Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
The Growing Place Empowerment Organization is seeking a local organization to donate their facility once a week for three hours.
“We are seeking a community organization in this area that would be able to help us,” said Lucy Sajdak, project director for the Berwyn-based organization. “They would help us by providing, without charge, three hours of social and educational space for a maximum of 30 individuals one time per week. Our session will be open to anyone who cares to come, provided they have personal experience with mental illness or are in severe emotional pain.”
GPEO is a nonprofit, volunteer organization that provides education, advocacy and socialization for persons who have had personal experience with mental illness or are in severe emotional pain. Its mission is to nurture a community-based, mental health consumer-run, psychosocial relapse prevention program that provides voice, validation, hope and respect for adults with psychiatric disabilities.
Sajdak, who has a master’s degree in professional counseling and teaches psychiatric rehabilitation when not working with the organization, said it “grew out of the resolve of a group of consumer advocates (people with a history of psychiatric disabilities, including herself) who have become empowered to share successful strategies of education, peer support advocacy and quality enhancing program experiences with their peers.
“People with a history of mental illness are just like anyone else. Many people are in nursing homes who don’t need to be there. There are also people with a history of mental illness who just need someone to talk to. Agencies talk about illness and problems but we are talking about wellness. We want people to stay well and do it in their own community.
Started as a pilot program for a mental health consumer-run psychosocial relapse prevention in 1999, the organization's programs were awarded the Illinois Governor’s first “Competency and Compassion Award” in 2001.
“The overall goal (of the organization) is to assist other consumers to maintain a sustained and growing recovery while living in their own homes and neighborhoods,” Sajdak said. “Our current five-year plan is a barrier-free center that is open seven days and evenings per week. Programs will be expanded to provide peer counseling, WRAP education classes, peer support groups, women’s group, work support groups, financial management, resources for job searches, job applications and extensive resource and referral material.”
In addition to a place to meet, the organization also is looking for volunteers to help with program development, book keeping, membership, newsletters, grants, fundraising and other tasks. Interested volunteers can attend a GPEO meeting at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 10, at Madden Mental Health Center, 1200 S. First Ave. in Hines, near Maywood. The group meets the second Saturday of each month.
GPEO is open to anyone over the age of 18 with a history of mental illness, regardless of finances, ethnicity, gender, religious age or disability. Those who require a personal attendant may bring their attendant. Meetings are handicapped accessible.
“There are more and more people like this in our community,” Sajdak said. “We can provide support to those who need it. Wellness starts off by saying, ‘I can do things.’”

For more information, contact Sajdak at (708) 445-1604 or lucys@cyberonic.com.