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== Personal history ==
== Personal history ==
Compton earned a B.A. degree in 1969 in Theater Arts from the [[University of Akron]] and returned to earn a [[Master of Arts (postgraduate)|M.A.]] degree in 1986. During this time he worked as an actor, producer and director in New York and California.<ref name="PC-Nov-2003"/> In 1989, in his mid-40s and an event salesperson for a large Los Angeles theater, he suffered a complete mental breakdown.<ref>Shawn Hubler, [http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/46816428.html?dids=46816428:46816428&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Dec+2%2C+1999&author=Shawn+Hubler&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=1&desc=Amid+Debate+Over+Ethics+and+Drugs%2C+People+Can+Get+Lost "Amid Debate Over Ethics and Drugs, People Can Get Lost"], ''Los Angeles Times'', December 2, 1999</ref>
Compton was born in 1945 in [[Rockford, Illinois]]. He spent his teenage years at a military boarding school in [[West Virginia]]; during the 1960s, he was a vocal antiwar activist.<ref name=LAT-obit>Joceyln Y. Stewart, [http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-compton2sep02,1,5457007.story "William H. Compton Jr., 71; Theater lover was advocate for the mentally ill"]''Los Angeles Times'', September 2, 2007. (''Note'': the headline is incorrect about Compton's age; he was ''61'', not 71, when he died)</ref> Compton earned a B.A. degree in 1969 in Theater Arts from the [[University of Akron]] and returned to earn a [[Master of Arts (postgraduate)|M.A.]] degree in 1986. During this time he worked as an actor, producer and director in New York, Boston, and eventually Los Angeles.<ref name="PC-Nov-2003"/> In Boston, in the 1970s, he ran a then-innovative business for theater-goers to purchase tickets by phone, using a credit card.<ref name=LAT-obit/>


When Compton was diagnosed as having late-onset [[schizophrenia]], he had already left his job and he had no health insurance. After tree admissions to a private hospital over a nine-month period, he was transfered to a public hospital. Upon his discharge from there, Compton went to live in a community "board and care" home. He began hearing voices again, ending up living on the streets for nine months,<ref>Bill Compton, [http://www1.nmha.org/newsroom/bell/2001/6-01-Bell.pdf "Stuck Out There"], ''The Bell'' (National Mental Health Association), June 2001</ref> panhandling for money to buy food.<ref>Ian McMillan, [http://www.nursing-standard.co.uk/archives/mhp_pdfs/mhpvol6-10/mhpv6n10p2021.pdf "For a Few Dollars More"], ''Mental Health Practice'' (UK), July 2003</ref>
In 1989, in his mid-40s and an event salesperson for a large Los Angeles theater, Compton suffered a complete mental breakdown.<ref>Shawn Hubler, [http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/46816428.html?dids=46816428:46816428&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Dec+2%2C+1999&author=Shawn+Hubler&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=1&desc=Amid+Debate+Over+Ethics+and+Drugs%2C+People+Can+Get+Lost "Amid Debate Over Ethics and Drugs, People Can Get Lost"], ''Los Angeles Times'', December 2, 1999</ref> When he was diagnosed as having late-onset [[schizophrenia]], he had already left his job and had no health insurance. After three admissions to a private hospital over a nine-month period, paid for by his family, he was transfered to a public hospital. Upon his discharge from there, Compton went to live in a community "board and care" home. He began hearing voices again, ending up living on the streets for nine months,<ref>Bill Compton, [http://www1.nmha.org/newsroom/bell/2001/6-01-Bell.pdf "Stuck Out There"], ''The Bell'' (National Mental Health Association), June 2001</ref> panhandling for money to buy food.<ref>Ian McMillan, [http://www.nursing-standard.co.uk/archives/mhp_pdfs/mhpvol6-10/mhpv6n10p2021.pdf "For a Few Dollars More"], ''Mental Health Practice'' (UK), July 2003</ref> In the early 1990s he made his way to a hospital waiting room, his first step on the road to recovery.<ref name=LAT-obit/>


== Presentations and testimony ==
== Presentations and testimony ==

Revision as of 00:36, 3 September 2007

Bill Compton (born October 6, 1945; died August 27, 2007) was a mental health advocate in California who attained national stature. After suffering a mental health crisis in 1989, he became heavily involved in self-help and patient advocate issues, including running a large self-help network between 1994 and 2007.

Work in the mental health field

Beginning in 1994,[1] Compton headed Project Return: The Next Step (PR:TNS), a consumer-run self-help network supported by the National Mental Health Association of Greater Los Angeles. (In May 2007, the organization was renamed " Project Return Peer Support Network".[2]) He became director of the network when the sponsoring organization decided to turn the network's administration over to those who used its services.[3]

Compton oversaw more than 100 self-help clubs, which employed about 100 individuals in positions ranging from stipend to full time, serving several thousand individuals with serious mental illness.[4] The network included projects that Compton developed, such as PR:TNS Discovery Centers, which provided personal and professional growth opportunities, and the Friendship Line, an after-hours phone service that provided peer-to-peer support for people with mental illness.[5]

Compton was on the Board of Directors of Mental Health America (formerly the National Mental Health Association).[6] He was also president of the board of Protection and Advocacy, Incorporated of California,[7] which focused on protecting the rights of mental health and other disabled consumers throughout California.[5] Beginning in November 2003, Compton was the chairman of the board of directors for the Pacific Clinic, the largest nonprofit mental health organization in California, based in Pasadena, California; he left that position in 2005.[8][7]

Personal history

Compton was born in 1945 in Rockford, Illinois. He spent his teenage years at a military boarding school in West Virginia; during the 1960s, he was a vocal antiwar activist.[9] Compton earned a B.A. degree in 1969 in Theater Arts from the University of Akron and returned to earn a M.A. degree in 1986. During this time he worked as an actor, producer and director in New York, Boston, and eventually Los Angeles.[8] In Boston, in the 1970s, he ran a then-innovative business for theater-goers to purchase tickets by phone, using a credit card.[9]

In 1989, in his mid-40s and an event salesperson for a large Los Angeles theater, Compton suffered a complete mental breakdown.[10] When he was diagnosed as having late-onset schizophrenia, he had already left his job and had no health insurance. After three admissions to a private hospital over a nine-month period, paid for by his family, he was transfered to a public hospital. Upon his discharge from there, Compton went to live in a community "board and care" home. He began hearing voices again, ending up living on the streets for nine months,[11] panhandling for money to buy food.[12] In the early 1990s he made his way to a hospital waiting room, his first step on the road to recovery.[9]

Presentations and testimony

In 2001, while president of the California Network of Mental Health Clients, a statewide alliance of consumers, Compton testified before the state legislature’s Joint Commission on Mental Health Reform.[5]

Compton made presentations at state and national conferences on topics such as establishing and enhancing a network of self-help clubs, running a peer support telephone help line and incorporating the role of consumer-run services into a mental health system.[1][13][7]

He regularly made presentations to graduate students at the University of Southern California School of Social Work and psychology students at the University of California Los Angeles.[8]

Awards and recognition

  • In June 2001, the National Mental Health Association (NMHA) presented the Clifford W. Beers Award to Compton at its annual conference in Washington, D.C.[4]
  • In June 2002, Compton received the Consumer Advocacy Award from the International Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitative Agencies.[5]
  • In November 2003, Eli Lilly and Company gave Compton its "Helping Move Lives Forward Reintegration Award" for his mentorship of people with mental illness.[8]
  • In 2004, Compton was included in Who's Who in America. [14]
  • In 2007, Compton received a proclamation from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for bringing Project Return Peer Support Network members "into a full participation in community life."[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Biography at National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy (NARPA), accessed December 26, 2006
  2. ^ a b "What's in a Name", National Mental Health Association of Greater Los Angeles, "News", accessed August 27, 2007
  3. ^ Steve Lopez, "Lives may founder, but yacht sales will flourish", Los Angeles Times, August 29, 2007
  4. ^ a b "NMHA Presents Highest Honor to Consumer Advocate", National Mental Health Association press release, May 31, 2001
  5. ^ a b c d Biography of Bill Compton, Mental Health America (formerly the National Mental Health Association), accessed December 26, 2006
  6. ^ Mental Health America, Board of Directors 2006-2007, accessed August 27, 2007
  7. ^ a b c Bill Compton's presentation to NAPAS, San Diego, January 2006 (via archive.org)
  8. ^ a b c d "Mental Health Advocate Bill Compton named to Chair Pacific Clinics Board of Directors", press release, Pacific Clinics, November 14, 2003, via archive.org
  9. ^ a b c Joceyln Y. Stewart, "William H. Compton Jr., 71; Theater lover was advocate for the mentally ill"Los Angeles Times, September 2, 2007. (Note: the headline is incorrect about Compton's age; he was 61, not 71, when he died)
  10. ^ Shawn Hubler, "Amid Debate Over Ethics and Drugs, People Can Get Lost", Los Angeles Times, December 2, 1999
  11. ^ Bill Compton, "Stuck Out There", The Bell (National Mental Health Association), June 2001
  12. ^ Ian McMillan, "For a Few Dollars More", Mental Health Practice (UK), July 2003
  13. ^ 2005 National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy conference - list of speakers and topics
  14. ^ Project Return: The Next Step (PR:TNS), welcome page

External links

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bill_Compton&diff=155314578&oldid=154450989

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