One Woman. Forty Years. Countless Lives Changed.
Meet Jennifer Higginbotham, a Clubhouse Model Champion
Not a lot of people work at the same place for 40 years. Even more rare is to have a career dedicated to helping others. When Jennifer Higginbotham leaves Independence Center in St. Louis, Missouri in the summer of 2026, she will undoubtedly leave behind a legacy of true impact. Countless lives have been touched and potentially saved because of her compassionate work to help those living with serious mental illness.
Jennifer recently shared her long Clubhouse career journey, but interestingly she did not sound like a woman slowing down into retirement. She is raring to go! Jennifer speaks about Clubhouse with the same passion she describes having for it when she took her first tour of Independence Center in 1985. “My college advisor recommended I visit the Clubhouse and a member named Buddy gave me my first tour. I was sold the moment I walked in the door.”
Jennifer was finishing her master’s degree in social work at the time and was so enamored with the Clubhouse Model that she asked Independence Center if she could do a second internship during her final semester and the Clubhouse obliged. Fast forward a few months, she was hired after graduation in 1986 and never left!
Jennifer has worn many hats at Independence Center throughout the decades. She was a unit leader, a housing director, a Clubhouse director, and in 2007 led an initiative to combine the center’s urban and suburban Clubhouses into one. Additionally, amongst many boards and committees at Clubhouse International, she served on the Clubhouse International Faculty for 20 years where she worked with other Clubhouse members and staff to accredit Clubhouses around the world as part of the critical, and unique, Clubhouse quality assurance process. More recently Jennifer has held the position of Independence Center’s Chief Program Officer, providing numerous wrap-around services to members.
It’s been 19 years since Independence Center consolidated Clubhouses, but Jennifer recalls this favorite Clubhouse memory like it was yesterday. “I remember standing with members, staff and our architect; deciding where our units would be placed inside this 50k square foot building that used to be a rag factory. We were not just moving physical Clubhouses, we were combining cultures and personalities. On move in day the environment was electric, I was doing tours and communicating with the team while watching our collective vision become a reality.”
Jennifer says she has stayed at the same place for so long because of the mission, community and the relationships she has formed over four decades. “I wanted to help people living with serious mental illness, but I fell in love with the philosophy of the Clubhouse Model from the start.” The Clubhouse ethos espouses that we all need: community, purpose, belonging, and a place to go where you feel needed, wanted and expected. As much as Jennifer has given to members of Clubhouse she has received so much more in return. “This is my community too, my kids grew up alongside me in the Clubhouse and it’s always felt like home.”
In 40 years, she has meant so much to so many, but several members have personally touched Jennifer’s heart. “I could tear up right now just thinking about Mary. She was my right hand and the matriarch of this Clubhouse and did everything from driving our van to making the best applesauce cake ever. She loved working in the kitchen. Mary was here in the early days, I knew her for 20 years and was honored to eulogize her at her funeral in 2019.” There are others like the member who partnered with Jennifer so they both could kick their smoking habits. “Mimi and I would check in with each other every morning, holding each other accountable to not smoke. We’ve both been smoke-free for 20 years!” Jennifer also recalls a member who was incredibly reluctant to even attend the Clubhouse. When staff finally got him settled in, they encouraged him to try transitional employment. He resisted for the longest time but finally relented. “He got his start giving tours at our Clubhouse and for the past 13 years he’s been a tour guide at the St. Louis Gateway Arch!”
Jennifer knows she stands on the shoulders of the giants responsible for creating the Clubhouse Model of psychosocial rehabilitation. There are countless people she admires within the movement but when asked for women heroes, the name she mentioned first was Esther Montanez. Esther was the first director of the Fountain House Gallery who is credited with implementing the Work-Ordered Day. “She blew me away. She came for a visit in the 80s and turned our world upside down. She went through our thrift store and told us all the things we were doing wrong and kept us late. She was a force to be reckoned with, and I was impressed and inspired by her.” Another woman giant in the Clubhouse movement Jennifer mentioned is Robby Vorspan, who she describes as the model for Clubhouse. “Everyone loved her and I respected her before I ever met her. I got to know her through the incredible Clubhouse articles she wrote that forwarded our Model and inspired those working within it. She was one of the original thought leaders in the space and through her legacy her important work carries on.”
Other women in the movement Jennifer admires, just to name a few, are:
- Lori D’Angelo at Magnolia Clubhouse because of her passion for the Model, she played a major role in merging a community mental health center and an auspice Clubhouse into a freestanding one;
- Lisa Soucie at High Hopes Clubhouse in Maine who shares a passion for Clubhouse’s employment program;
- Brenda Singer, who founded Progress Place in Toronto, wrote an impactful and relevant article that Jennifer references and shares often;
- Rachel Forman at Grand Avenue Club in Milwaukee is a force in Jennifer’s eyes, the two share a love of art and Clubhouse resale shops;
- Chris Habal succeeded Brenda at Progress Place and the two became fast friends at Jennifer’s first International Seminar in Salt Lake City;
- She describes Ruth Osterman at Genesis Club as an amazing leader who gave her confidence to be a Faculty Member;
- Nancy Emory at Gateway and Kathleen Rhodes previously with Fountain House, both challenged and inspired her love for colleague training;
- and Kailey Fiedler-Gohlke in Washington is rocking it at Hero House according to Jennifer; under her leadership Clubhouses have grown from one small one to four across the state.
“All of these women are fire souls who are determined and mission-driven. The founders inspired us, now the next generation is coming, and I see lots of strong leaders. There’s a feeling in the movement that there’s something different in the air and that we are closer to building a community where there are Clubhouses in every neighborhood.”
Clubhouse International is working tirelessly with Clubhouses and coalitions across the globe to make this dream a reality. The Clubhouse movement is stronger because of Jennifer’s decades-long commitment to the Model and those living with serious mental illness. Collectively we all say THANK YOU!
If you know someone that could benefit from Clubhouse psychosocial rehabilitation, visit our website or directory to see if there is a Clubhouse near you.