Higginbotham finds
rewarding career assisting adults with mental illness
Jennifer Johnson
Higginbotham '84 is one of the
fortunate few with a true passion for her chosen career. The 1984 Millikin
graduate is an assistant director at Independence Center, a facility in
St. Louis that offers a psychiatric rehabilitation program to adults with
serious, persistent mental illnesses such as schizophrenia,
manic-depression and depression.
“Independence Center
offers a non-traditional approach to rehab,” she says. “People who
take part in our program are members of a clubhouse rather than a client
or patient. We believe in membership — being needed, wanted and expected
somewhere — and that’s what we provide.”
The model for the
clubhouse program used by Independence Center began in the late 1940s when
those with mental illness were being moved from the institution to the
community, and it was discovered that many people had nowhere to go after
being released. The focus at Independence Center is on abilities,
strengths and talents rather than on the illness and its symptoms.
Higginbotham, a native of
Pinckneyville, Ill., decided on a career in social work while she was
studying psychology at Millikin. “I was flipping through graduate
catalogs in Dr. Gromoll’s office [the late Dr. Henry Gromoll, professor
of psychology] when I realized I didn’t want to be a psychologist or
psychiatrist. With social work, there was a wider variety of
opportunity,” she remembers. After
graduation from MU, she enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis to
earn a master’s degree in social work. She did a practicum at
Independence Center and has been there ever since.
“I am very passionate
about what I do,” she says. “I believe I am one of those fortunate
people who landed in the right place. I can’t see myself doing anything
else. It’s a part of who I am.”
See
the complete profile of Higginbotham in the Winter 2002-03 issue of the Millikin Quarterly magazine.
