Presentation Developed by the:
Illinois Department of Human Services/Division of Mental Health
Illinois Mental Health Collaborative for Access and Choice
With help from:
Local COSP in Illinois
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Learning Objectives
In today’s presentation, we will explore the following areas:
 Consumer Operated Services and Programs (COSP)
Definition
 Different Types of COSP
 Vision Behind COSP
 Importance of a Shared Understanding of COSP
 Five Key Ingredients of COSP
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Learning Objectives (continued)
 COSP Organizational Tips on Advisory Boards, Hiring Persons in
Recovery and Money Management
 Peer Perspectives on COSP
 COSP Outcomes
 COSP and Other Organizations
 Top Ten Benefits of COSP
 Where to Find More Information and Technical Assistance
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Consumer Operated Services and
Programs (COSP) Definition
COSP are organizations that:
 Are peer-run self-help organizations or groups
 Are administratively and financially controlled by persons
participating in mental health services (consumers)
 Are not simply mental health services delivered by
consumers, but are independent, peer-run programs.
 Generally offer mutual support, community-building and
advocacy.
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What Kinds of COSP Exist?
Several models of COSP exist, including but not limited to:
 Mutual Support Programs: 1-on-1 or group. Organized, empowering,
recovery focused support between persons with mental health challenges
where each individual gives and receives support.
 Drop-in Centers: Places where persons with mental health challenges may
come and go as they please that offers a hopeful environment and voluntary
services.
 Education and Advocacy Training Programs: Programs which use a set
curriculum to teach individuals about mental health, recovery and advocacy.
 Multi-Service Agencies: Organizations that provide benefits counseling,
recovery support and case management.
 Specialized Supportive Services: Organizations that focus on crisis respite,
employment and housing.
 Warm Lines: Peer support by telephone.
Source: Key Ingredients of Peer Programs Identified by Jean Campbell, Ph.D.
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The Vision Behind COSP in Illinois
 The Expectation is Recovery! All persons with mental
illnesses can recover and participate fully in a life in the
community.
- DHS/DMH Vision Statement
 The 2003 President’s New Freedom Commission on
Mental Health recommended “the formal integration of
peer support programs into the continuum of community
mental health services.”
 Bona fide COSP are uniquely qualified to communicate
hope and support the development of skills that are
integral to an individual’s ability to recover.
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The Importance of a Shared
Understanding of COSP
 To maintain the integrity of COSP
 To prevent calling programs which are not truly consumer run
“Consumer Operated”
 To establish a link between the unique practices of COSP and
their effectiveness. This establishes an evidence base that has:

Implications for endorsement and funding

Influence on the expansion of COSP

Impact on the quality of service that persons with mental health
challenges can expect
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Five Key Ingredients of COSP
1) Consumers constitute at least 51% of the board or group
who decide policies and procedures.
2) With limited exceptions, staff and volunteers consist of
consumers who are hired by and operate the COSP.
3) Consumers are responsible for making COSP hiring decisions.
4) Consumers control the operating budget.
5) Volunteer opportunities for COSP participants may include
board and leadership positions, unpaid jobs, and paid staff
positions.
Source: Key Ingredients of Peer Programs Identified by Jean Campbell, Ph.D.
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COSP Advisory Boards
Given the key COSP ingredient that “consumers constitute
at least 51% of the board or group who decide policies
and procedures,” COSP Advisory Boards:
 Are primarily made up of persons with mental health
challenges
 Give advice, feedback, and ideas to the organization
 Focus on issues relevant to persons served (please see next
slide)
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COSP Advisory Boards (cont’d)
 Examples of issues relevant to persons served:
 Policies that empower persons served
 Services that promote recovery
 Better communication between persons served and staff
 Training of staff in recovery principles and connecting with
persons served
 Presence, awareness, and social action within the community
 The effective use of funds
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COSP Hiring Persons in Recovery
Given the key COSP ingredient that “staff and volunteers primarily
consist of consumers who are hired by and operate the COSP,” the
following points are noted:
 Persons in recovery bring unique skills and strengths to the workplace,
such as empathy, experience and the ability to communicate hope
 Persons in recovery are hired, as anyone else, based on their
qualifications
 The Certified Recovery Support Specialist (CRSS) credential is one way
to ensure qualifications in the areas of:
 Recovery Support
 Advocacy
 Professional Responsibility
 Mentoring
Source: Illinois Recovery Services Development Resource Handbook
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COSP Money Management
Given the key COSP ingredient that “consumers control the
operating budget,” the following notes on nonprofit
money management are provided:
 Nonprofit leaders need to develop basic skills in financial
management (cash management and bookkeeping)
 Having at least one person on the board with financial
experience can help the organization build skills needed to
stay financially healthy
 COSP must develop a plan for spending and saving money
wisely
Source: Basic Guide to Non-Profit Financial Management from the Free Management Library
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COSP Money Management (cont’d)
COSP can benefit from becoming non-profit 501c3
organizations
 501c3 organizations are charitable, educational, religious,
scientific, or literary in nature.
 Being a 501c3 allows COSP to be exempt from paying income
tax.
 Most 501c3 organizations can also receive donations that may
be deductible from the taxable income of the donor.
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The Peer/Recovery Edge
 "People are often led to causes and often become
committed to great ideas through persons who
personify those ideas. They have to find the
embodiment of the idea in flesh and blood in order to
commit themselves to it.“
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
February 13, 1961
 How might this statement be applied to recovery support
and peer run services?
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What are People Saying about COSP?
Persons receiving services from COSP:
 There’s a strong message of hope and a lot of confidence that each person can
recover. It’s a very open minded group .
 They talk about what you can do rather than what you can’t do.
 The focus is on each person as a valuable individual who happens to have a
mental illness, rather than just focusing on the mental illness itself.
 When you hear about recovery from a peer there is greater understanding
because they have been there.
 You realize that there are other persons out there who are going through what
you’re going through or who have experienced similar struggles. You see that
they have overcome and you can too.
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What are People Saying about COSP? (cont’d)
Individuals working for COSP:

COSP are complimentary to traditional mental health services, not opposing
forces. Individuals may choose one or the other, or both.

It is easier for persons to trust a peer. The relationship is mutually beneficial.

Working for a COSP means the world to me. I’m proud to get up every
morning and have meaningful work to do.

We have long term goals to expand our mission beyond employment and
housing to other ways of helping our community. I am thankful to have the
opportunity to impact the world I live in in a positive way.

I went from homelessness to public housing to owning my home. I went from
being told I would never work again to volunteering to working in the hospital
where I was formerly a patient. Now I work for my own organization. I am
living proof that people can triumph over life’s greatest challenges.
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COSP and TMHS Compared
Research distinguishes COSP from Traditional Mental Health Services (TMHS):
Category
COSP
TMHS
Structure
Consumer administrative and
financial control
Provider administrative and financial
control
Environment
Accessibility, emotional safety and
informality
Policies may get in the way of producing a
recovery enhancing environment
Belief System
Mutual relationships, self help,
empowerment, recovery, acceptance,
spirituality
Clinical relationships, therapy,
spirituality not usually emphasized
Peer Support
Shared experiences and stories, artistic
expression, connection to recovery
movement, crisis prevention
Minimal self disclosure, peer support is
peripheral, tentative relationship with
recovery movement, crisis management
Education
Self-management, problem solving,
mutual education, skills practice, job
readiness
Medication management, compliance,
skills development, conditional
employment support
Advocacy
Self advocacy, peer advocacy, outreach
Advocacy on behalf of, maintaining
functioning of existing population served
Source: Raising All Boats: Using Fidelity Assessment to Guide Improvements in the Quality & Outcomes of Peer Services
by Jean Campbell, Ph.D.
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Distinguishing COSP from Other
Organizations and Programs
Consumer Operated Services and Programs (COSP) are
distinct from the following:
 Consumer Run Businesses:
Businesses, from floral shops to publishing houses, which are owned
and run by persons in recovery which are not primarily characterized
by mental health mutual support, advocacy and recovery education.
 Mental Health Center Peer Support Programs:
Programs which may be consumer driven and involve the services of
persons in recovery that are owned by mental health centers and are
not administratively and financially controlled by consumers.
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What Outcomes Drive COSP?
COSP should produce meaningful, measurable outcomes,
such as helping individuals to:
 Connect with their community and build mutual
relationships
 Find and succeed in competitive employment
 Find and keep their own housing
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What Outcomes Drive COSP?
(continued)
 Self advocate and improve the mental health system
 Find affordable support for their recoveries
 Improve satisfaction with services through
participation
 Have more effective tools to improve their own
wellness
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Top Ten Benefits of COSP
1) Strong sense of hope
2) Freedom and support to make independent choices and
learn from mistakes
3) Language is used in an empowering way
4) Belief and encouragement of persons’ ability to recover
and shape their futures
5) Validation of what individuals say and value
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Top Ten Benefits of COSP (continued)
6) Esteem of persons as adults
7) Promotion of self awareness
8) Recognition of strengths
9) Support in recovery from unintended consequences of mental
health treatment
10) Support and understanding during setbacks and challenging
times
- Inspired by Working Science: Consumer Operated Service Program
Multi-Site Research Initiative Study Overview by Jean Campbell
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Questions and Answers
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Where to Find More Information
 Key Ingredients of Peer Programs Identified by Jean Campbell, Ph.D.
 www.power2u.org/downloads/COSP-CommonIngredients.pdf
 Voices of Transformation: Developing Recovery-Oriented Statewide
Consumer Organizations by the National Empowerment Center
 www.power2u.org/downloads/Voices%20of%20Transformation.pdf
 Working Science: Consumer-Operated Service Program Multi Site
Research Initiative Study Overview by Jean Campbell, Ph.D.
 www.mimh.edu/cstprogramarchive/consumer%20op/
 Raising All Boats: Using Fidelity Assessment to Guide Improvements in
the Quality & Outcomes of Peer Services by Jean Campbell, Ph.D.
 http://shrp.umdnj.edu/programs/psyc/coll/documents/MeasuringFidelity_NJ.pdf
www.nasmhpd.org
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Where to Find More Information
(continued)
 Consumer Peer-Run Activities and Services Programs by the
SAMHSA
 http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/cmhs/CommunitySupport/consumers/default.asp
 New Perspectives on Consumer Advisory Councils
 www.illinoismentalhealthcollaborative.com/consumers/education/012810_Consumer_
Education_New_Perspectives_On_Consumer_Advisory_Councils.pdf
 Certified Recovery Support Specialist (CRSS) Credential
 www.illinoismentalhealthcollaborative.com/consumers/consumer_crss.htm
 Illinois Recovery Services Development: Resource Handbook
 www.illinoismentalhealthcollaborative.com/consumers/consumer_crss.htm
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Where to Find More Information
(continued)
 e-FACIT Workbook and Users’ Guide by Jean Campbell, Ph.D.
 To obtain a free demonstration copy, email: jean.campbell@mimh.edu
 How Do I Create a Nonprofit Organization? by Illinois Legal Aid
 www.illinoislegalaid.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.dsp_content&contentid=4133
 Basic Guide to Non-Profit Financial Management from the Free
Management Library
 http://managementhelp.org/finance/np_fnce/np_fnce.htm
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Sources of Technical Assistance
 National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse:
www.mhselfhelp.org
 Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA): www.dbsalliance.org
 National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Star Center:
www.consumerstar.org
 National Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Center:
www.ncstac.org
 National Empowerment Center: www.power2u.org
 Jean Campbell: Jean.Campbell@MIMH.edu
 DHS/DMH Regional Recovery Support Specialists: Call the Illinois Warm
Line at 1 (866) 359-7953 to request contact information.
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THANK YOU!
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