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EC mental health center one of 11 in Wisconsin receiving state grant

Leader-Telegram - 7/8/2021

Jul. 9—EAU CLAIRE — A downtown Eau Claire mental health center will receive a $30,000 state grant for the next five years. The center's director says the state funds are crucial for the center to remain open.

The Wellness Shack, 505 S. Dewey St., Suite 101, Eau Claire is one of 11 drop-in recovery centers in Wisconsin getting state grants to expand or continue their services.

The centers are peer-run places where people struggling with their mental health can seek free, drop-in support from people with the same diagnoses and struggles.

The Wellness Shack in Eau Claire was founded in 2004 and began receiving state funding that year, said Bob Schrader, the center's director and a certified peer specialist.

The group relies on state funding to stay open, Schrader said: "We were very grateful to hear we got awarded (the grant)."

Support at the peer-run recovery centers can span support groups, socializing, potlucks, group activities or one-on-one conversations.

Most people seeking out the Wellness Shack live in Eau Claire and Altoona, but the center has offered help to people living as far as Pierce and St. Croix counties, Schrader said.

The Wellness Shack's services are free, and people don't need an appointment to stop in.

The center's "peer-run" aspect is crucial to its success, Schrader said.

"The person who's got the experience of going through (mental health challenges) has a lot more empathy for the person struggling," he said. " ... It creates a more open communication than what people are willing to share with professionals who only have 'book experience.'"

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Wellness Shack has offered online versions of its support groups and is only holding limited face-to-face support group sessions.

It offers separate support groups for people with anxiety and depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and dual diagnoses of mental health and substance abuse disorders, as well as a recovery-focused and a general mental health support group, Schrader said.

Four paid staffers — two of whom are certified peer specialists — and around 27 volunteers work at the center. Many of its volunteers are people who first sought out the Wellness Shack for support during their own healing process, Schrader said.

"Being peer-run, the people who use the place are the people who run the place," he said.

The center was first housed on Barstow Street, but in 2016 moved its offices to the Executive Center at 505 S. Dewey St.

Schrader hopes the Wellness Shack can bring people back to face-to-face support groups this summer, possibly as early as August.

"Peer recovery centers offer alternatives to feeling isolated in the community. This is helpful for people who feel they have little to no support system," the Wisconsin Department of Health Services wrote in its June grant announcement.

The renewed state funding will help the Wellness Shack pay for peer specialist staffers, an annual audit and rent costs, Schrader said.

Speaking about his experience with chronic depression, with which he said he was diagnosed at 34, Schrader described the center's peer-run services as the "best-kept secret in Eau Claire."

"I didn't know everybody wasn't suffering as much as I was suffering," he added. "And what motivates me to reach out to people, and to keep this place open, is there are a lot of people out there who are suffering and don't realize there are people out there who understand and can go through it with them."

The Wisconsin Milkweed Alliance in Menomonie is also receiving the $30,000, five-year state grant. It plans to develop and operate a peer recovery center in Menomonie within the next year, according to the DHS.

Other peer-run recovery centers receiving grants are in Madison, Green Bay, La Crosse, Milwaukee, West Bend and Adams.

All the grants are funded from Wisconsin's share of the federal Community Mental Health Services Block Grant, according to the DHS.

The Wellness Shack can be reached at its website, www.wellnessshack.org, through email at wellnessshack@gmail.com or by phone at 715-855-7705.

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