Local program provides responsiblity
“There are no failures, only new discoveries.”
That’s the motto of the Bear River House, which is providing a way for local businesses to help the community and employ people with mental illnesses.
The house is part of an international network of clubhouses dedicated to helping people with mental illnesses. These people’s lives have been interrupted and the house helps them get back on track, said Daryl Duffin, program director.
“The power of the program is love for people,” Duffin said.
He said work is the best way to get people back into society. Bear River House helps its members get jobs through a program called Transitional Employment Placement (TEP). When someone has a mental illness there is usually a long time when he doesn’t work. TEP gives members a chance to gradually get back into the workforce with a part-time job.
“The biggest thing it does is give us self-confidence,” said Connie Tribe, a retired teacher and member of the Bear River House, “We sometimes have failures, but the club is there to pick us up.”
Tribe said she was once going to interview for a job at a fabric store and got cold feet. She called the clubhouse and someone was there to help her and tell her she could do it. She got a TEP position there.
“This is a place of security for us,” Tribe said. “I’ve been coming here for 20 years and I’m still coming.”
Hastings has been employing people from the program for at least 12 years, said Colby Kroff, store manager.
The employees work right alongside the other employees, get paid the same wages and become one of the family, he said. They sort movies, stock shelves and clean up just like everyone else.
“It’s fun to watch them grow,” Kroff said.
Hastings plans to continue the program as long as it’s mutually beneficial. He said it’s reassuring to hire people from Bear River House because the employer is guaranteed that someone will cover every shift even if the member can’t make it.
“The job actually belongs to the program,” Duffin said.
A staff member from the clubhouse is responsible to learn the job and make sure the member knows how to do it. If a member doesn’t make it to his shift, a staff member or another member covers the shift.
Smith’s Food & Drug has recently been employing a member from the Bear River House and last week approached the clubhouse to see if they could hire the man full-time, Duffin said. That’s the goal of the program, to get people integrated in society.
Tribe said, “We won’t be seeing much of him around anymore, but I guess that’s the idea of the program.”
Janet Searle, a member of Bear River House said her work experience through the program was a wonderful opportunity and allowed her opportunities to reconnect with society.
“I truly knew that I contributed and was part of something greater than myself,” she said.
Since it started in 1984, the Bear River House has helped about 550 people and today has about 125 active members and eight full-time staff. Membership at the Bear River House is voluntary, and about 80 members come in each week, Duffin said.
Through TEP, Bear River House has placed members in many diverse jobs in Cache Valley. Some of the places where their members have been employed are: Utah State University — in The Hub and the recycling department, Logan City Golf Course, Smith’s Food & Drug, Hastings, Cache Valley Bank, Cabin Fever, LW’s Truck Stop, IHOP, Green Thumb and others, Duffin said.
Bear River House also helps support 25 more members in their independent employment at Gossner’s, Lee’s, Logan schools, Taco Bell and others, he said.
The program also helped two of its members who started a lawn-care business in buying equipment and getting started.
Duffin pointed out that the members of the program are not mentally retarded, but have suffered mental illnesses.
Members of the Bear River House come from many different backgrounds such as retired teacher, physician, aerospace engineer, linguist, mathematician, welder and college student.
Duffin said there is a stigma associated with people with mental illnesses and more people needed to be educated about it. The Bear River House has a program called People Educating People where members and staff go out in the communities and schools and talk to the public about mental illnesses. Since it started in 1984, they’ve talked with about 14,000 people in Cache Valley and surrounding communities.
Members also organize fund-raisers throughout the year selling Aggie Ice Cream. Last year they raised about $20,000, Duffin said.
Duffin, who has been running the program since he helped start it, is retiring on Friday. His staff said they didn’t think he could stay away.
“He’ll be back in on Monday,” they said.
–coryhill@cc.usu.edu
Mary Don Warte, an eight-year veteran of Hastings in Logan works part-time. Her favorite part of working there is working in the back room. “There’s more stuff to do in back,” she said. Mary Don stocks new DVDs on the shelf before the store opens.
Danny Margis has worked at Hastings for four months now. “This is the most independent I have ever been in my life,” he said. His work day consists of vacuming, emptying garbage and other assorted tasks. “It can be stressful, but I go home and take it easy,” Danny said. His favorite things about working at Hastings are the music and all the people he gets to talk to. (Photos by John Zsiray)