National Empowerment Center
Encyclopedia
The National Empowerment Center (NEC) is an advocacy and peer-support organization in the United States
that promotes an empowerment-based recovery model
of mental disorder. It is run by consumers/survivors/ex-patients in recovery.
NEC is based in Lawrence, Massachusetts
. The self-stated mission of NEC is to carry a message of recovery, empowerment
, hope
and healing
to people who have been labeled with mental illness diagnosis. It argues that recovery and empowerment are not the privilege of a few but a process that is possible for everyone to embark on and find help with. Although unconventional to those accustomed only to a narrow medical model
, the model is part of a recovery movement that comprises an emerging consensus.
NEC and other groups are working to implement the transformation to a recovery-based system recommended by the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health
. It operates a toll-free information and referral line. It organizes and speaks at conferences. Its staff have published in professional journals, scholastic books, popular press and alternative publications. It has been involved in many national boards and committees and in policy consultations at the White House, in Congress, in federal agencies such as HUD, the Social Security Administration, HCFA, the Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation, and The President's Commission on Disability, and at the regional and local level with organizations such as HMOs and state divisions of mental health programs. It has developed educational, training and self-help resources. NEC staff have been featured on CNN, U.S.A. Today, The Boston Globe, National Public Radio and talk and radio shows in the U.S., Canada, Europe and other countries.
NEC conducted qualitative research
with people who were severely mentally ill but have met criteria for recovery, from which 10 major principles of how people recover were extracted:
NEC research also identified characteristics distinguishing those in illness and those in recovery:
NEC developed an approach termed Personal Assistance in Community Existence (PACE). It is based on the premise that people can potentially recover fully from even the most severe forms of mental illness, and on an Empowerment Model of Recovery and prevention. It is an education program to help shift the culture of mental health from institutional thinking to recovery thinking, designed for people training to become peer coaches, people furthering their recovery, and people learning new skills to help others. It has previously been deliberately contrasted with "PACT" - Program of Assertive Community Treatment
- a form of outpatient commitment
that was originally designed to enable people to live in the community, rather than in psychiatric hospitals, but according to NEC has become a "coercive, lifelong, and nonclient-directed system with medication compliance as its most important tenet" NEC conducted a national survey of the use of PACE in the mental health system.
. A graduate of Princeton University
, he completed a PhD in biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin, medical training at George Washington University
, and a psychiatric residency at Harvard Medical School
. While working as a biomedical researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health
, Fisher had a psychotic breakdown, including hallucinations and delusions. After three months at Bethesda Naval Hospital, at age 25, which included forced seclusion and antipsychotic medication haloperidol
, he was discharged with a diagnosis of schizophrenia
. He was involuntarily hospitalized three times. He reports being influenced by those who were able to show they cared about the person inside and gave him hope that he might some day recover. He went on to become a psychiatrist. He was told during psychiatric training that "You can’t talk to an illness" but believed that talking to the person inside is a key method for building trust and recovery. He has since worked as a psychiatrist in hospitals and clinics, while also been part of the consumer movement. He said that a very significant part of the reason for becoming a psychiatrist was wanting to bring to the field what he wished had been there when he was going through psychosis
The director is Debbie L. Whittle and other staff are Judene Shelley, Amy K. Long and formerly Judi Chamberlin
. Chamberlin was an internationally known psychiatric survivor and advocate of individuals with a mental illness label. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 21 but recovered, which she put down in part to having been a "bad" and non-compliant patient. (She died in 2010.)
Laurie Aherne and Patricia Deegan
were co-founders and directors for several years.http://www.mdri.org/laurie-ahern.htmlhttp://www.recoveryxchange.org/PatDeegan.html
"in "Edge of Sanity," first aired on 1997. Dr. Deegan herself is a psychologist who attended Oxford and Yale despite multiple hospitalizations (when she was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
that promotes an empowerment-based recovery model
Recovery model
The Recovery Model as it applies to mental health is an approach to mental disorder or substance dependence that emphasizes and supports each individual's potential for recovery...
of mental disorder. It is run by consumers/survivors/ex-patients in recovery.
NEC is based in Lawrence, Massachusetts
Lawrence, Massachusetts
Lawrence is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States on the Merrimack River. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a total population of 76,377. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and North Andover to the southeast. It and Salem are...
. The self-stated mission of NEC is to carry a message of recovery, empowerment
Empowerment
Empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social, racial, educational, gender or economic strength of individuals and communities...
, hope
Hope
Hope is the emotional state which promotes the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. It is the "feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best" or the act of "look[ing] forward to with desire and reasonable confidence" or...
and healing
Healing
Physiological healing is the restoration of damaged living tissue, organs and biological system to normal function. It is the process by which the cells in the body regenerate and repair to reduce the size of a damaged or necrotic area....
to people who have been labeled with mental illness diagnosis. It argues that recovery and empowerment are not the privilege of a few but a process that is possible for everyone to embark on and find help with. Although unconventional to those accustomed only to a narrow medical model
Medical model
Medical model is the term cited by psychiatrist Ronald D. Laing in his The Politics of the Family and Other Essays , for the "set of procedures in which all doctors are trained." This set includes complaint, history, physical examination, ancillary tests if needed, diagnosis, treatment, and...
, the model is part of a recovery movement that comprises an emerging consensus.
NEC and other groups are working to implement the transformation to a recovery-based system recommended by the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health
New Freedom Commission on Mental Health
The controversial New Freedom Commission on Mental Health was established by U.S. President George W. Bush in April 2002 to conduct a comprehensive study of the U.S. mental health service delivery system and make recommendations based on its findings...
. It operates a toll-free information and referral line. It organizes and speaks at conferences. Its staff have published in professional journals, scholastic books, popular press and alternative publications. It has been involved in many national boards and committees and in policy consultations at the White House, in Congress, in federal agencies such as HUD, the Social Security Administration, HCFA, the Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation, and The President's Commission on Disability, and at the regional and local level with organizations such as HMOs and state divisions of mental health programs. It has developed educational, training and self-help resources. NEC staff have been featured on CNN, U.S.A. Today, The Boston Globe, National Public Radio and talk and radio shows in the U.S., Canada, Europe and other countries.
NEC conducted qualitative research
Qualitative research
Qualitative research is a method of inquiry employed in many different academic disciplines, traditionally in the social sciences, but also in market research and further contexts. Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such...
with people who were severely mentally ill but have met criteria for recovery, from which 10 major principles of how people recover were extracted:
- Trusting Oneself and Others
- Valuing Self-Determination
- Believing You'll Recover and Having Hope
- Believing in the Person's Full Potential
- Connecting at a Human, Deeply Emotional Level
- Appreciating That People Are Always Making Meaning
- Having a Voice of One's Own
- Validating All Feelings and Thoughts
- Following Meaningful Dreams
- Relating With Dignity and Respect
- Healing From Emotional Distress
- Transformation From Severe Emotional Distress.
- Recovery From Mental Illness.
NEC research also identified characteristics distinguishing those in illness and those in recovery:
- Dependent vs self-determining
- Mental health system support vs Network of friends support
- Identify solely as consumer or mental patient vs identify as worker, parent, student or other role
- Medication essential vs one tool that may be chosen
- Strong emotions treated as symptoms by professionals vs worked through and communicated with peers
- Global Assessment of FunctioningGlobal Assessment of FunctioningThe Global Assessment of Functioning is a numeric scale used by mental health clinicians and physicians to subjectively rate the social, occupational, and psychological functioning of adults, e.g., how well or adaptively one is meeting various problems-in-living. The scale is presented and...
(GAF) score of 60 or below and untrained person would describe labeled person as sick vs score of 61 or above and untrained person would describe the recovered person as not sick (normal) - Weak sense of self defined by authority and little future direction vs strong self defined from within and peers, strong sense of purpose and future
NEC developed an approach termed Personal Assistance in Community Existence (PACE). It is based on the premise that people can potentially recover fully from even the most severe forms of mental illness, and on an Empowerment Model of Recovery and prevention. It is an education program to help shift the culture of mental health from institutional thinking to recovery thinking, designed for people training to become peer coaches, people furthering their recovery, and people learning new skills to help others. It has previously been deliberately contrasted with "PACT" - Program of Assertive Community Treatment
Assertive Community Treatment
Assertive community treatment, or ACT, is an intensive and highly integrated approach for community mental health service delivery. ACT programs serve people whose symptoms of mental illness result in severe functional difficulties that interfere with their ability to achieve personally meaningful...
- a form of outpatient commitment
Outpatient commitment
Outpatient commitment refers to mental health law that allows the compulsory, community-based treatment of individuals with mental illness.In the United States the term "assisted outpatient treatment" or "AOT" is often used and refers to a process whereby a judge orders a qualifying person with...
that was originally designed to enable people to live in the community, rather than in psychiatric hospitals, but according to NEC has become a "coercive, lifelong, and nonclient-directed system with medication compliance as its most important tenet" NEC conducted a national survey of the use of PACE in the mental health system.
Staffing
The co-founder and executive director is Daniel B. Fisher, a board-certified psychiatristPsychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
. A graduate of Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, he completed a PhD in biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin, medical training at George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
, and a psychiatric residency at Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
. While working as a biomedical researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health
National Institute of Mental Health
The National Institute of Mental Health is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health...
, Fisher had a psychotic breakdown, including hallucinations and delusions. After three months at Bethesda Naval Hospital, at age 25, which included forced seclusion and antipsychotic medication haloperidol
Haloperidol
Haloperidol is a typical antipsychotic. It is in the butyrophenone class of antipsychotic medications and has pharmacological effects similar to the phenothiazines....
, he was discharged with a diagnosis of schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
. He was involuntarily hospitalized three times. He reports being influenced by those who were able to show they cared about the person inside and gave him hope that he might some day recover. He went on to become a psychiatrist. He was told during psychiatric training that "You can’t talk to an illness" but believed that talking to the person inside is a key method for building trust and recovery. He has since worked as a psychiatrist in hospitals and clinics, while also been part of the consumer movement. He said that a very significant part of the reason for becoming a psychiatrist was wanting to bring to the field what he wished had been there when he was going through psychosis
Psychosis
Psychosis means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"...
The director is Debbie L. Whittle and other staff are Judene Shelley, Amy K. Long and formerly Judi Chamberlin
Judi Chamberlin
Judi Chamberlin was an American activist, leader, organizer, public speaker and educator in the psychiatric survivors movement. Her political activism followed her involuntary confinement in a psychiatric facility in the 1960s...
. Chamberlin was an internationally known psychiatric survivor and advocate of individuals with a mental illness label. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 21 but recovered, which she put down in part to having been a "bad" and non-compliant patient. (She died in 2010.)
Laurie Aherne and Patricia Deegan
Patricia Deegan
Patricia E. Deegan is a disability-rights advocate, psychologist and researcher living in the United States. She is known as an advocate of the mental health recovery movement and is an international speaker and trainer in the field of mental health....
were co-founders and directors for several years.http://www.mdri.org/laurie-ahern.htmlhttp://www.recoveryxchange.org/PatDeegan.html
This American Life
Co-founder Patricia Deegan was featured on the award-winning radio show a "This American LifeThis American Life
This American Life is a weekly hour-long radio program produced by WBEZ and hosted by Ira Glass. It is distributed by Public Radio International on PRI affiliate stations and is also available as a free weekly podcast. Primarily a journalistic non-fiction program, it has also featured essays,...
"in "Edge of Sanity," first aired on 1997. Dr. Deegan herself is a psychologist who attended Oxford and Yale despite multiple hospitalizations (when she was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager).