The Arc of Western Wayne County: Serving people with disabilities

The Take Charge Helpline

Drop In Centers

Throughout the nation, people who have been diagnosed with mental illness have found support and empowerment in a type of service called a drop-in-center.  Drop-in-centers are successful in helping someone achieve goals of individual empowerment.  At a drop-in-center, people are not “patients” but instead manage and staff the center.  Drop-in-centers provide an impressive array of services, including support groups, advocacy training, vocational rehabilitation and socialization opportunities. 

By planning and directing the drop-in-center’s activities, users learn practical lessons about planning, budgeting, and working.  More importantly, because a drop-in-center’s staff does not assume a superior role to the center’s users, the users develop a sense of responsibility and self-worth that may be absent in traditional settings.  Rather than focusing on the treatment of an illness, drop-in-centers focus on the personal values of recovery.

For more information, please contact The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Michigan at 800-331-4264, or visit them online at namimi.org.  You can also contact The Detroit Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency at 313-833-2500, or visit them online at www.dwccmha.com.

Phone code: 2210