The Hillsdale Drop-In Center serves the community by assisting people who suffer from mental health issues. A non-profit organization, the Center has provided its members with a safe environment for twenty-two years. Its unique mission focuses on recovery, rehabilitation, and restoration.
The Center, on the corner of Hillsdale and Monroe Streets, goes largely unnoticed, besides occasional passerby traffic.
“People wander by and we get some looks, but we’re friendly people. We’re not going to jump out the door and attack anybody,” said Steve Powell, Treasurer of the Advisory Board for the Center.
The mission of the Center is to protect its members and empower them to face the challenges of their daily lives. According to its mission statement, the center offers refuge to those who are threatened or forgotten. Its members have often experienced emotional or physical abuse, trauma, or neglect at some point in their lives. The center encourages members to stand up for themselves by taking responsibility for their actions. This enables them to lead lives of which they are in control, something many members haven’t normally experienced.
“I like it because it is a place to come and chill and relax and have people to talk to,” said member Jarid Browning, who has been a part of the center for a year. “You know, get your mind off of something that’s been bothering you all day.”
The center utilizes support groups to aid individual members’ recoveries. Groups cover a range of issues such as depression, anxiety, and living with chronic illnesses, and are led by a certified peer support specialist.
It offers meals to its members Monday through Friday at 5pm, along with providing a place to clean their laundry once a week. There are also several recreational activities, including a pool table and slot car racing.
Activities Recovery and Empowerment runs the Hillsdale location, as well as a location in Jackson. The organization is consumer-run, meaning it is staffed with those who have previously been diagnosed with a mental illness. This includes the Board of Directors, the CEO, staff members, volunteers, and members.
The Center is a non-profit organization, and it depends on Medicaid for funding as well as state and local grants.
The Drop-In Center relies heavily on the feedback from its members, and enables them to play an influential role in its operation. Monthly meetings allow each member to have an equal voice by allowing them to vote on decisions regarding its management.
At least two of the members have been going to the center for twenty years. One such person is Ruth Place, who said helping people is her favorite part of the center.
“There’s a pride here that I take with these people, and I show them that we can be friends,” Place said, “And that if I can do anything to help them, I’m going to be there for them.”
