A two minute testimonial from a recent Hope Clubhouse member (not the woman mentioned in this blog.)
(1-14-20) From My Files Friday: I’m a big fan of clubhouses and when I gave a keynote nine years ago at a fundraiser for Hope House in Fort Myers, Florida, I heard an inspiring message worth re- retelling. (I will be speaking March 8th at the Key Clubhouse in Miami.)
How A Clubhouse Changed My Life
First posted 10-24-11
The young woman giving her testimony had excelled in high school and gone to college with high expectations – only to have a mental break. Diagnosed as having bipolar disorder, she became so ill that she was forced to drop out. At one point, she felt suicidal.
When she called the local police during a manic episode, rather than getting help, she got into an argument and ended up being arrested. She was jailed overnight, as an officer told her, “to be taught a lesson.”
That experience — at the hands of unsympathetic and poorly trained sheriff’s deputies — resulted in her developing PTSD. She was in such anguish that she simply wanted to give up — until her parents got her to visit the HOPE CLUBHOUSE in Fort Myers, Florida.
“The HOPE CLUBHOUSE,” she said. “Saved my life.”
The clubhouse was launched in Fort Myers by a handful of concerned parents, who wanted someplace for their sons and daughters to go for fellowship and help. It is modeled after the successful FOUNTAIN HOUSE program in New York that has been helping persons with mental disorders for more than sixty years. Fountain House has been copied across our country and in many foreign countries. Its roots date back to 1944 when a group of persons with mental disorders organized into a group that named WANA — an acronym that meant — We Are Not Alone.
Clubhouses are run entirely by their members. A major emphasis is helping members find meaningful work, even if it is only for a few hours. The sickest might be given a simple task at the clubhouse such as wiping down a table or sweeping up. But most clubhouses offer members transitional work that can help them later obtain paying jobs.
Jobs Give Members Confidence and Self-Worth
Here’s how a typical clubhouse program works. The Square Peg Company needs a mail room employee so it contacts the clubhouse. The clubhouse might send one member to the mailroom to work for two hours at the job. That member will then be replaced by another member who works for three hours and finally by a different clubhouse member who finishes the shift. The mailroom job gets done each day, which makes the company happy, and three clubhouse members get work experience.
This model helps members whose illnesses might limit how long they can work at a task. It also helps members pump-up their resumes. Most importantly, it provides members with the opportunity to work, which gives them a purpose. It helps restore confidence and pride.
Having members run a clubhouse enables people who are sick to have a voice in their own recovery. Oftentimes, they are told by doctors, their parents, other relatives or by mental health workers what they can and can’t do. They are told to lower their expectations. Letting them be in charge and make decisions is important because it enables members to set their own goals and then strive to achieve them. Clubhouses also build a sense of community. If someone begins to have problems, the other members recognize it and intervene.
I have toured Fountain House and other successful clubhouse programs, such as The Carriage House, in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and have seen how the clubhouse model helps people recover.
As clubhouses expand, they often offer their members other services in addition to job training and fellowship. Many clubhouses help with housing. Having a safe place to live is essential to recovery.
The young woman in Fort Myers met and fell in love with another clubhouse member. They plan to marry. More important, she said she was moving on with her life. She was no longer depressed. She was not alone. She became confident about her future.
One reason why I was so happy to speak at the HOPE CLUBHOUSE is because in my talks, I talk about the need for HOPE.
Hope Is At The Hub Of The Wheel
To me, recovery is much like an old fashioned wagon wheel. Each spoke is a different recovery tool. Jobs are a spoke in this wheel, so is housing, so is medication, so is transportation, so is social acceptance — the spokes go on and on – because the needs of each person are different and require different services.
But the hub that pulls all of these recovery spokes together is HOPE. Without HOPE, there can be no recovery.
I am not naive. I do not believe everyone who is sick will eventually get better. Like cancer, severe mental illnesses are ruthless. But most can and do, and even in the most severe cases, I believe that we must offer people HOPE.
I’ve seen cases where patients were described as being “un-restorable” and “treatment resistant.” Yet, they have recovered despite such hopeless tags. We don’t know who will get better and who will not. That is why we must offer everyone hope.
Actor Hal Lindsey is credited with saying:
Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for a second without hope.
(Happy Valentine’s Day: Remember To Tell Someone They Are Special Today!)
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