Voices of Transformation - National Empowerment Center

Voices of Transformation: Developing Recovery-Oriented Statewide Consumer Organizations
and cultural competence (originally called diversity). There was a strong feeling of
caring, companionship, and sense of community among members of the group.
Relationships and personal connections were very important. The organizational
structure was non-hierarchical; everyone had a voice and there was no single
authority. Decisions were made by consensus. If someone was strongly against
something, the group kept talking about it until they could come to a common
position, or the issue was dropped.
Consensus can be a more difficult way to make policy than voting, where the
majority wins and the minority loses, but it insures every voice is heard and that the
organization doesn’t move in a particular direction unless everyone is in agreement.
The organization was governed by a Board of Directors, which was elected
statewide. The primary source of funding was the California Department of Mental
Health, although other funds
supported special projects, such as
NIMH Community Support Program
and a local foundation, the
Zellarbach Family Foundation,
which provided support for the
Reaching Across books.
Consensus can be a more difficult way to
make policy than voting, where the
majority wins and the minority loses, but it
insures every voice is heard.
In its first eight or nine years, the California Network was extremely productive,
energized by a common mission and goals. During this time, the Network
• Produced two successful and widely circulated books, Reaching Across and
Reaching Across II, which had chapters written by many state and national
consumer leaders.
• Conducted the Well Being Project, possibly the first consumer-directed
research project in the country. The Well Being Project also produced a film
and companion book, entitled “People Say I’m Crazy”.
• Expanded committee work groups into active self-help, public policy, and
minority projects.
• Spurred the passage of legislation such as a law requiring that there be two
clients on each mental health board (since updated to require 50 percent
client/family member representation).
However, as time went by, the lack of formal leadership made it difficult to
continue the sense of common purpose. In addition, conditions were changing
around the state, based largely on what the California Network had accomplished.
There were large numbers of local support and self-help groups. The leadership,
specifically the Board of Directors of the California Network, was composed of
clients who were acknowledged leaders, active on the local level. The predominant
needs of the organization were shifting away from a centralized statewide presence
to the need for more local presence.
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