Bill Compton

William H. Compton, Jr. (October 6, 1945, Rockford, Illinois – August 27, 2007) was a mental health advocate in California who attained national stature. After a mental health crisis in 1989, he became heavily involved in self-help and patients' rights advocacy issues. Between 1994 and 2007 he was the head of a large network of peer support groups.

Work in the mental health field

Beginning in 1994, He became director of the network when the sponsoring organization decided to turn the network's administration over to those who used its services.

Compton built the network from about thirty peer-support groups to more than one hundred,

Compton was on the Board of Directors of Mental Health America (formerly the National Mental Health Association) from 2002 to 2007. He was also president of the board of Protection & Advocacy, Inc. of California,

In 2005, Compton wrote a one-man play, "Swept Away or The Week That I Went Crazy." He performed it at a number of conferences and schools. Compton earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1969 in Theater Arts from the University of Akron, and returned to earn a Master of Arts degree in 1986. During this time he worked as an actor, producer and director in New York City, Boston, and eventually Los Angeles.

In 1989, in his mid-40s and an event salesperson for a large Los Angeles theater, Compton had a complete mental breakdown; his family believes it may have been caused by his use of crystal methamphetamine. panhandling for money to buy food. In the early 1990s, he made his way to a hospital waiting room, his first step on the road to recovery.

He regularly made presentations to graduate students at the University of Southern California School of Social Work and Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, as well as psychology students at the University of California Los Angeles. In June 2002, Compton received the Consumer Advocacy Award from the International Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitative Agencies. 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."