Discover how consumer-run businesses provide employment and career development opportunities for persons with mental illness. This workshop will demonstrate Fairweather Lodge as an evidence-based practice for employment for persons with mental illness through data on employment and quality of life issues, such as dramatic reductions in days of psychiatric hospitalization and personal success stories. Participants will examine the concept of consumer-run business and how Fairweather Lodge builds financial security for people who might otherwise face a life of poverty. Proven successful business opportunities and Lodge programs in Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Michigan, and North Dakota will be showcased.

• John Trepp, executive director, Tasks Unlimited, Minneapolis, MN
• Esther Onaga, Ph.D., chair, Department of Family and Child Ecology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
• Moderator: Edward Dawson, consultant, Stairways Behavioral Health, Erie, PA