2Succeed History
Past, Present and Future
1989 - MHCD
MHCD began in 1989 through a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant. Denver City leaders recognized the need to establish a single provider of high quality mental health services in Denver County. At the time, there were 4 independent centers that consolidated into the Mental Health Center of Denver, a more efficient and responsive mental health center that better served the culturally diverse needs of Denver.
1989 – Supported Employment Program
With the creation of MHCD, there was an existing small supported employment program which was the result of an agreement between State Division of Mental Health and the State Division of Rehabilitation. There was also a small sheltered employment program which we converted to a joint effort with Bayaud Industries called Ventures. Roy Starks was hired to develop a full array of Rehabilitation Services.
1991-1993 – “Choose, Get, Keep”
By 1991 our vision was to reintegrate people with Mental Health disabilities into the community. Many of our clients worked in the sheltered workshop, but it was felt that this was still segregating them from society and limiting their choices. We believed by helping our clients find completive employment it would give them more choices thus empowering them in their recovery. Roy Starks again motivated change in the program when he read about the "Choose, Get, Keep" model of recovery by William Anthony. This model of recovery was different from any treatment used before in the mental health field. Roy believed in integrating MHCD members into the community with purpose and meaning by finding them employment. He felt that by focusing on our members’ strengths and not their disabilities could help increase their probability of recovery. Roy would say "Let's focus on what they can do not what they can't do." Roy also worked with the program manager of the day treatment program to begin transitioning this program to a clubhouse based on the Fountain House Model of New York City.
1993 – Ruth Goebel Grant
In 1981, Ruth Goebel, a homeless woman died during a winter storm. The courts found her death was due to the lack of services Denver had for their homeless population. After a lengthy settlement period, the court mandated that the State of Colorado and the City of Denver provide better services for this population. The State of Colorado contracted with MHCD to implement the court settlement. The Ruth Goebel Grant funding allowed the Vocational Employment program to triple the number of employees. It also enabled the rehabilitation program to expand to three distinct programs, the Resource Center, the Supported Employment program and the Clubhouse model. We decided to co-locate the Clubhouse Model and the Supported Employment program in the facility which had been used as a day treatment program. Between 1993 and 1997, the Rehabilitation program was under the overall court monitoring of the settlement with strict criteria to implement the three programs. During this same time, the clubhouse program applied to become a certified clubhouse. Following a site visit by the International Clubhouse Certification program, we made the decision to continue our model of a joint clubhouse and supported employment program. This included the decision to reject the Clubhouse model of employment.
1997-2000 – Denver Model
In 1997 after deciding against the International Clubhouse Association Model, 2Succeed developed our own model for recovery. It was a combination of the Clubhouse model and the Supported Employment program. We took the core idea of the Clubhouse model that members and staff of a Clubhouse work side-by-side to manage all the operations of the Clubhouse, and added our Supported Employment Program to help members find competitive employment. At the same time, we began to shift to the Individual Placement and Support Model as put forward by Dr. Gary Bond.
2000-2010 – Individual Placement and Support Model
In 2000, we published an article entitled the “Denver Approach to Psychiatric Rehabilitation”. This outlined the combination of the Clubhouse and Supported Employment models, including the IPS model. This is a supported employment model which has become a federally recognized Evidence Based Practice for people with mental illness. It has also been extensively researched and found to be effective at achieving integrated community employment for people with mental illnesses. 2Succeed was excited about this new model because it supports our views that recovery is getting your life back and rejoining the community. During this same time period, we transitioned our clubhouse to a supported education model and created the 2Succeed in Employment and Education model which we continue to the present time. Again, this transition was motivated to help people have a full life in the community rather than at the rehabilitation center.
2010 . . .
May 8th, 2009 MHCD held its 10th Annual Recovery Conference. The conference features the latest innovations in recovery strategies. Each year, MHCD shares its mission and values by coordinating this educational conference. The conference teaches the latest in evidence-based practices to clinicians and promotes consumers getting more involved in their recovery.
In 2010, the 2Succeed in Employment Program was the recipient of a SAMSHA grant that allowed the program to grow by three Employment and Educational Counselors. In addition, the program received the prestigious 2010 SAMSHA Science to Service Award for outstanding adherence to the Individual Support and Placement Evidence-Based Employment model.
MHCD’s Reaching Recovery Initiative began consultation services in 2010 with two community mental health centers to incorporate recovery instruments into clinical practice. The recovery instruments track recovery from multiple perspectives to aid mental health centers in their recovery practices and transformation.
2011 . . .
In 2011, 2Succeed in Employment was happy to have 45 individual’s successful participants involved with State Vocational Rehabilitation. 2Succeed has increased services assisting people in job retention and people moving in career advancements. In 2011, 2Succeed in employment was greatly honored with the SAMSHA Science to Service award. We were also thrilled to attain the WRKE grant from SAMSHA. We continue to grow as a program with the Individual Placement and Support model and look for creative ways to better implement services into MHCD. 2Succeed, like all of MHCD is dedicated to assist people in their own recovery. We believe that people can and do recover.
In 2011, the Reaching Recovery Initiative expanded its reach by providing consultation and research instruments to 4 community mental health centers across the country. In addition, the Initiative hosted a Recovery Summit in March 2011. The Summit brought together 60 individuals focused on driving recovery systems transformation for community mental health centers. The 13 centers that participated continue to discuss their recovery transformation through online forums and web meetings.