May 7, 2025 • 29 mins
Clubhouse International is transforming lives through intentional communities where people with mental illness rebuild their lives after disruption and isolation.
Joel Corcoran joins us to tell the Clubhouse story.
• Clubhouse International operates 377 clubhouses across 32 countries using a specific 37-standard model
• Members voluntarily participate in work-ordered days that provide structure, purpose, and skill development
• Employment program achieves 40% employment rate compared to national average of 15% for people with mental illness
• Education support helps members return to school at all levels from basic adult education through advanced degrees
• Members receive assistance with housing, healthcare access, and rebuilding social connections
• Clubhouses reduce hospitalizations, criminal justice involvement, and early mortality while improving overall wellbeing
• Members determine their own level of participation based on their needs and recovery journey
• Future goal is to triple the number of clubhouses by 2030 to reach more isolated individuals
Visit clubhouse-intl.org to find a clubhouse in your community, take a tour, volunteer, or advocate for expanded mental health resources.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to why Not Me ?
The World Podcast, hosted byTony Mantor, broadcasting from
Music City, usa, nashville,tennessee.
Join us as our guests tell ustheir stories.
Some will make you laugh, somewill make you cry.
Their stories Some will makeyou laugh, some will make you
(00:28):
cry.
Real life people who willinspire and show that you are
not alone in this world.
Hopefully, you gain moreawareness, acceptance and a
better understanding for autismaround the world.
Hi, I'm Tony Mantor.
(00:52):
Welcome to why Not Me?
The World Humanity OverHandcuffs the Silent Crisis
special event.
Today we're joined by JoelCorcoran, executive Director and
CEO of Clubhouse International,a global network of over 370
clubhouses across 32 countries.
Clubhouse Internationalprovides individuals living with
(01:13):
mental illness a supportivecommunity offering opportunities
for friendship, employment,housing, education and access to
medical and psychiatricservices in a caring, safe
environment.
Joel is here to share insightsabout this transformative
organization.
Thanks for coming on.
Sure, could you give us anoverview of your organization,
(01:36):
your responsibilities and thegoals you have?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
I'm the director and CEO of Clubhouse International,
and Clubhouse International isan organization that is
committed to ending isolation,both economic and social, for
people living with mentalillness, in particular people
living with serious mentalillness.
And the way that we do that isby helping to grow the number
and the quality of clubhouserehabilitation programs, a
(02:03):
rehabilitation program calledClubhouse.
A clubhouse is an intentionalcommunity.
It's a voluntary place wherepeople living with mental
illness again by and largepeople with serious mental
illness, but anybody with ahistory of mental illness is
welcome.
It's designed to be a communitythat is rich with opportunities
for people to rebuild theirlives and reclaim their futures
after having been sodramatically disrupted by an
(02:24):
illness.
People living with mentalillness are typically separated
from many of the things we alltake for granted.
They get marginalized andthey've usually not finished
school, but not always They'vehad their early lives
interrupted.
In most cases they lose family,they lose friends, they lose
access to employment or moneyand a lot of times maybe the
(02:46):
worst thing is they lose hopefor the future.
So the clubhouse is this placewhere people who are typically
not welcomed in other places arenot only welcomed but they're
welcomed and needed and givenrepeated opportunities to
participate, to engage withothers, to rebuild social
networks.
But the clubhouse, it's morethan that.
It's an opportunity system.
(03:06):
So people, when they come to us, they're usually not at their
best.
They're usually been dealingwith the difficulties of mental
illness in many different waysand when they come to us they're
looking for help or they'relooking for a place to be safe
and welcomed, and we providethat.
That's really important.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yes, that sounds really good.
What else do you help them with?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Beyond that, the clubhouse provides so many
opportunities that help peoplerebuild their lives.
First and foremost, it's acomfortable place to be.
You can come in and just have acup of coffee if you want to
just talk to somebody, or justsit if you want to.
You can also get help accessingneeded services health care,
mental health care, socialservices.
Accessing needed serviceshealth care, mental health care,
(03:47):
social services.
While the clubhouse doesn'tprovide any kind of a treatment
or clinical services, itcertainly helps the community.
Helps each member that's whatwe call people who come to
clubhouses members.
Helps each member access anykind of health care or social
services they need, whetherthat's finding a psychiatrist or
a therapist, or maybe it'sgetting primary care physician
or getting access to housing.
You can get that kind of helpin a clubhouse.
(04:09):
In addition to that, theclubhouse, again, is a community
of people, so when you bringpeople together, there's a lot
of work to do.
You have to answer the phones,you have to keep the place clean
, you have to feed people, youhave to plan and organize
everything.
So there's always work to bedone in a clubhouse.
So members are given theopportunity to participate in
that work as much as they wantto or as little as they want to.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Do you find the participation to be good with
all the members?
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Many times people living with mental illness are
happy to be given theopportunity to contribute to
others or to an organizationagain.
That's an important part ofcoming and belonging somewhere.
Even beyond that, the clubhousehas this opportunity system
that helps people return toeducation, whether that be basic
adult education, college,university certificate degree or
(04:53):
advanced degree programs.
Whatever the person's goals are, the clubhouse will support
that person, both at theclubhouse or on campus, if
needed and wanted.
In addition to that, theclubhouse has an extraordinary
employment program.
If needed and wanted.
In addition to that, theclubhouse has an extraordinary
employment program.
People living with mentalillness.
In this country there's youngemployer rates.
About 85% or 15% of peopleliving with mental illness are
(05:15):
employed At our clubhouses.
About 40% of the people whoparticipate at a clubhouse each
day are employed in jobs in thecommunity, integrated into
businesses with all kinds ofemployers, pay the prevailing
wage and are given theopportunity to start to build a
career and to do things thatthey want again, and that's
important to a lot of peopleliving with mental illness.
If you talk to folks, one ofthe top two or three life goals
(05:35):
is usually I want to have a jobwhere I'm getting paid, where I
can contribute where I can dosomething important, and so
clubhouses have aggressive andsuccessful employment program.
There's also an evening weekendsocial program to help people
rebuild social connections.
When your life gets disruptedby mental illness, you often
lose your friends and yourfamily and your connections, and
(05:55):
far too often people are alone,living in an apartment alone or
living at home with theirparents and not able to come out
and participate in the world.
So having that social networkagain is really important.
So, tony, when you say, what dowe do?
We provide this over-the-topsupport for people living with
mental illness and give themrepeated opportunities to build
(06:16):
success and to recover, and wedo it in a way where we're
sharing the work.
There's a small professionalstaff that works at clubhouses,
but they work as colleagues withmembers and members of the
clubhouse.
People living with mentalillness are involved in every
aspect of it.
That shared work is what wethink is restorative and that's
the crux of what our program isbeing part of something with
(06:36):
other people and contributing tothe success of the group while
at the same time buildingsuccess for yourself.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
How long has the clubhouse been in operation and
what's its history ofdevelopment and growth.
That's a great question.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
The clubhouse started in 1948, so over 75 years ago
in Manhattan, with a singleclubhouse, a group of people who
had been released from a statepsychiatric hospital began to
gather in New York City wherethey lived.
They recognized each other inthe hospital and where they
lived.
They recognized each other inthe hospital and they formed an
organization to help each other.
(07:09):
They didn't want it to soundlike a psychiatric program and
get the stigma associated withthat, so they called it the WANA
Society, w-a-n-a and that stoodfor we Are Not Alone, and the
concept was we're stronger andmore likely to build success
when we're working togetherrather than going in alone.
They formed this club, thissociety, which eventually, with
(07:31):
the help of some wealthyvolunteers who were committed to
helping this group of people,they bought a building that had
a fountain in the backyard andthey renamed themselves Fountain
House.
Fountain House was the firstclubhouse operating on 47th
Street in Hatton and it's stillthere today, very successful.
It's the model for all otherclubhouses.
That's how it started.
It grew over 30 years and thenbegan to get the attention of
(07:52):
other mental health advocates,both public and private, and
began a training program thatwas funded by the US government,
the National Institute forMental Health, and began to
train other organizations andstates, and then eventually,
outside the country.
When the clubhouses began to besuccessful and grew, it was
time to create a secondorganization.
So Fountainhouse, together withsome of the other clubhouses,
(08:13):
created what is now ClubhouseInternational.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
You kind of beat me to the punch.
My next question was is itregional, national or
international?
So you've answered that it'sinternational, regional,
national or international?
So you've answered that it'sinternational.
So can you expand on how manythere are and where they might
be?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
today there are 377 clubhouses in 32 countries on
all six continents and acrosssix continents.
I should say there are about220 in the united states and
another 150 outside the unitedstates that great.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
That's really good to hear what an impact you are
making.
Now are all the clubhousesaround the world modeled in the
same way and, of course, the waythat they work with the people
that are members?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
The answer to that is yes.
The clubhouse model ofpsychosocial rehabilitation is a
very specific model.
Although the word clubhouse isgeneral and lots of programs or
organizations might say club orclubhouse, the clubhouse model
is very specific.
It's been developed andorganized and improved over 75
(09:15):
years.
The clubhouse operate on thebasis of 37 best practice
standards, the internationalstandards for clubhouse programs
and these programs.
These standards describe how wework with each other, how we
treat each other, what theopportunity system is in a
clubhouse, how clubhouses arestructured, how clubhouses are
governed, what the business of aclubhouse is.
And so these 37 best practicestandards were consensually
(09:39):
developed by clubhouses, meaningmembers, people living with
mental illness, staff, peoplewho volunteer on boards.
These standards were developedand they're updated every two
years A rather cumbersome butimportant process of seeking
consensus about what are thebest practices.
And they were first promulgatedback in 1989 and have been
updated every two years sincethen.
(10:00):
Clubhouses are trained on thebasis of these standards and
evaluated on the basis of thesestandards.
If you go to any clubhouse inthe world, you'll find the
standards posted on the wall oron the tables or part of the
meetings where people aretalking about them all the time.
For example, the first standardclubhouse membership is a
voluntary and without timelimits.
When someone becomes a memberof a clubhouse, they do it
(10:22):
because they want to.
You can't get too sick or toohealthy to be a member of the
clubhouse.
They do it because they want to.
You can't get too sick or toohealthy to be a member of a
clubhouse.
Once you have a clubhouse, youcan always use that clubhouse
and people do.
They use it a lot when theyneed it most and they use it
less when they don't need it somuch.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
When someone says they need help, what's the
process?
To bring them into yoursupportive environment and
setting up resources to helpthem rebuild their life and
pursue the vision theyoriginally had and hopefully can
attain again for their future?
Speaker 2 (10:51):
There's a clubhouse in Worcester, massachusetts,
called the Genesis Club and theystarted saying a number of
years ago they said we have widedoors to come in, but we had
even wider doors to go out, andthat's a simple answer to your
question.
At clubhouses it'sintentionally very simple and
straightforward to become amember.
There's no testing, there's noassessments.
(11:12):
You don't have to earn your wayinto a clubhouse.
You don't have to get thepermission of anybody or any
program or anything.
If you have a history of mentalillness, you're welcomed into
the clubhouse.
So members come to theclubhouse in many different ways
.
Some members are referred by amedical professional, a
psychiatrist or a therapist or aprimary care doctor, some by
social workers or case managersor school disability offices.
(11:35):
And many members areself-referred in what you can do
to come to a clubhouse and it'stypically someone else who had
the benefit of the clubhousewould tell her about it.
When someone comes to theclubhouse, they might email,
they might come knock on thefront door, they might call by
telephone, but they're invitedto come for a tour.
Every clubhouse runs tourswhere they introduce people to
how the clubhouse works.
They'll walk you through theclubhouse, show you how it all
(11:58):
works and if you have a historyof mental illness and you're
interested in being in aclubhouse, typically you can
become a clubhouse right away,like that day or that week.
It's very easy.
There's not waiting lists,typically at clubhouses, and so
someone just has to express aninterest in being a member and
have a history of mental illnessTo answer your question about
getting out.
It's all voluntary, so you canleave anytime you want.
(12:19):
You can participate as much oras little as you want to, but
the systems that I wasdescribing Going back to school
and finishing your education andbuilding self-confidence again
and developing a plan for what'snext in terms of a career or
family or where you want to livethe clubhouse helps with all of
those things, whether it'sfinancial help for school,
(12:50):
whether it's finding the rightschool, the right major, getting
through a tough class structure, seeking reasonable
accommodation from the school ifthat's needed.
The same thing is true inemployment over-the-top support
in many different ways to helpmembers find and return to
employment and then besuccessful at employment and get
on a career path if that's whatthey want.
If someone has a real problemwith homelessness and their
housing being at risk, theclubhouse will get involved and
(13:10):
help people get that stabilizedand figure out what their goals
are around the housing and helpthem achieve that.
So there are a lot of ways outof the clubhouse in terms of
getting back.
The whole mission of clubhouseis to help people live
successfully as integrated andvalued members of society.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Are there any accommodations at the clubhouse
where, if someone is in direneed of a place to stay, that
there's something temporary forthem, like if they're going to
school or anything along thatline?
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Clubhouses are not residential programs so nobody
lives at the clubhouse.
Clubhouses are very involvedwith helping members who need
housing get that housing andkeep it and improve it.
So they'll run supportdepartment programs or work with
other housing programs in thecommunity if people need that
kind of help, so put that asidethe residential stuff.
There's a lot of help with it,but people don't live at the
(13:59):
clubhouse.
But that concept that youdescribed of being able to use
the clubhouse while you're goingto college, the answer to that
is yes.
Think about it like a healthclub.
A health club has all kinds ofservices.
There's cardio, sometimesthere's yoga, sometimes there's
a steam room.
There might be weightlifting orother kinds of stretching
classes or any of those kinds ofthings.
There's a lot of things you cando at a health club.
When you join, you pick whatyou want to use and you might
(14:21):
change your mind.
You might come to the clubhousea lot and anytime you might go
a lot because you want to, oryou might just go once in a
while.
You get to pick and choose howthat works in your life.
Members get to pick and choosehow they use the clubhouse.
As I said, when people firstcome, typically they're not at
their best.
It's pretty common for peopleto be really struggling and be
separated and isolated andlonely and sometimes people will
(14:42):
use the clubhouse every day.
People when they go back toschool.
They may only come in a coupleof times a week to check in with
friends or get help withsomething, or they may use the
most.
Clubhouses will have some kindof system to help with tutoring
or studying, but the member willpick what works for them.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Sure, that makes sense.
So could you describe when amember first walks through those
doors?
What do they see first?
How is the clubhouse laid out?
Can you give us a little bit ofa visual on how the clubhouse
is laid out?
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Well, that's an interesting question.
If you go to any clubhouse inthe world, if you know what a
clubhouse is and you walk intoany clubhouse, you could go to
one in Tokyo or Pristina, kosovoor London or Detroit or
Richmond, british Columbia, andyou'd know that you were in a
clubhouse, because a lot ofthings that are very similar.
But clubhouses might be in alarge office type building, a
(15:35):
commercial building.
They might be in an oldVictorian home.
There are clubhouses that havepurchased or leased buildings
formerly used as firehouses oranything, so it can be any kind
of a building.
Typically, when you walk into aclubhouse, there's going to be
one or more people right thereat a reception desk or reception
area who are saying hi, joel,welcome, welcome to the
(15:55):
clubhouse, can I help you?
And that's for two reasons.
One is just to remind peoplethat they are welcome there.
It's a place that they belong.
But also it makes sure that thepeople who come through the
door are people who get the helpthat they need, whether it's
someone who's visiting and wantsto learn about a clubhouse, or
someone who just wants to findout what's going on in that
building, or if it's a potentialnew member.
So there's somebody right thereat the door always who can help
(16:16):
someone.
And then the clubhouse space isusually divided up into sort of
the functions of that clubhouse,how that clubhouse is
organizing, and oftentimes thathas to do with size.
Any clubhouse you'll find akitchen and a dining room,
usually a commercial sizekitchen, a clubhouse that has
commercial appliances and thosekind of things.
The average daily attendance ata clubhouse is around somewhere
(16:39):
between 35 and 45 people a dayand some clubhouses have as many
as 300 people a day and someclubhouses have as few as 10 or
15 people a day, depending onthe community and the size of
the community and the age of theclubhouse.
At every clubhouse you'rebringing people together, so
there's food service and sothere's a kitchen and a dining
room.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Now, what about electronics?
Do you have a room focused onthat as well?
Speaker 2 (16:59):
There's usually some kind of a business or
administration or communicationsroom where people are doing
work on computers, maybe puttingout a newsletter, maybe
reporting to the funding sourceon statistics and things they
need to planning the schedulefor the next week.
Typically the clubhouse will bedivided into what we call units
.
A typical clubhouse has somekind of a clerical unit, some
(17:20):
kind of a food service unit.
Oftentimes clubhouses will haveemployment or employment
education units that aredesigned around helping to
support people with educationand employment.
Clubhouse might have a spacethat takes care of the facility
and members gather in thoseunits.
They choose where they want towork.
There's a small staff, sothey'll be spread out amongst
the units in the clubhouse andevery day during the day we have
(17:41):
what's called the work orderday.
So if you came in betweentypically nine and five, you'd
see people organized arounddoing work.
If you're in an office-basedunit, you'll be doing office
work.
If you're in a food serviceunit, they'll be doing food
service.
If you're in a facilities unit,you're doing that.
There might be a horticultureunit that's growing food for the
clubhouse and taking care ofthe landscaping and all that.
So there's voluntary work goingon.
(18:02):
Remember I said the work iswhat is restorative.
So people sharing work anddoing it is the concept, so you
would see people workingtogether.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
That sounds like a really great environment If you
would expand on the duties ofthe staff members and how they
interact with the members.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
The role of the staff person in a clubhouse is to
engage members, to get to knowthem, to build a relationship
with them, and doing thatthrough shared work is really
important.
So you'll see people in thekitchen.
You won't see people off in onecorner by themselves.
You'll see people working at atable together sharing the work,
planning the work.
If you see a group of peopleplanning evening and weekend
activities for the coming month,they'll probably be sitting
(18:41):
around a table together sharingthat work.
For the coming month They'llprobably be sitting around a
table together sharing that work.
Clubhouses like to usewhiteboards.
They put everything up there sothat anybody who comes in can
see what's going on and whatwork opportunities there are.
So you'll see that.
You'll see modern officeequipment In our clubhouses.
We talk about making the placeimage enhancing so it won't look
like a poor, underfunded socialservice program.
(19:01):
Most clubhouses will be thefurniture, what's hanging on the
walls, the condition of thebuilding of the property, always
image enhancing, fresh and newand modern.
Working with equipment that theymight be working with when
they're out employed.
They might be gaining newskills.
So there might be a media unitwhere many clubhouses do
podcasts, for example, or makevideos or weekly or daily
(19:22):
television shows to keepeverybody informed about what's
going on at the clubhouse andwhat opportunities are.
So you'll see people working onthose kinds of things.
The other thing you'll see ispeople treating each other with
a tremendous amount of respectand dignity and care, because
the clubhouses are a caringcommunity.
It's really very impressive tosee how people treat each other
(19:43):
with such positive regard andmake sure that each other's okay
, making sure that people areinvited to engage in whatever
activity that's going on there.
So you'll see people treatingeach other very nice.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
That's a really impressive statement.
What areas do you usually finda clubhouse?
Speaker 2 (19:58):
When we talk to a new group about building a
clubhouse, we say you want tohave your clubhouse in a place
that is easily accessible.
Typically, people who aremembers of clubhouses are living
at or near or below the povertyline.
You want to be where there'spublic transportation, where
people can get there.
So we want to have easy accessto employment opportunities.
(20:20):
I know I keep coming back tothat, but employment is a
cornerstone of the Clubhousemodel.
We want people to be able toaccess employers, so businesses
or public services.
Or we have folks that areemployed in government offices
or in libraries or at the localbig box store or law firm or
accounting office, who havepeople working in jobs where
they're being supported there.
(20:48):
So the Clubhouse needs to be inreasonable access to those kinds
of things.
You want it to be a safeneighborhood.
Again, think about the phraseimage enhancing.
In my work before I became thedirector of Clubhouse
International, I was involvedwith opening three different
clubhouses.
Their addresses were 209 MainStreet in one city, 510 Main
Street in another city and 44Main Street in another city.
So you can see where I thinkClubhouse has belonged.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Yeah, and that makes great sense.
Now that brings up anotherquestion how long have you been
with Clubhouse?
Speaker 2 (21:13):
I started in 1986 working at Clubhouse in Hyannis,
massachusetts.
So I've been doing that.
I've been at ClubhouseInternational since 1995 and the
executive director CEO since 97.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
What are your projections for Clubhouse's
growth and expansion over thenext three to five years?
Do you foresee it becomingsignificantly larger than it is
currently?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Tony, I appreciate that question.
For our first 30 years, wespent a lot of time helping new
clubhouses grow and go andbuilding a training program that
you talked about.
It was a consistent trainingprogram at our 12 training
centers around the world.
We also have a qualityassurance program.
It's a formal accreditationprogram.
So establishing that and thenbuilding a very tightly knit
(21:57):
network of clubhouses across theworld.
We spent a lot of time doingthat.
But as we approached our 30thanniversary, we started thinking
, okay, where are we going?
What's next?
How do we see it going?
And when I say we, our board,our staff, our members and staff
, we're in leadership positionswith our organization from
clubhouses around the world.
We all could agree on one thingthat there aren't nearly enough
(22:17):
clubhouses in the world, thatthe pace with which we're
growing, while steady and good,has been too slow.
There are millions and millionsof people who need access to
the kind of supportive communitythat a clubhouse is and the
opportunity system to help torecover and rebuild their lives.
We do not think that we'regoing fast enough.
So our focus now is onaccelerating the growth and
development of clubhouses, andso, while we have 377 clubhouses
(22:41):
today, we were at 340 when wewere talking about this and
we're hoping to triple thenumber of clubhouses by 3030.
Across the world we are seeinga growing interest in clubhouses
.
There's so much evidence outthere supporting clubhouses as
an evidence-based, effectivepractice.
There are academic studies aswell as government reports that
are showing that clubhousesreduce the need for use of more
(23:04):
expensive services likehospitals and emergency services
or emergency rooms.
They reduce criminal justicesystem involvement for people
with mental illness, increasehousing, increase general
well-being.
People living with mentalillness typically die 15 to 20
years earlier than peoplewithout mental illness, usually
because of undiagnosed comorbidhealth care conditions that go
(23:25):
undiagnosed because a person'smental illness either prevents
them from participating, orreasons of stigma or
discrimination, or maybe fear onthe person's part or economics,
and so club houses do a lot tohelp people address those
well-being and healthy lifestyle.
A lot of evidence out thereshowing that.
So it's a unique time wherepublic and private mental health
(23:45):
advocacy organizations andservice organizations are
recognizing the value ofclubhouses and we're getting a
lot of attention that's comingand saying we need clubhouses.
In our community, 30 newclubhouses opened and joined
Clubhouse International lastyear.
We are working now toaccelerate public awareness
about what a clubhouse is howClubhouse International works to
(24:05):
support clubhouses and givingcommunities access to training
and information so that they canstart their own clubhouses and
join our network of support.
We're optimistic about thefuture.
Our vision is that one day,clubhouses will be as
commonplace in the world as boysand girls clubs and YMCAs and
senior centers.
We think every community needsa clubhouse, just like those
(24:26):
organizations are needed, andthat's what we're working
towards.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
That sounds really, really good.
Now we've covered a lot ofthings, but what would you like
to tell our listeners that theyneed to know, that you think is
very important for them tounderstand about what you're
trying to do with clubhousesaround the world?
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I think it's a couple of things.
I'll do it briefly, but first Iwas reading a newsletter this
morning our newsletter a memberof a clubhouse called Mosaic
Clubhouse in London Her name'sHelen.
She wrote a little piece inthere describing herself and she
talked about being in and outof hospitals from the time she
was in her teens and early 20sand just feeling completely
disconnected to the world.
And she said when she cameacross Mosaic Clubhouse that all
(25:09):
changed, that just beingwelcomed and being able to use
what Mosaic Clubhouse had tooffer at her own pace, I think.
She said I was able to dip inand dip out as I needed and now
I'm back on a good path.
And she said I'm now workingagain.
I said to her I want to tellTony about that when I talked to
him, because that's theexperience we're talking about
here.
So I want people to rememberthat there was another member
(25:30):
who told me once a long storyabout his life and how his life
was disrupted by mental illnesslater in life and he lost a good
job and a home and a family,even though he had been educated
at Yale and worked in school ofbusiness.
He had to go home and live withhis mother in Milwaukee and he
lived in his basement for threeyears, afraid to come out and to
talk to other people, andeventually, after a lot of
(25:52):
encouragement from therapistsand supporters, he tried the
local clubhouse there, grandAvenue Club.
He said to me.
He said, joel, I have a messagefor you, something I hear often
.
He said to me this clubhouse isgreat for me and it literally
saved my life.
I don't think I'd be here todaywithout it, and that's very
common to hear from clubhousemembers.
But he said I want to ask you aquestion.
The people were hanging aroundbus stations and on street
(26:13):
corners, panhandling or inhomeless enclaves in cities.
I said yeah.
He said a lot of those folkshave mental health challenges or
mental illnesses.
I said yeah, he said thosepeople would benefit from
Clubhouse.
I said they sure would.
He said that's not my messageto you, though.
He said that's not where mostof us are.
Most of us aren't on the street, owners and highly visible.
Most of us are at home in ourmother's basement drinking
(26:34):
coffee and watching TV all dayand afraid to come out.
Those are the folks we have toreach.
Those are the people who needto know about clubhouses and
benefit from those, and that'swhat Clubhouse is trying to do
is trying to reach all thosepeople.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Can you tell us a little bit about your website
and what they can find on there?
Speaker 2 (26:49):
I would encourage people to go to our website and
look at Clubhouse Internationaland see what we do.
There's a directory there.
Look for a clubhouse in yourcommunity and there's
opportunities for you to assurepeople who you know might
benefit from a clubhouse.
Go for you to assure people whoyou know might benefit from a
clubhouse.
Go for a tour yourself.
See what the clubhouse is allabout.
Clubhouses love to give tours.
Maybe volunteer and join thelocal board or advisory board.
(27:10):
There are a lot of things youcan do.
We have different advocacyactions all day, all year long.
You can get involved with usthat way.
We know everybody has aconnection to mental illness,
whether it's themselves, theirfamily, their friends, their
neighbors, their co-workers,their roommates.
I'd encourage you to getinvolved.
Learn about what a clubhousecan deliver, and maybe the most
important thing to remember ispeople living without mental
(27:32):
illness are, in fact, peoplewith all the same dreams and
needs and wants, and thepotential to recover and rebuild
a personally satisfied, engaged, involved, contributing life in
the local community is there.
Clubhouses provide a reasonableaccommodation which is for
people with mental illness,which is over-the-top support
and repeated opportunities tosucceed.
I would encourage people to getto know us a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yes, absolutely.
Well, this has been great,great conversation, great
information.
I really appreciate you takingthe time to come on.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Totally I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you
about it.
If I can tell you anymore,introduce you to Clubhouse, I'd
love you taking the time to comeon.
Tony, I appreciate theopportunity to talk to you about
it.
If I could tell you anymore,introduce you to Clubhouse, I'd
love you now.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
I certainly will.
Thanks again.
Thanks for taking the time outof your busy schedule to listen
to our show today.
We hope that you enjoyed it asmuch as we enjoyed bringing it
to you.
If you know anyone that wouldlike to tell us their story,
(28:30):
send them to TonyMantorcomContact then they can give us
their information so one daythey may be a guest on our show.
One more thing we ask telleveryone everywhere about why
Not Me, the world, theconversations we're having and
(28:51):
the inspiration our guests giveto everyone everywhere that you
are not alone in this world.
You.
Welcome to why Not Me ?
The World Podcast, hosted byTony Mantor, broadcasting from
Music City, usa, nashville,tennessee.
Join us as our guests tell ustheir stories.
Some will make you laugh, somewill make you cry.
Their stories Some will makeyou laugh, some will make you
(00:28):
cry.
Real life people who willinspire and show that you are
not alone in this world.
Hopefully, you gain moreawareness, acceptance and a
better understanding for autismaround the world.
Hi, I'm Tony Mantor.
(00:52):
Welcome to why Not Me?
The World Humanity OverHandcuffs the Silent Crisis
special event.
Today we're joined by JoelCorcoran, executive Director and
CEO of Clubhouse International,a global network of over 370
clubhouses across 32 countries.
Clubhouse Internationalprovides individuals living with
(01:13):
mental illness a supportivecommunity offering opportunities
for friendship, employment,housing, education and access to
medical and psychiatricservices in a caring, safe
environment.
Joel is here to share insightsabout this transformative
organization.
Thanks for coming on.
Sure, could you give us anoverview of your organization,
(01:36):
your responsibilities and thegoals you have?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
I'm the director and CEO of Clubhouse International,
and Clubhouse International isan organization that is
committed to ending isolation,both economic and social, for
people living with mentalillness, in particular people
living with serious mentalillness.
And the way that we do that isby helping to grow the number
and the quality of clubhouserehabilitation programs, a
(02:03):
rehabilitation program calledClubhouse.
A clubhouse is an intentionalcommunity.
It's a voluntary place wherepeople living with mental
illness again by and largepeople with serious mental
illness, but anybody with ahistory of mental illness is
welcome.
It's designed to be a communitythat is rich with opportunities
for people to rebuild theirlives and reclaim their futures
after having been sodramatically disrupted by an
(02:24):
illness.
People living with mentalillness are typically separated
from many of the things we alltake for granted.
They get marginalized andthey've usually not finished
school, but not always They'vehad their early lives
interrupted.
In most cases they lose family,they lose friends, they lose
access to employment or moneyand a lot of times maybe the
(02:46):
worst thing is they lose hopefor the future.
So the clubhouse is this placewhere people who are typically
not welcomed in other places arenot only welcomed but they're
welcomed and needed and givenrepeated opportunities to
participate, to engage withothers, to rebuild social
networks.
But the clubhouse, it's morethan that.
It's an opportunity system.
(03:06):
So people, when they come to us, they're usually not at their
best.
They're usually been dealingwith the difficulties of mental
illness in many different waysand when they come to us they're
looking for help or they'relooking for a place to be safe
and welcomed, and we providethat.
That's really important.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yes, that sounds really good.
What else do you help them with?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Beyond that, the clubhouse provides so many
opportunities that help peoplerebuild their lives.
First and foremost, it's acomfortable place to be.
You can come in and just have acup of coffee if you want to
just talk to somebody, or justsit if you want to.
You can also get help accessingneeded services health care,
mental health care, socialservices.
Accessing needed serviceshealth care, mental health care,
(03:47):
social services.
While the clubhouse doesn'tprovide any kind of a treatment
or clinical services, itcertainly helps the community.
Helps each member that's whatwe call people who come to
clubhouses members.
Helps each member access anykind of health care or social
services they need, whetherthat's finding a psychiatrist or
a therapist, or maybe it'sgetting primary care physician
or getting access to housing.
You can get that kind of helpin a clubhouse.
(04:09):
In addition to that, theclubhouse, again, is a community
of people, so when you bringpeople together, there's a lot
of work to do.
You have to answer the phones,you have to keep the place clean
, you have to feed people, youhave to plan and organize
everything.
So there's always work to bedone in a clubhouse.
So members are given theopportunity to participate in
that work as much as they wantto or as little as they want to.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Do you find the participation to be good with
all the members?
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Many times people living with mental illness are
happy to be given theopportunity to contribute to
others or to an organizationagain.
That's an important part ofcoming and belonging somewhere.
Even beyond that, the clubhousehas this opportunity system
that helps people return toeducation, whether that be basic
adult education, college,university certificate degree or
(04:53):
advanced degree programs.
Whatever the person's goals are, the clubhouse will support
that person, both at theclubhouse or on campus, if
needed and wanted.
In addition to that, theclubhouse has an extraordinary
employment program.
If needed and wanted.
In addition to that, theclubhouse has an extraordinary
employment program.
People living with mentalillness.
In this country there's youngemployer rates.
About 85% or 15% of peopleliving with mental illness are
(05:15):
employed At our clubhouses.
About 40% of the people whoparticipate at a clubhouse each
day are employed in jobs in thecommunity, integrated into
businesses with all kinds ofemployers, pay the prevailing
wage and are given theopportunity to start to build a
career and to do things thatthey want again, and that's
important to a lot of peopleliving with mental illness.
If you talk to folks, one ofthe top two or three life goals
(05:35):
is usually I want to have a jobwhere I'm getting paid, where I
can contribute where I can dosomething important, and so
clubhouses have aggressive andsuccessful employment program.
There's also an evening weekendsocial program to help people
rebuild social connections.
When your life gets disruptedby mental illness, you often
lose your friends and yourfamily and your connections, and
(05:55):
far too often people are alone,living in an apartment alone or
living at home with theirparents and not able to come out
and participate in the world.
So having that social networkagain is really important.
So, tony, when you say, what dowe do?
We provide this over-the-topsupport for people living with
mental illness and give themrepeated opportunities to build
(06:16):
success and to recover, and wedo it in a way where we're
sharing the work.
There's a small professionalstaff that works at clubhouses,
but they work as colleagues withmembers and members of the
clubhouse.
People living with mentalillness are involved in every
aspect of it.
That shared work is what wethink is restorative and that's
the crux of what our program isbeing part of something with
(06:36):
other people and contributing tothe success of the group while
at the same time buildingsuccess for yourself.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
How long has the clubhouse been in operation and
what's its history ofdevelopment and growth.
That's a great question.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
The clubhouse started in 1948, so over 75 years ago
in Manhattan, with a singleclubhouse, a group of people who
had been released from a statepsychiatric hospital began to
gather in New York City wherethey lived.
They recognized each other inthe hospital and where they
lived.
They recognized each other inthe hospital and they formed an
organization to help each other.
(07:09):
They didn't want it to soundlike a psychiatric program and
get the stigma associated withthat, so they called it the WANA
Society, w-a-n-a and that stoodfor we Are Not Alone, and the
concept was we're stronger andmore likely to build success
when we're working togetherrather than going in alone.
They formed this club, thissociety, which eventually, with
(07:31):
the help of some wealthyvolunteers who were committed to
helping this group of people,they bought a building that had
a fountain in the backyard andthey renamed themselves Fountain
House.
Fountain House was the firstclubhouse operating on 47th
Street in Hatton and it's stillthere today, very successful.
It's the model for all otherclubhouses.
That's how it started.
It grew over 30 years and thenbegan to get the attention of
(07:52):
other mental health advocates,both public and private, and
began a training program thatwas funded by the US government,
the National Institute forMental Health, and began to
train other organizations andstates, and then eventually,
outside the country.
When the clubhouses began to besuccessful and grew, it was
time to create a secondorganization.
So Fountainhouse, together withsome of the other clubhouses,
(08:13):
created what is now ClubhouseInternational.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
You kind of beat me to the punch.
My next question was is itregional, national or
international?
So you've answered that it'sinternational, regional,
national or international?
So you've answered that it'sinternational.
So can you expand on how manythere are and where they might
be?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
today there are 377 clubhouses in 32 countries on
all six continents and acrosssix continents.
I should say there are about220 in the united states and
another 150 outside the unitedstates that great.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
That's really good to hear what an impact you are
making.
Now are all the clubhousesaround the world modeled in the
same way and, of course, the waythat they work with the people
that are members?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
The answer to that is yes.
The clubhouse model ofpsychosocial rehabilitation is a
very specific model.
Although the word clubhouse isgeneral and lots of programs or
organizations might say club orclubhouse, the clubhouse model
is very specific.
It's been developed andorganized and improved over 75
(09:15):
years.
The clubhouse operate on thebasis of 37 best practice
standards, the internationalstandards for clubhouse programs
and these programs.
These standards describe how wework with each other, how we
treat each other, what theopportunity system is in a
clubhouse, how clubhouses arestructured, how clubhouses are
governed, what the business of aclubhouse is.
And so these 37 best practicestandards were consensually
(09:39):
developed by clubhouses, meaningmembers, people living with
mental illness, staff, peoplewho volunteer on boards.
These standards were developedand they're updated every two
years A rather cumbersome butimportant process of seeking
consensus about what are thebest practices.
And they were first promulgatedback in 1989 and have been
updated every two years sincethen.
(10:00):
Clubhouses are trained on thebasis of these standards and
evaluated on the basis of thesestandards.
If you go to any clubhouse inthe world, you'll find the
standards posted on the wall oron the tables or part of the
meetings where people aretalking about them all the time.
For example, the first standardclubhouse membership is a
voluntary and without timelimits.
When someone becomes a memberof a clubhouse, they do it
(10:22):
because they want to.
You can't get too sick or toohealthy to be a member of the
clubhouse.
They do it because they want to.
You can't get too sick or toohealthy to be a member of a
clubhouse.
Once you have a clubhouse, youcan always use that clubhouse
and people do.
They use it a lot when theyneed it most and they use it
less when they don't need it somuch.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
When someone says they need help, what's the
process?
To bring them into yoursupportive environment and
setting up resources to helpthem rebuild their life and
pursue the vision theyoriginally had and hopefully can
attain again for their future?
Speaker 2 (10:51):
There's a clubhouse in Worcester, massachusetts,
called the Genesis Club and theystarted saying a number of
years ago they said we have widedoors to come in, but we had
even wider doors to go out, andthat's a simple answer to your
question.
At clubhouses it'sintentionally very simple and
straightforward to become amember.
There's no testing, there's noassessments.
(11:12):
You don't have to earn your wayinto a clubhouse.
You don't have to get thepermission of anybody or any
program or anything.
If you have a history of mentalillness, you're welcomed into
the clubhouse.
So members come to theclubhouse in many different ways
.
Some members are referred by amedical professional, a
psychiatrist or a therapist or aprimary care doctor, some by
social workers or case managersor school disability offices.
(11:35):
And many members areself-referred in what you can do
to come to a clubhouse and it'stypically someone else who had
the benefit of the clubhousewould tell her about it.
When someone comes to theclubhouse, they might email,
they might come knock on thefront door, they might call by
telephone, but they're invitedto come for a tour.
Every clubhouse runs tourswhere they introduce people to
how the clubhouse works.
They'll walk you through theclubhouse, show you how it all
(11:58):
works and if you have a historyof mental illness and you're
interested in being in aclubhouse, typically you can
become a clubhouse right away,like that day or that week.
It's very easy.
There's not waiting lists,typically at clubhouses, and so
someone just has to express aninterest in being a member and
have a history of mental illnessTo answer your question about
getting out.
It's all voluntary, so you canleave anytime you want.
(12:19):
You can participate as much oras little as you want to, but
the systems that I wasdescribing Going back to school
and finishing your education andbuilding self-confidence again
and developing a plan for what'snext in terms of a career or
family or where you want to livethe clubhouse helps with all of
those things, whether it'sfinancial help for school,
(12:50):
whether it's finding the rightschool, the right major, getting
through a tough class structure, seeking reasonable
accommodation from the school ifthat's needed.
The same thing is true inemployment over-the-top support
in many different ways to helpmembers find and return to
employment and then besuccessful at employment and get
on a career path if that's whatthey want.
If someone has a real problemwith homelessness and their
housing being at risk, theclubhouse will get involved and
(13:10):
help people get that stabilizedand figure out what their goals
are around the housing and helpthem achieve that.
So there are a lot of ways outof the clubhouse in terms of
getting back.
The whole mission of clubhouseis to help people live
successfully as integrated andvalued members of society.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Are there any accommodations at the clubhouse
where, if someone is in direneed of a place to stay, that
there's something temporary forthem, like if they're going to
school or anything along thatline?
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Clubhouses are not residential programs so nobody
lives at the clubhouse.
Clubhouses are very involvedwith helping members who need
housing get that housing andkeep it and improve it.
So they'll run supportdepartment programs or work with
other housing programs in thecommunity if people need that
kind of help, so put that asidethe residential stuff.
There's a lot of help with it,but people don't live at the
(13:59):
clubhouse.
But that concept that youdescribed of being able to use
the clubhouse while you're goingto college, the answer to that
is yes.
Think about it like a healthclub.
A health club has all kinds ofservices.
There's cardio, sometimesthere's yoga, sometimes there's
a steam room.
There might be weightlifting orother kinds of stretching
classes or any of those kinds ofthings.
There's a lot of things you cando at a health club.
When you join, you pick whatyou want to use and you might
(14:21):
change your mind.
You might come to the clubhousea lot and anytime you might go
a lot because you want to, oryou might just go once in a
while.
You get to pick and choose howthat works in your life.
Members get to pick and choosehow they use the clubhouse.
As I said, when people firstcome, typically they're not at
their best.
It's pretty common for peopleto be really struggling and be
separated and isolated andlonely and sometimes people will
(14:42):
use the clubhouse every day.
People when they go back toschool.
They may only come in a coupleof times a week to check in with
friends or get help withsomething, or they may use the
most.
Clubhouses will have some kindof system to help with tutoring
or studying, but the member willpick what works for them.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Sure, that makes sense.
So could you describe when amember first walks through those
doors?
What do they see first?
How is the clubhouse laid out?
Can you give us a little bit ofa visual on how the clubhouse
is laid out?
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Well, that's an interesting question.
If you go to any clubhouse inthe world, if you know what a
clubhouse is and you walk intoany clubhouse, you could go to
one in Tokyo or Pristina, kosovoor London or Detroit or
Richmond, british Columbia, andyou'd know that you were in a
clubhouse, because a lot ofthings that are very similar.
But clubhouses might be in alarge office type building, a
(15:35):
commercial building.
They might be in an oldVictorian home.
There are clubhouses that havepurchased or leased buildings
formerly used as firehouses oranything, so it can be any kind
of a building.
Typically, when you walk into aclubhouse, there's going to be
one or more people right thereat a reception desk or reception
area who are saying hi, joel,welcome, welcome to the
(15:55):
clubhouse, can I help you?
And that's for two reasons.
One is just to remind peoplethat they are welcome there.
It's a place that they belong.
But also it makes sure that thepeople who come through the
door are people who get the helpthat they need, whether it's
someone who's visiting and wantsto learn about a clubhouse, or
someone who just wants to findout what's going on in that
building, or if it's a potentialnew member.
So there's somebody right thereat the door always who can help
(16:16):
someone.
And then the clubhouse space isusually divided up into sort of
the functions of that clubhouse,how that clubhouse is
organizing, and oftentimes thathas to do with size.
Any clubhouse you'll find akitchen and a dining room,
usually a commercial sizekitchen, a clubhouse that has
commercial appliances and thosekind of things.
The average daily attendance ata clubhouse is around somewhere
(16:39):
between 35 and 45 people a dayand some clubhouses have as many
as 300 people a day and someclubhouses have as few as 10 or
15 people a day, depending onthe community and the size of
the community and the age of theclubhouse.
At every clubhouse you'rebringing people together, so
there's food service and sothere's a kitchen and a dining
room.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Now, what about electronics?
Do you have a room focused onthat as well?
Speaker 2 (16:59):
There's usually some kind of a business or
administration or communicationsroom where people are doing
work on computers, maybe puttingout a newsletter, maybe
reporting to the funding sourceon statistics and things they
need to planning the schedulefor the next week.
Typically the clubhouse will bedivided into what we call units
.
A typical clubhouse has somekind of a clerical unit, some
(17:20):
kind of a food service unit.
Oftentimes clubhouses will haveemployment or employment
education units that aredesigned around helping to
support people with educationand employment.
Clubhouse might have a spacethat takes care of the facility
and members gather in thoseunits.
They choose where they want towork.
There's a small staff, sothey'll be spread out amongst
the units in the clubhouse andevery day during the day we have
(17:41):
what's called the work orderday.
So if you came in betweentypically nine and five, you'd
see people organized arounddoing work.
If you're in an office-basedunit, you'll be doing office
work.
If you're in a food serviceunit, they'll be doing food
service.
If you're in a facilities unit,you're doing that.
There might be a horticultureunit that's growing food for the
clubhouse and taking care ofthe landscaping and all that.
So there's voluntary work goingon.
(18:02):
Remember I said the work iswhat is restorative.
So people sharing work anddoing it is the concept, so you
would see people workingtogether.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
That sounds like a really great environment If you
would expand on the duties ofthe staff members and how they
interact with the members.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
The role of the staff person in a clubhouse is to
engage members, to get to knowthem, to build a relationship
with them, and doing thatthrough shared work is really
important.
So you'll see people in thekitchen.
You won't see people off in onecorner by themselves.
You'll see people working at atable together sharing the work,
planning the work.
If you see a group of peopleplanning evening and weekend
activities for the coming month,they'll probably be sitting
(18:41):
around a table together sharingthat work.
For the coming month They'llprobably be sitting around a
table together sharing that work.
Clubhouses like to usewhiteboards.
They put everything up there sothat anybody who comes in can
see what's going on and whatwork opportunities there are.
So you'll see that.
You'll see modern officeequipment In our clubhouses.
We talk about making the placeimage enhancing so it won't look
like a poor, underfunded socialservice program.
(19:01):
Most clubhouses will be thefurniture, what's hanging on the
walls, the condition of thebuilding of the property, always
image enhancing, fresh and newand modern.
Working with equipment that theymight be working with when
they're out employed.
They might be gaining newskills.
So there might be a media unitwhere many clubhouses do
podcasts, for example, or makevideos or weekly or daily
(19:22):
television shows to keepeverybody informed about what's
going on at the clubhouse andwhat opportunities are.
So you'll see people working onthose kinds of things.
The other thing you'll see ispeople treating each other with
a tremendous amount of respectand dignity and care, because
the clubhouses are a caringcommunity.
It's really very impressive tosee how people treat each other
(19:43):
with such positive regard andmake sure that each other's okay
, making sure that people areinvited to engage in whatever
activity that's going on there.
So you'll see people treatingeach other very nice.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
That's a really impressive statement.
What areas do you usually finda clubhouse?
Speaker 2 (19:58):
When we talk to a new group about building a
clubhouse, we say you want tohave your clubhouse in a place
that is easily accessible.
Typically, people who aremembers of clubhouses are living
at or near or below the povertyline.
You want to be where there'spublic transportation, where
people can get there.
So we want to have easy accessto employment opportunities.
(20:20):
I know I keep coming back tothat, but employment is a
cornerstone of the Clubhousemodel.
We want people to be able toaccess employers, so businesses
or public services.
Or we have folks that areemployed in government offices
or in libraries or at the localbig box store or law firm or
accounting office, who havepeople working in jobs where
they're being supported there.
(20:48):
So the Clubhouse needs to be inreasonable access to those kinds
of things.
You want it to be a safeneighborhood.
Again, think about the phraseimage enhancing.
In my work before I became thedirector of Clubhouse
International, I was involvedwith opening three different
clubhouses.
Their addresses were 209 MainStreet in one city, 510 Main
Street in another city and 44Main Street in another city.
So you can see where I thinkClubhouse has belonged.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Yeah, and that makes great sense.
Now that brings up anotherquestion how long have you been
with Clubhouse?
Speaker 2 (21:13):
I started in 1986 working at Clubhouse in Hyannis,
massachusetts.
So I've been doing that.
I've been at ClubhouseInternational since 1995 and the
executive director CEO since 97.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
What are your projections for Clubhouse's
growth and expansion over thenext three to five years?
Do you foresee it becomingsignificantly larger than it is
currently?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Tony, I appreciate that question.
For our first 30 years, wespent a lot of time helping new
clubhouses grow and go andbuilding a training program that
you talked about.
It was a consistent trainingprogram at our 12 training
centers around the world.
We also have a qualityassurance program.
It's a formal accreditationprogram.
So establishing that and thenbuilding a very tightly knit
(21:57):
network of clubhouses across theworld.
We spent a lot of time doingthat.
But as we approached our 30thanniversary, we started thinking
, okay, where are we going?
What's next?
How do we see it going?
And when I say we, our board,our staff, our members and staff
, we're in leadership positionswith our organization from
clubhouses around the world.
We all could agree on one thingthat there aren't nearly enough
(22:17):
clubhouses in the world, thatthe pace with which we're
growing, while steady and good,has been too slow.
There are millions and millionsof people who need access to
the kind of supportive communitythat a clubhouse is and the
opportunity system to help torecover and rebuild their lives.
We do not think that we'regoing fast enough.
So our focus now is onaccelerating the growth and
development of clubhouses, andso, while we have 377 clubhouses
(22:41):
today, we were at 340 when wewere talking about this and
we're hoping to triple thenumber of clubhouses by 3030.
Across the world we are seeinga growing interest in clubhouses
.
There's so much evidence outthere supporting clubhouses as
an evidence-based, effectivepractice.
There are academic studies aswell as government reports that
are showing that clubhousesreduce the need for use of more
(23:04):
expensive services likehospitals and emergency services
or emergency rooms.
They reduce criminal justicesystem involvement for people
with mental illness, increasehousing, increase general
well-being.
People living with mentalillness typically die 15 to 20
years earlier than peoplewithout mental illness, usually
because of undiagnosed comorbidhealth care conditions that go
(23:25):
undiagnosed because a person'smental illness either prevents
them from participating, orreasons of stigma or
discrimination, or maybe fear onthe person's part or economics,
and so club houses do a lot tohelp people address those
well-being and healthy lifestyle.
A lot of evidence out thereshowing that.
So it's a unique time wherepublic and private mental health
(23:45):
advocacy organizations andservice organizations are
recognizing the value ofclubhouses and we're getting a
lot of attention that's comingand saying we need clubhouses.
In our community, 30 newclubhouses opened and joined
Clubhouse International lastyear.
We are working now toaccelerate public awareness
about what a clubhouse is howClubhouse International works to
(24:05):
support clubhouses and givingcommunities access to training
and information so that they canstart their own clubhouses and
join our network of support.
We're optimistic about thefuture.
Our vision is that one day,clubhouses will be as
commonplace in the world as boysand girls clubs and YMCAs and
senior centers.
We think every community needsa clubhouse, just like those
(24:26):
organizations are needed, andthat's what we're working
towards.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
That sounds really, really good.
Now we've covered a lot ofthings, but what would you like
to tell our listeners that theyneed to know, that you think is
very important for them tounderstand about what you're
trying to do with clubhousesaround the world?
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I think it's a couple of things.
I'll do it briefly, but first Iwas reading a newsletter this
morning our newsletter a memberof a clubhouse called Mosaic
Clubhouse in London Her name'sHelen.
She wrote a little piece inthere describing herself and she
talked about being in and outof hospitals from the time she
was in her teens and early 20sand just feeling completely
disconnected to the world.
And she said when she cameacross Mosaic Clubhouse that all
(25:09):
changed, that just beingwelcomed and being able to use
what Mosaic Clubhouse had tooffer at her own pace, I think.
She said I was able to dip inand dip out as I needed and now
I'm back on a good path.
And she said I'm now workingagain.
I said to her I want to tellTony about that when I talked to
him, because that's theexperience we're talking about
here.
So I want people to rememberthat there was another member
(25:30):
who told me once a long storyabout his life and how his life
was disrupted by mental illnesslater in life and he lost a good
job and a home and a family,even though he had been educated
at Yale and worked in school ofbusiness.
He had to go home and live withhis mother in Milwaukee and he
lived in his basement for threeyears, afraid to come out and to
talk to other people, andeventually, after a lot of
(25:52):
encouragement from therapistsand supporters, he tried the
local clubhouse there, grandAvenue Club.
He said to me.
He said, joel, I have a messagefor you, something I hear often
.
He said to me this clubhouse isgreat for me and it literally
saved my life.
I don't think I'd be here todaywithout it, and that's very
common to hear from clubhousemembers.
But he said I want to ask you aquestion.
The people were hanging aroundbus stations and on street
(26:13):
corners, panhandling or inhomeless enclaves in cities.
I said yeah.
He said a lot of those folkshave mental health challenges or
mental illnesses.
I said yeah, he said thosepeople would benefit from
Clubhouse.
I said they sure would.
He said that's not my messageto you, though.
He said that's not where mostof us are.
Most of us aren't on the street, owners and highly visible.
Most of us are at home in ourmother's basement drinking
(26:34):
coffee and watching TV all dayand afraid to come out.
Those are the folks we have toreach.
Those are the people who needto know about clubhouses and
benefit from those, and that'swhat Clubhouse is trying to do
is trying to reach all thosepeople.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Can you tell us a little bit about your website
and what they can find on there?
Speaker 2 (26:49):
I would encourage people to go to our website and
look at Clubhouse Internationaland see what we do.
There's a directory there.
Look for a clubhouse in yourcommunity and there's
opportunities for you to assurepeople who you know might
benefit from a clubhouse.
Go for you to assure people whoyou know might benefit from a
clubhouse.
Go for a tour yourself.
See what the clubhouse is allabout.
Clubhouses love to give tours.
Maybe volunteer and join thelocal board or advisory board.
(27:10):
There are a lot of things youcan do.
We have different advocacyactions all day, all year long.
You can get involved with usthat way.
We know everybody has aconnection to mental illness,
whether it's themselves, theirfamily, their friends, their
neighbors, their co-workers,their roommates.
I'd encourage you to getinvolved.
Learn about what a clubhousecan deliver, and maybe the most
important thing to remember ispeople living without mental
(27:32):
illness are, in fact, peoplewith all the same dreams and
needs and wants, and thepotential to recover and rebuild
a personally satisfied, engaged, involved, contributing life in
the local community is there.
Clubhouses provide a reasonableaccommodation which is for
people with mental illness,which is over-the-top support
and repeated opportunities tosucceed.
I would encourage people to getto know us a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yes, absolutely.
Well, this has been great,great conversation, great
information.
I really appreciate you takingthe time to come on.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Totally I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you
about it.
If I can tell you anymore,introduce you to Clubhouse, I'd
love you taking the time to comeon.
Tony, I appreciate theopportunity to talk to you about
it.
If I could tell you anymore,introduce you to Clubhouse, I'd
love you now.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
I certainly will.
Thanks again.
Thanks for taking the time outof your busy schedule to listen
to our show today.
We hope that you enjoyed it asmuch as we enjoyed bringing it
to you.
If you know anyone that wouldlike to tell us their story,
(28:30):
send them to TonyMantorcomContact then they can give us
their information so one daythey may be a guest on our show.
One more thing we ask telleveryone everywhere about why
Not Me, the world, theconversations we're having and
(28:51):
the inspiration our guests giveto everyone everywhere that you
are not alone in this world.
You.
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