Gane Brooking still feels the pain of a traumatic childhood. Mark Carlisle is homeless and trying to beat a dependence on alcohol. Eve Ehlert prefers not to state her diagnosis, but says most of her symptoms are at bay.
All have joined the Ventura Peer Pioneers, a group of 17 county residents trained to take control of their own mental illness and help others. They are men and women, ages 19 to their mid-50s, who have taken dozens of hours of instruction from an organization specializing in recovery techniques. And now they're getting to work.
Ehlert said the peers, who will be paid an average of $10 an hour, can empathize because they've experienced the same struggles.
"Sometimes they can zero right in to where you're at," she said.
The peer program is one of several being financed by voter-approved Proposition 63, a state initiative that set out to transform care of the mentally ill with a new income tax on millionaires. Hiring the mentally ill and their families along with professional staff was one of its tenets.
The peer approach banks on the idea that people with mental illness can be in charge of their own recovery rather than be the passive subjects of treatment.
Chris Martin, a senior trainer for Recovery Innovations of Phoenix, says the idea is to show people how to be their own experts.
"We learn to look at what's strong instead of what's wrong," he said.
The peers are working at the Adult Wellness and Recovery Center, which opened in late July at 56 E. Main St., Ventura. Some also will be helping out at a center for young adults due to open in mid-September at 141 Fifth St. in Oxnard.
Coordinator Robert Chavez said a dozen people are dropping by each day at the Ventura center.
"They come to the door, get a tour, have a cup of coffee and they stay," said Chavez, who works for Pacific Clinics, the nonprofit organization in charge of the free program.
This week the center is offering sessions in "Laughter Yoga," a technique combining laughter and exercise that aids relaxation.
Over three years county officials expect to spend about $200,000 training and supporting peers who will work in the mental health system.
Last spring the first group of peers learned to develop its own wellness plan. The technique is based on the work of Mary Ellen Copeland, a Vermont businesswoman who says she recovered from extreme mood swings with what's called the Wellness Recovery Action Plan, or WRAP.
Participants identify what happens when they're well, which might include things like taking a daily walk or visiting with friends. They figure out how to stay that way by identifying and counteracting the triggers that set them off.
They identify warning signs of illness and write crisis plans spelling out how they want to be treated. It might get down to such details as what people they want to hear from if they're hospitalized, whom to keep away, and what kind of medicine works, Martin said.
Martin followed up the WRAP with a 72-hour course on how to help others. The 17 graduates are the first ones in the county to be trained as peer support specialists, he said.
The peers are now welcoming others to the wellness center in downtown Ventura. The homey facility offers a living room with a television and table tennis, a computer room for conducting job searches, exercise machines, a kitchen, an eating area, offices and a meeting room.
The peers hope to offer self-help groups in anger management and art. They want to open a "warm line" in the fall, a step down from hotlines used by suicidal people. Peers will answer calls on the line from troubled people seeking support. Referrals also will be made for housing, vocational help and employment.
Henry van Oudheusden, a corporate director for Pacific Clinics, said the center is designed not for individuals so ill they need hospitalization, but those in recovery.
"They need a place to go where they don't feel stigmatized, where they don't feel belittled," he said. "They need a safe place, a healthy place."
An advisory board made up of peers, professionals and family members brainstormed ideas for the center at a recent meeting, including getting the word out by developing its own Web site.
But peer Clifford Shuey isn't leaving recruitment to brochures. He's escorting people there personally.
"I'm here to help people ease their lives," he said.
Wellness Center
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Days: Tuesdays through Saturdays.
Address: 56 E. Main St., Ventura, CA 93001
Clients: County residents recovering from mental illness.
Information: 805-653-5308.