About Us

Our Organization

Overview

The Mental Health Association of NW PA is organized for people diagnosed with mental illness. We provide an atmosphere where mental health consumers can safely relax with their peers. We are consumer run organization. The MHANP board of directors must have more than 50% consumer representation. The goal is to support and promote mental health recovery. The Consumer Center Team provides a safe environment for members to enjoy a wide range of social or educational activities or to just be. The Consumer/Family Satisfaction Team functions as a service for Consumers and Family members to voice their opinion regarding their own mental health services. Advocacy efforts range from navigating systems such as: mental health, housing, vocational, educational and financial to writing a resumé or helping someone register to vote. Volunteering provides opportunities as a means to help ease the transition back into gainful employment.

Eligibility

Membership in the MHA is free and there are no requirements regarding your attendance. Come as little or as often as you want!

Any and all adults above the age of 18 with a history of treatment for mental health needs may seek free membership and services from the Mental Health Association. We operate for the benefit of mental health consumers through consumer conceived, designed and operated programs.

Consumer Center

According to the US 2000 Census, approximately 24,000 adults with disabilities live in the Erie area and less than half of them are employed. The Consumer Center is a safe environment for members to enjoy a wide range of social or educational activities or to just be. The main area of the Consumer Center accommodates recreational activities such as pool, ping-pong, movies or board games as well as space for stimulating conversation and relaxation. There is a small cafe in which snacks and drinks can be purchased with space to sit and enjoy a meal with friends. The Consumer Center also provides members with two activity rooms, a Self-Help library, laundry facilities, computer center, lounge area, classroom, and a telephone where local calls can be made and received if necessary. We provide rides home to the surrounding areas most days out of the week. Over the last four years the MHA has served more than 600 people annually. Visit "Our Place", our consumer center.

Activities and Support Groups

The activities and support groups provided by the Mental Health Association are focused on the needs and desires of members. Overall, activities and groups are educational, social and/or fun.The MHA calendar averages over 50 organized events per month. As part of our mission and values, we encourage the members to develop and facilitate their own support groups. The Mental Health Association provides the meeting place and often the materials needed for groups and activities. These are our groups.

Consumer/Family Satisfaction Team: (CFST)

The Consumer/Family Satisfaction Team functions as a service to all mental health consumers and family members who are a part of the Health Choices Service System and/or the Public Mental Health system of Erie Co. Through the Consumer/Family Satisfaction Team's individual contacts and interviews, Consumers and Family members have the opportunity to voice their opinion regarding their own mental health services. The information gathered by this team is reported as group results to providers and funders and is used to improve mental health services in the areas of quality, accessibility, effectiveness, and general satisfaction in Erie County. This team has collected and analyzed as many as 4,000 satisfaction surveys from their fellow consumers and family members each year.

Advocacy

The MHA focuses its primary advocacy resources on representing Consumers and Families in whatever capacity meets their needs. By supporting those individual needs Consumers/Families are able to take steps towards self-advocacy and their own recovery. Advocacy efforts range from navigating systems such as: mental health, housing, vocational, educational, and financial to providing materials to apply for work, writing a resume' or helping someone register to vote. The MHA has liaisons with Millcreek Community Hospital and St. Vincent's Health Center.

Erie County Child/Family Advocate

The Child/Family Advocate is a family member who has had extensive experience with the child-serving systems in Erie County. This advocate helps families understand and navigate the child-serving systems by giving encouragement and support. This person provides guidance as they negotiate the various steps of the processes needed to participate in care.

External Advocate

The External Advocate is located on-site at Warren State Hospital and is available to patients 5 days a week. This advocate safeguards the human rights of all patients by supporting them when they have complaints or issues. The External Advocate investigates claims of abuse, neglect and maltreatment as well. The Warren State Hospital Advocate also ensures patient involvement in policy development or change, and helps to disseminate information to patients. she is a key contact at intake and orientation for all new patients and is available to attend and participate in patient treatment team meetings and participates on multiple committees at the hospital. The external advocate is trained in Recovery Principles and Advance Directives. External Advocates Schedule

Community Advocate

The MHA also provides a Community Advocate in Warren/Forest Counties. This advocate assists families in navigating child-service systems such as behavioral health, drug and alcohol, juvenile justice, education and welfare. The advocate of Warren/Forest Counties also offers telephone support and case advocacy. This advocate is available to attend or support families at meetings, individual education planning, mediation, residential treatment facilities, interagency and treatment teams. Educational forums, trainings and support groups are provided, as well as resource and reference materials. Community Advocates Schedule

Volunteers

Volunteers play a major role in the functioning and well being of the Mental Health Association and its members. Interaction with consumer center members is vital to the volunteer experience. Volunteers help in any way possible. Volunteering also provides opportunities for individuals who have been out of the workforce due to mental illness as a means to help ease the transition back into gainful employment.

Housing Support Team

The Housing Support Team helps mental health consumers find and keep safe, affordable housing through peer support, education and advocacy. The team is staffed by mental health consumers, many of whom have had experience in life that includes having resided in low income and/or subsidized housing. Most of the team members are Certified Peer Specialists.

We believe that peer-to-peer supports are a critical component to recovery from mental illness, both for the peer receiving support and for the peer providing the support. Housing Support Team details

Employment Outreach Service

The goal of the Consumer Employment Outreach Coordinator is to empower mental health consumers to find and hold successful employment roles. Employment Outreach Service details

Contact Information

Full mailing address:

Mental Health Association of Northwestern PA

1101 Peach Street

Erie, PA 16501-1839

Phone Number:

814 452-4462

Fax Number:

814 456-6593

Email Address:

info@mhanp.org

Members of our Staff

Bill Grove

CEO

Bill Grove mailbox

 

Thomas Hover

Financial Officer

Thomas Hover mailbox

 

LuAnn Gossett

Administrative Assistant

LuAnn Gossett mailbox

 

Rita Wheeler

Program/Volunteer Coordinator

Rita Wheeler mailbox

 

Kate Bender

Certified Peer Specialist Employment Coordinator

Kate Bender mailbox

 

Melissa Runiewicz

Center Team Leader

Melissa Runiewicz mailbox

 

Danielle DiFilippo

Consumer/Family Satisfaction Team Leader

Danielle DiFilippo mailbox

 

Dave Wooledge

Housing Support Team Leader

Dave Wooledge mailbox

 

Board of Directors

Missi Berquist

President

 

Salvador A. Parco, PHD.

Vice-President

 

Holly Schwab

Secretary

 

Angela Lasher

Board Member

 

Jennifer Coons

Board Member

 

Jonathon Walton

Board Member

 

Chris Colao Nickson

Board Member

Our Future and our Past

Mission Statement of the Mental Health Association of Northwestern PA

The MHA provides a consumer driven environment which supports and promotes recovery for people with mental health needs.

Vision of the Mental Health Association of Northwestern PA

All people with mental health needs lead meaningful and satisfying lives through choice, responsibility, and dignity with respect.

Values

The MHA values empowering people with mental health needs in their recovery.

Historical Perspective of Recovery and MHA in Erie PA

The vision for what was to become the Mental Health Association of Northwestern PA began to form in March 1992. The Consumer Empowerment Project began at MECA in 1992 with a vision of housing mental health consumer-run, consumer-directed projects. The idea was to cultivate a group of consumers interested in participation on social service agency boards, in essence, to have meaningful consumer involvement in organizations that were directing the flow of services being provided. A group of people took action.

A group of consumers met in the basement of the Arts and Culture Center at Stairways. They talked of a need for more structure and help to have form a consumer support group and a consumer drop-in center in Erie, PA. John Farmer, an activist consumer from Philadelphia, was invited for consultation and offered support to this determined group. Meetings followed at the MECA Office in the Baldwin Building (now Renaissance Center). Participants learned how to structure a group, had training in group facilitation and visited drop in centers in PA.

Another individual wanted to start a local chapter of the Depression Manic Depression Association (now Depression Bipolar Support Alliance). He needed a place to hold the meetings. At the time DMDA met two different days at two different times. Mr. Bill Grove, then Supervior of Inpatient Therapy at Saint Vincent Hospital found space for DMDA to hold information sharing and support to those on the inpatient unit. Confidentiality was upheld.

In 1993 the Erie/Warren Project to bring Erie County residents receiving treatment at Warren State Hospital back to the community was underway. "Together We Stand" was a group of consumers who met at Stairways to bring a consumer voice and perspective to this downsizing of the State Hospital. They requested and received funding from Erie County Office of MH/MR to start a Consumer Center as a peer support project for the returning consumers.

The Center operated in the basement of Mid-City Towers in downtown Erie during the 1992-1993 fiscal year. Referred to then as Consumer Projects, the center started out housing a "drop-in center" and the Consumer Satisfaction Team (CST) in 1994. Visits were made to consult with and receive training from Loretta Ferry, Consumer Satisfaction Team, in Philadelphia, PA.

Ms. Sue Bennett, a founding member of the group, worked with Mr. John Farmer from Southeast PA to turn the vision of a consumer driven/run organization into reality for Erie, PA. Providers, Erie County MH officials, family members and consumers came together in support of the idea.

In 1994 the Consumer Center and the Consumer Satisfaction Team were incorporated as a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization becoming Erie County Coalition of Mental Health Consumers (ECCMHC) with a Board of Directors and Susan L. Bennett as Executive Director. The ECCMHC operated out of various locations over the next couple of years including Old Main (part of Stairways) on West 21st and Sassafras Streets.

The tireless search continued for a permanent location for consumers to have support groups and a Consumer Center. In August 1997, again with the assistance and support of the Erie County MH/MR Office, the ECCMHC bought a building at 1101 Peach Street, Erie, PA. This facility remains the home of the organization to this day.

In 2000 the ECCMHC affiliated with the National Mental Health Association and was renamed the Mental Health Association of Northwestern PA.

For the next five years, MHA continued to grow its Consumer Center and Consumer Satisfaction Team programs. Numbers of daily participants in the Consumer Center rose from 20-30 per day to over 50. The CST added surveying of family members with children in the mental health system renaming itself as the Consumer/Family Satisfaction Team (CFST) and increased its surveying capacity to over 3,000 surveys per year.

In 2005 MHA subcontracted with Mental Health Association in Pennsylvania to be the provider of External Advocate services at Warren State Hospital, helping to ensure consumers had an independent source of advocacy for human rights at that facility. In 2006, MHA developed its second out-of-county contract, providing a Community Advocate in Forest/Warren Counties. In this same year Erie County began contracting with the Consumer Satisfaction Team to survey Drug and Alcohol program consumers receiving county funded services.

In 2008 MHA's Erie programs were operating out of the first floor of our main facility but we were growing again. We had been renting the second floor to a related service that was now looking for a more accessible site. With the help of Erie County MH/MR, our tenant was able to find an appropriate facility and MHA was able to secure funding to renovate the vacated space for our use. Erie County had trained over 50 consumers in the new career option of Certified Peer Specialists and wanted MHA to develop 2 new projects, the Peer Housing Support Program and the Consumer Employment Outreach Coordinator, both providing employment opportunities and support components for some of the newly trained Peer Specialists.

MHA now houses consumer driven/run programs on all floors of its facility. The Consumer Center now takes up the entire first floor which used to serve all our programs. Renovations to that floor now offer consumers laundry and shower facilities, a café, and a full kitchen. In the winter of 2008, the Consumer Center joined with Erie County to offer a mental health consumer run Warming Center for any shelterless individuals from 11 at night to 7 the next morning on the coldest of winter nights.

Today MHA continues to serve mental health consumers with quality peer based services employing over 35 full and part-time staff, 75% of whom are consumers of mental health services. We are proud of our heritage of service and opportunity for helping persons with mental health needs pursue mental health recovery throughout every aspect of the organization.