Four Basic Rights of Clubhouse Membership…
There are four rights that all members of Clubhouse have:
A right to a place to come
A right to meaningful relationships
A right to meaningful work
A right to a place to return
There are four key components of a Clubhouse program: the Work-Ordered Day, Employment Programs, Supported Education, and Evening, Weekend, Holiday Events.
A Clubhouse is…
Clubhouses provide comprehensive and dynamic opportunities for persons living with severe mental illness to participate in housing, employment, education and health and wellness initiatives that renew and reconnect them with mainstream society. Members play an active role in their own recovery and that of their peers by working alongside staff to organize and run programs. Founded in New York City in 1948 with the establishment of Fountain House, the Clubhouse model has proven effective at improving wellbeing and physical and mental health, employment rates, and reducing re-hospitalization, and incarceration among individuals living with mental illness. The model is also cost-effective, with one year of programming costing the equivalent of two weeks of hospitalization in a psychiatric hospital in the US. Clubhouse International is having an impact at an international scale.
Units and the Work-Ordered Day
Typically, a Clubhouse is divided into one or more work departments called "units" which are responsible for various aspects of Clubhouse operation. Examples of clubhouse units include:
Retail sales and Culinary Units,
Administrative or Clerical Units
Employment and Career Development Units
Members assume important and meaningful roles and responsibilities which promote self-worth, purpose and confidence.