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History |
Edited by Laura Ziegler The first peer-run project for psychiatric survivors in Vermont was Eden Express, a drop-in center behind the Montpelier police station that was run by Tom Blanchard and Donald Stoltz. It was funded through a grant proposal written by Kate Quinn around 1982. Eden Express lasted for a year, until the landlord chose not to renew the lease. It was succeeded by Inside Out, which on a grant of $300 a month ran a weekly gathering on Friday evenings featuring an art group followed by a shared meal. Tom Blanchard was a key person. The gatherings took place in a large room made available through an alternative high school founded by Anthony Pollina, behind Manghi's Bakery on School Street. After two years the high school folded and the room was no longer available. The shared meals and arts program was then moved to Another Way, and a year later the two programs were merged. Another Way was founded by Kate Quinn in 1984. Kate was dissatisfied with the services offered by the community mental health centers, and wanted to create a place for peer support and alternative healing. She obtained a small grant through the Department of Mental Health, which thanks to Paul Dorfner's efforts had set up a group for consumer and family projects. Paul had become active in the psychiatric survivor movement while he was a student at Syracuse University, where Professor Thomas Szasz had put him in touch with the late Judi Chamberlin, author of On Our Own: Patient Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System. Paul insisted to the Department that part of the federal money that was supposed to be used for consumer empowerment go directly to peer-run projects. Another Way began as a drop-in center at 25 East State Street, in a small three room apartment behind a tobacco shop and below a group home for people with developmental disabilities. It was open to psychiatric survivors and their families, friends and allies. There were no paid staff and it was run informally by volunteers, including Kate Quinn. Kate recalls: "We all started out trying to create a place that was different from the system and serve the people who we know are rebels." For about two years Kate was the central figure, with Tom Blanchard and Bill Newhall running the Friday night dinners. By 1986 Kate was exhausted. Bill assumed her responsibilities and formed Green Mountain Support Group, Inc. to run Another Way. At this point the funding was about $15,000 a year. It continued to increase over the years in order to support paid staff and stipends. Green Mountain Support Group applied for 501(3)(c) status which was granted three years later, retroactive to 1986. After the group home moved out, the drop-in center became unwelcome and the landlord refused to renew the lease. Another Way then moved to a two room second floor apartment on Elm Street, in the Barrett block above the Winooski River. Eventually the drop-in center took over an adjacent apartment, doubling its size to four rooms. When the building was taken over by the Central Vermont Land Trust, Another Way was forced to relocate to a large seven room two floor apartment in a privately owned building across the street. By this time the drop-in center was open seven days a week, 365 days a year, from 9-5 weekdays and 9-4 on weekends. Bill Newhall acted as primary staff person. What Another Way offered was consistent from the beginning: peer support, including informal peer counseling and rap groups; peer advocacy; and a safe and welcoming space. The welcome was also extended in the form of outreach, including to people in the State Hospital. One of the drop-in center's important functions was to catalyze connections between people, which led to the formation of mutual support networks and community. Another Way was also involved in systems advocacy, maintaining a presence at policy making meetings and other forums where the rights and interests of psychiatric survivors were on the table. It also played an active part in advocacy coalitions on housing and low income issues. In addition, Another Way sent people to statewide conferences and to national conferences such as NARPA and Alternatives. Around 1995, Another Way was forced to leave the Elm Street apartment after a sudden rock slide from an adjacent cliff came through the wall and made the building uninhabitable. It occurred during the drop-in center's operating hours but fortunately no one was injured. After a period of being homeless the drop-in center relocated to 125 Barre Street, initially renting three small rooms and later expanding to seven rooms -- the entire ground floor of a three story building. About six months later the building was put up for sale. Green Mountain Support Group, Inc. decided to purchase the building to secure the drop-in center a permanent home. The purchase was made possible by a fifteen year mortgage from Bill Newhall, who wanted to ensure that come what may, Another Way would not be pushed out of its housing again. By this time Another Way's budget had increased to over $100,000, including federal grant money for homeless people with psychiatric disabilities. It was providing an unofficial open kitchen with food supplied by the Vermont Food Bank. The drop-in center was increasingly used by people who were without housing, who began to depend on it for basic needs including day shelter, food, showers, phone and internet access, and social and human contact as well as help and advocacy in obtaining housing. Bill Newhall retired at the end of June 2008. Steven Morgan was hired in 2009 as Executive Director. Shortly thereafter Green Mountain Support Group Inc. became Another Way Inc. Today, Another Way is reviving its roots in the psychiatric survivor movement and ever-evolving as a peer support center. |