answer emergency calls for information about the
rights of people in treatment, and distribute information about
mental illness into the community. They also work with their mentally
ill peers to assist them in accessing needed services, and have
often become involved in finding them shelter or more permanent
housing.
CHARG Resource Center co-founded CART (the Coalition
for the Advancement of Rights in Treatment), which brings together
mental health consumers and concerned advocates to influence policy
development in the public mental health arena. CART provides a newsletter
to its members and other interested persons. At their meetings and
through their newsletter, CART's members provide information about
legislation that is relevant to the mentally ill and what steps
to take to be heard.
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PATH Homeless Outreach Project
This project is a cooperative interagency program
which involves CHARG in partnership with the Colorado Coalition
for the homeless, and with active involvement of several other homeless-serving
agencies. It is an outreach program which addresses the needs of
homeless persons who are mentally ill. The project employs one professional
case manager/project coordinator who makes outreach visits to homeless
shelters and homeless-serving agencies, and seeks out those homeless
mentally ill persons who are in places unfit for habitation. Clients
are assisted in accessing housing, income support and mental health
treatment and services. The coordinator also supervises the project's
consumer case management staff.
The two half-time consumer case managers operate
as non-threatening peers who have experienced similar problems and
who have also had to negotiate systems from inside, which helps
to decrease suspicion of "professionals" or "agency people." They
assist the professional staff of the project in delivering needed
services to the homeless clients.
Miscellaneous Activities
The CHARG van is available to take interested
mental health consumers on regularly scheduled trips to recreational
sites and events in Denver and the nearby mountains.
At the main building at 709 E. 12th Avenue ,
clients participate in gardening activities, growing flowers and
vegetables on site. At our drop-in center, a ceramics workshop is
available where clients can produce a variety of poured ceramic
objects for their own use, for sale, or as gifts.
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