ACE Inc. celebrates 30 years of people helping people
Betsy Walker, program director at ACE Inc., conducts a personal safety class. Seated to her left is Nelson Freed, who helped plan the 30th anniversary open house.
ACE Inc. will celebrate its 30th anniversary with an open house on Sept. 10 from 1-4 p.m. at its facility at 115 Third St. SW in New Philadelphia. The organizers are planning to have a cake, giveaways and provide educational information about the organization. The theme for the celebration is “30 Years of Hope, Strength and Community.”
Advocacy, Choices & Empowerment Inc. is a nonprofit agency funded by the Tuscarawas County ADAMHS Board. ACE Inc. is a consumer-driven agency and caring community whose mission is to reduce the isolation of consumers of mental health services.
The organization began as a support group and was incorporated in 1994, serving people with a mental illness diagnosis with peer-to-peer services. ACE provides services to people in Tuscarawas and Carroll counties and is open to men and women over the age of 18 in active recovery and getting help for their mental health condition. The organization also offers National Alliance on Mental Illness support group meetings.
The NAMI support group is called Hopeful Hearts.
“That's something we titled because we're all hopeful in life,” said Nelson Freed, a volunteer staff member with ACE and a NAMI connections facilitator.
Carol Armstrong enjoys all the programs.
“I don't know that I really have a favorite, except I like Hopeful Hearts, where we all go in and tell if we have any problems. We can talk about those. We have two minutes to discuss, and then we have a time where we have open floor, where everybody can talk,” Armstrong said. “But our peer support is always there, and it’s just great.”
The organization has trained peer supporters through the State of Ohio. The peer supporters at ACE provide support, share experiences and help each other navigate crises.
“The peer supporters have a two-year certification, and we go in the different crisis units and with our incoming clientele, whether it be new members or current members, and we help them through their life crises by sharing our lived experiences using recovery tools for mental health,” Freed said.
He also is a trained peer supporter at ACE and a member of the organization’s board. “We walk together with them through their journey, but we're not going to enable them. We're going to set them free and walk with them,” he said.
The peer supporters also do follow-ups with people to make sure they are doing well.
“And we try to help people with isolation. We help break isolation,” Freed said.
Socialization is an important part.
“We encourage people to come in daily because we know what it does for them. Sometimes people stay away because they say, ‘I don't think anybody cares,’ but we care about everybody,” Freed said. “We have people that came here after me, and I've watched them grow, and that means a lot.”
The organization also has been able to provide input for crisis intervention training for law enforcement.
“It's not the easiest thing, but we get on panels where we relive a lot of our experiences, despite the trauma it's caused in our life, to educate officers in training,” Freed said.
Freed hopes to address the stigma that people with mental illness are violent. Only from 3-5% of people with mental illness commit violent acts.
“We're people that may have challenges and stuff, but we're human beings,” Freed said.
ACE provides group activities and the chance to eat lunch each day. One of the most popular activities is the yearly trip, something most of those at ACE would not get to do on their own.
The group has visited Gettysburg; Washington, D.C.; Niagara Falls, even crossing the border into Canada; and Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, where chicken wings were invented. They’ve also visited Cincinnati; Louisville, Kentucky; the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn; and other popular tourist spots. The trips are sponsored by Peg’s Foundation in Hudson.
ACE also partners with the Akron-Canton Foodbank, so people at the facility can get food if they need it.
ACE Executive Director Todd Little has been instrumental in moving the program forward.
“We’re very proud of the help we provide and the part we play in our local mental health community. For 30 years we have given our members hope and guidance when they struggle, strength and support when they feel weak, and a community of caring to remind them they matter. To us, they matter,” Little said.