Bridges are a necessary part of any society’s infrastructure.

Thursday, October 26, 2000

Bridges are a necessary part of any society’s infrastructure. A bridge serves to safely carry one over dangerous waters or other obstacles. It links one place to another.

For those reasons and more, a group of Austin residents have decided to call their proposed clubhouse "The Bridge." It will be a place that they – many of them mental health consumers – and anyone else who feels like it can go.

The idea is simple.

"It will be somewhere you can go just to be a friend to someone," Joan Kilgore of Lyle said.

It’s an idea whose time has come, according to organizer Scott Baudler of Austin.

"We, as people who receive mental health services, felt that something more is needed in the community, and we liked the idea of a clubhouse," Baudler said. "It should be something less structured than what exists now, a place where people can go and provide support for one another, not have it provided for you by a professional."

As proposed, the clubhouse would serve as many purposes as the structure it is named after. It would be a place to go for support, or to just hang out, maybe play some games or watch TV, as well as a place where someone could go if he or she needed a safe place to spend the night – without all the red tape and cost of something like the Crisis Center at the hospital and without the overwhelming presence of the professionals.

"Now if you need a place to go, you can either go to the Stress Center if there are beds available, otherwise you get sent to Owatonna or Rochester," Alfred Roysten of Austin explained. "Sometimes that’s a lot of red tape at a time when you really don’t need it."

Baudler explained that having a more casual place to go might be just the answer for some people – whether it’s stress or simple homelessness that’s the reason for their need.

"Often we’re more right on than professionals about where a person’s at," Baudler said. "People like us can tend to turn away from professionals in time of need, and maybe if there is a non-threatening place to go, then someone can be helped or encouraged to get help before things get too bad."

However, the clubhouse isn’t only for those who are or have been diagnosed in the past with mental illnesses – the thing that makes it unique is the group’s dream of making it open to any in the community who want a place to hang out where there isn’t an agenda. Group members are hoping the clientele will be varied, and maybe, as a result, some of the stigma that is associated with mental illness can be erased by the simple process of getting to know someone.

The Bridge isn’t a whim. Baudler, Kilgore, Roysten and several others have been meeting twice a month on the subject for almost a year.

Like any modern corporation or charity, they have a mission statement: "To provide a relaxed setting where members find dignity, respect and security in supportive relationships with peers."

They also have the support of Mower County Human Services and the guidance of Gary Corcoran and Todd Moran, both mental health professionals. They have the blessing of the Mental Health Advisory Board. They even went before the Mower County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday to let them know what they’re trying to achieve.

Corcoran strongly supports the idea.

"It’s a new idea for this community," he said, explaining that there are "clubhouses" in other communities like Rochester and Mankato. "But you have to realize there will be changing needs in this community and others because of the downsizing of the state hospital – there is a need for the community to beef up all their resources and to provide consumers with a choice. The neat thing here is that the consumers are pushing for this, not us. Todd and I are only there to guide."

The name and the basic idea is all the group has at the moment – plus a tremendous drive to succeed. They’re looking for a suitable house or other building and looking into establishing non-profit status or partnering with an existing non-profit group.

Anyone who would like more information can call Scott Baudler at 433-5646 or attend the Mental Health Advisory Board meeting at 3:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month in the Human Services Building.