Leader of "Consumer Empowerment" Movement Bill Compton Dies at 61

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger cuts program inspired by Compton

Bill Compton, an advocate, consumer, friend and hero to the mental health movement, died Aug. 27 in Anaheim, Calif. after a battle with liver cancer.

Mental Health America is deeply saddened by his passing. “ Bill was not only a wonderful friend to the movement and to many of us in it—he truly embodies the concept that recovery is possible, that people who have mental illnesses can and do recover their lives and make important contributions to society,” President and CEO of Mental Health America David Shern, Ph.D., said. “His compassion, tireless advocacy and friendship will always be remembered.”

Bill, a member of Mental Health America’s board of directors, led Project Return: The Next Step, a network of peer support groups run by the National Mental Health Association of Greater Los Angeles to empower mental health consumers and help them gain the skills they need to live independently.

He received in 2001 Mental Health America’s highest honor, the Clifford W. Beers award, for his work to improve the lives of people with mental illnesses. Those who knew him say it’s that generosity that characterized his life.

A theater lover, Bill originally focused his career on his passion for the stage, and managed and worked in theaters in a number of cities up until early 1990s—producing and acting in many productions. When his struggle with late-onset schizophrenia hit in his 40s, Bill found himself homeless and landed at Project Return, where he got off the streets and received needed help. Two years later, the program was turned over to consumer leadership and Bill, now in recovery and managing his illness, was put in charge. He took Project Return from a network of 30 peer support groups to more than 100.

“During the whole growth mode of Project Return: the Next Step, as it became independent and totally consumer run, he and we realized that not only can people recover, they can run programs,” said Richard Van Horn, president and CEO of the NMHA of Greater Los Angeles. “As you get into recovery, you say, if it happens for me, it can happen for others, why don’t I help it happen for others?”

Bill believed, said Van Horn, that people are not defined by an illness, but should be recognized for their skills and encouraged in developing their abilities. Bill blazed a trail between his home in Los Angeles and the seat of state government in Sacramento, Calif., where he fought for mental health consumers to be included in related policy decisions, using his own story of recovery to improve the rights—and lives—of others. Project Return’s success demonstrated the effectiveness of the recovery model and served as an impetus for many other projects and policy decisions in the state of California, as well as on the national level.

Bill also found a way to merge his love of theater with his consumer advocacy in a one-man play he wrote and acted in called “Stuck Out There or The Week That I Went Crazy,” an autobiographical account of his first week living with

schizophrenia. He performed the play at Mental Health America’s 2006 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. and at other venues. “It was the only thing I’ve ever seen that really puts you inside somebody’s head who’s having hallucinations, and it was masterfully done,” said Dianne Dorlester, director of Consumer Advocacy for Mental Health America.

She also said that Bill led his life by example. “He showed that no matter how severe your illness, no matter how low you are at any given time, no matter how little you have, or how demeaned you are by your circumstances or your treatment, that you can recover,” Dorlester said.

“And to him, recovery didn’t just mean that you take a bus to go to rehab and that’s the best you get out of life,” she said. “ He really showed that recovery can mean—to borrow a common phrase from the consumer movement—having a home, having a car, having a job and having a date on a Saturday night.”

Join us in remembering Bill Compton on MHA’s Bell of Hope Memorial. Post your thoughts and read others’ stories about Bill’s life at http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/memorial/ individuals/Bill_Compton.cfm.