Independence Center

“I have been a member here for 3 years plus. I am not a problematic person, & the fact that I have problems regulating my emotions or sometimes get too depressed to leave the house should not interfere with my ability to be a successful client. I feel as if the people who work here regularly have condescending attitudes, neglectful tendencies, accusatory language, & lots of them are incapable of communicating, practicing humility, and regulating their emotions themselves. Now if you need help please seek help because how many options do we have? I have been helped with securing housing, seeing a psychiatrist, and making appointments, but if it weren’t for my peer support specialist I wouldn’t even have that. I just feel like for a organization that is supposedly to help people like me, there is so much I have to suffer without, moods I am put in by the staff making me feel small, unimportant, & inferior, begging for things for years that I still don’t have, changed caseworkers 5 times because my caseworker either didn’t have time for me, didn’t care to have time with me, or treated me like crap and expected the worst from me. I now need a caseworker but cannot mentally afford t try with another person, and have been without a caseworker for almost a year. Every single time I come here it ruins my day. Every time I have to ask for help it ruins my day and reminds me that there is no place for me here, or anywhere, because I have mental illness. Every time I come here I am blamed for the way I am treated, the help I am not getting, & for my response to feeling this way. Please, if you are suicidal &/or on your last leg, do not come here. If you are having a bad day, do not come here. If you need a caseworker, a therapist, regular assistance with transportation, emotional support, & help finding a job, (intense need) do not come here. Do not make your unit The Shop. This place is for people who either have little to no ability to be independent, or someone who needs barely any help whatsoever, the middle ground, where your disability is basically invisible, there is no place for you here. No matter how hard you try you will never be seen or met where you are. Maybe by 1 or 2 people (I know 3) but the general feeling will be abandoned, disliked, neglected, unwanted, & uncared for. I wish someone would have told me what to expect. It hurts my heart and mind to have put so much work into advocating for myself and communicating, and holding my tongue, and sacrificing my needs, and putting the workers and their feelings, humanity, & workload in perspective (most of the time first and foremost) and to have gotten nowhere. Worse even, if it was not for my support system the independence center would have taught me that I am hopeless, & getting help, feeling seen, & becoming independent is hopeless. I am now looking for a different place to be a member at, but my hope is small & my expectations are nonexistent. I am traumatized by my experience here & I am afraid of ever having a caseworker again. I am afraid to advocate for myself, ask for help, or communicate, but I have to, so I will try again. But I am moving on feeling spent & empty, and if I didn’t know for sure a sliver of help was better than nothing, I would leave here & never seek help from anyplace like this again, starting a long, miserable journey to complete desolation, solitude, mental instability, and a type of drowning that would never end.”

“I was wrongfully trespassed from a public sidewalk outside Independence Center while conducting business. I was not committing any crime, was not a threat to anyone, and was simply present in a public area. Staff falsely claimed ownership of the sidewalk and treated me as if I had no rights. Their behavior was disrespectful, dismissive, and confrontational, showing a lack of professionalism. This incident violates my rights as a member of the public and demonstrates poor judgment and training by staff. I was wrongfully trespassed from a public sidewalk outside Independence Center while conducting business. I was not committing any crime, was not a threat to anyone, and was simply present in a public area. Staff falsely claimed ownership of the sidewalk and suspended me from accessing services I am legally entitled to, including obtaining my medication in a publicly funded building. This constitutes unlawful trespassing and interference with my legal rights. Be advised: my lawyer will be contacting you regarding this matter. The actions taken against me violate Missouri law on trespassing and public access rights, as well as my right to conduct business and access essential services in publicly funded facilities.”

“Everyone here has a mental illness so therefore nobody will judge if you act or seem a 'little crazy'. I got in and had an orientation for members, they fed us lunch both days and it was so yummy! I seriously devoured the gyro I got. It's only $2 to get lunch here, as far as I know anyone can eat at the Arch View Cafe and I 100% recommend it. If you have CPTSD, anxiety, any type of mental illness, try joining! It's free and they do everything they can to empower you including job searches and community building.”

“I am very torn about how to rate this agency. From a marketing perspective, this agency puts out the right message. However, I have spent over 10 years looking for Independence Center to do something, anything, to support me. It is quite difficult to get them involved. While I have met milestones since being enrolled, these outcomes are as a result of other interventions, or my own effort. How do I know this? Independence Center has NEVER helped me to find a job or to find housing, any time that I had ever needed it. It is very difficult to say, from my own experience, what this agency has done, if anything. Goal setting appears to be a bit elusive (as do outcomes that are a direct result of their efforts) and some of the statements in the treatment plan are simply written to fill space, and never provided. This could be more related to the intermittent involvement that I have had with agency, or it could be that the agency does not adequately support my needs. I have started to venture in the direction of looking elsewhere.”