Chester House

Today was my first meeting with Sharon Van Pelt, the services supervisor at Chester House. Chester House is a clubhouse program for adults who have experienced persistent mental illness. As it was explained to me, the members are referred by the main Chesterfield mental facility and need some level of inpatient activity to prevent regression. The house is designed to "provide an atmosphere where the guaranteed rights of all members is meaningful to work and relationships, a place to belong, and a place to return." They emphasize the responsibility of the members to be respectful to one another and to really participate in the activities of the community. One of the reasons that this appeals so much to me is that they seem to be very agressive about making positive steps towards recovery and expect their members to acknowledge their role in the process. Ms. Van Pelt explained to me that the members are given different jobs within the house and expected to complete them. They are not just jobs that take up time, but are necessary for the house accomplishing all that it needs to. They strongly support their members pursuing jobs outside the house and have several programs which help to support them in this goal. I was given a tour by one of the members and I was extremely impressed with the facility itself. The main concern of the Chester House was that the members would have to sign different release forms than usual (understandable). Ms. Van Pelt explained to me that there are few rules imposed by the doctors and leaders at the house because so many of the members have been told what to do and how to do it for so much of their lives. It is very important that they make their own decisions and excersise their own judgement. I also explained to her that my hope was to be able to find members who were willing to let me photograph them in their daily lives, i.e. with family or at work if the employer agreed. I think it is important to show that these people are doing everything in their power to make their lives better and give the audience a view of them in roles outside of the house as well. The plan as of now is to return this Thursday and Friday in order to have private meetings with some of the members who are interested in participating in the project to allow them to ask me whatever questions they may have. I realize that this is going to be an intense experience and just visiting today and meeting some of the members in passing gave me an idea of what I have gotten myself into. Even with this in mind I am feeling more determined than ever to make the most of this opportunity, realizing that being welcomed as I have been thus far is unusual. Now I get to start taking photos (finally).