Further afield in Saskatchewan, Canada, Crocus Co-operative was established in 1982 by community members who were seeking peer support after receiving psychiatric care. Starting with simple meetings at home, Crocus now runs a space which hosts around 75 people a day. Everyone who accesses the space becomes a lifetime member of the co-op and the board is made up of 51% co-op members.
Executive director Taylor Baier says this level of involvement is often lacking in mental health provision. “In the mental health world, a lot of times people are telling you what you should be doing and what you need. And our model as a co-op suggests that the people with lived experience are the experts, and they’re the ones that should be deciding what they need and how they need it.”
Read the rest at Co-operative News
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