Due to the efforts of four Clubhouses in Maine and support from Governor Paul LePage, a distinct billing code for Clubhouses to receive Medicaid funding has been approved. Previously these Clubhouses could not receive funding for prevocational activities or community support work and other areas of their daily work. However, with this change, the new regulations will more easily match the actual work that is being done at the Clubhouse to assist adults with mental illness to achieve their goals and integrate back into the community.
Lisa Soucie, Director of High Hopes Clubhouse commented, “The combined advocacy efforts of the Maine Clubhouses along with Clubhouse International’s support in sending a staff member to meet with our Governor really advanced our efforts in creating more sustainable funding. We are thrilled with this designation and look forward to continuing to grow more accredited Clubhouses in Maine.”
All four Clubhouses in Maine are currently Accredited and with this separate billing code there are plans to double the amount of Clubhouses in Maine over the next few years!
Congratulations Capitol Clubhouse, Looking Ahead Clubhouse, High Hopes Clubhouse, Unlimited Solutions Clubhouse!
Mosaic Clubhouse won the Managing Turnaround award with Judges noting the “powerful and compelling story” of the way in which it coped with relocating from its long-time home in Atkins Road and taking on new responsibilities. Mosaic won the prize of a £5,000 unrestricted grant at a ceremony in central London on Thursday 12 May.
Clubhouse International is pleased to announce that we have added Phoenix Clubhouse in Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China, as the 11th International Training Center in our worldwide network of Training Centers!
Phoenix Clubhouse is a longstanding Accredited Clubhouse, and for the last decade has served as a designated Orientation Site for new groups seeking to start Clubhouses in Hong Kong and mainland China. Phoenix Clubhouse is a high quality Clubhouse under the direction of Anita Chan. Anita has many years experience working in Clubhouses. The auspice organization, Queen Mary Hospital, has provided excellent leadership from Dr. Michael Wong, Mary Chu, Dr. Eileena Chui, and June Chao. The Friends of Phoenix Clubhouse Advisory Committee and founding Director, Eva Yau (now a Clubhouse International Consultant in China) are very supportive of this new initiative. We are thrilled to now have this new potential to bring Accredited Clubhouses to more Chinese-speaking communities, with Phoenix Clubhouse serving as our newest International Training Center. Please contact Phoenix Clubhouse at pc@phoenixclubhouse.org for more information, or visit their website at www.phoenixclubhouse.org.
In response to growing demand in the US, Clubhouse International coordinated the first-ever USA National Clubhouse Conference, which was held in Silver Spring Maryland in November 2014. The primary focus of the conference was to begin coordinated national and states advocacy efforts.
Nearly 300 participants registered for 14 workshops and 3 plenary sessions, which featured speakers from the USA Centers from Medicare and Medicaid Services, NAMI, Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, and representatives from the American Psychiatric Association (Jeffrey Geller, M.D.) and the former Deputy Commissioner former mental health in NY and Maryland. We also had a presentation from a State Senator in Ohio and many Clubhouse leaders from across the US.
Heading into its fourth year of its Executive Fellowship program, Fountain House is proud to announce its new participants at the FH blog post http://www.fountainhouse.org/blog/meet-our-new-executive-fellows
This program integrates state-of-the-art management techniques with the ideals and approach to social practice originated at Fountain House and practiced in clubhouses throughout the world. The Fellowship is open to new clubhouse directors, including applicants from outside the United States. Applicants are expected to be recently hired as the Clubhouse Sirector, have nonprofit work experience (prior Clubhouse experience is not required), and have a Masters Degree or be matriculated in a Masters Degree program.
The Fellowship is divided into three phases during the year, which requires participants to be away from their Cubhouses for a total of approximately one month’s time.
The Fellowship educates participants in current state of the art nonprofit management techniques within standards-based practice. Fellows will be focusing on the following:
- promoting initiative and charisma in staff;
- practicing distributive budgeting techniques;
- demonstrating motivational inspiration, both in writing and speaking;
- fostering a collaborative style of leadership; and
- initiating advocacy in the community on behalf of the membership in partnership with allied agencies
The program facilitates immediate access to senior level coaches who are skilled in various related domains in accordance with Albert Bandura’s observation that individuals learn best when encouraged by a significant partner. Ongoing support for graduates will be maintained through the use of social networking.
For more information, contact:
Jennifer Rivera
Director of Human Resources
Fountain House, Inc.
jrivera@fountainhouse.org
By Matthew Vorderstrasse, Executive Director, Compass House, Oregon
“I believe that in Oregon we are entering into a new dawn of opportunity, and that the Clubhouse Model will become a model that every community will want to replicate, and we will be here to help them do it.”
I remember my first visit to a Clubhouse. It was Carriage House in Fort Wayne, IN, and our group from Oregon was attending the New Clubhouse Development Training. We are forever grateful for the New Clubhouse Development Training, because 13 months after attending that training, Compass House opened its doors and began its journey as a Clubhouse. However, the journey of opening a Clubhouse begins long before we open our doors. In the community of Jackson County we had nothing that even remotely looked like a Clubhouse, and it was desperately needed, and with the climate of healthcare change the timing was right to introduce a model that was evidence based, but new to Oregon.
In 2012, Stacy Brubaker became the Division Manager of Jackson County Mental Health. When Stacy arrived in Southern Oregon, she realized that there were no Clubhouses, and thus introduced the community to the model, and rallied the County’s support to make it happen. I was then the Vice Chair of the County’s Mental Health Advisory Committee, and was looking for a volunteer commitment, and that was what tied me into this. From Stacey’s initial presentation we developed our working group that drove our Clubhouse project through to completion.
That is the spark that got us going.
When we first heard of the Clubhouse Model, we did our best to wrap our heads around it, but still struggled with how it all works, but despite this initial struggle everything seemed to align itself perfectly for us. Alliance House connected Stacy with Jack Yatsko, and within a few months after our group formed, we were headed to the New Clubhouse Development (NCD) training at Carriage House. From there everything changed. We saw our first Clubhouse, we developed an action plan that acted as our roadmap. A fire was lit, and as Jack stated, “we went gangbusters” in our community.
We held our first workshop for Strategic Planning, and came up with our mission, vision, values, and name of our Clubhouse. Giving us an identity helped immensely, and as we did all the legal paperwork for the non-profit name change, we also began searching for granters. We met with community leaders, and gathered letters of support, and managed to garner support from local foundations. We held a meet and greet event that over 100 people from the community came to, and we established lasting media relationships that gave us plenty of press coverage before we ever opened.
As money and support began to accumulate, we began searching for a property, and eventually secured a location. As all of these pieces continued to fall into place, we were also working to hire our Executive Director. Obviously, this person is me, otherwise this might be a little awkward right now. However, we did a competitive process, and opened the job up to the community, and posted it with Clubhouse International. I nervously submitted my resume, and letters of recommendation, interviewed, and the result is self-evident at this point.
Once I was hired we finalized the contract with Jackson County Mental Health, which would give us startup funds, and imbedded staff inside of Compass House (they didn’t come immediately). We finished the lease, and began the permit process for the remodel, and we headed off for our Colleague Training at Alliance House. Our clock was ticking and we were just a few months away from opening.
Upon our return at the end of May 2014 from the colleague training our deadlines were abundant, and we surged to meet them, with the goal of opening our doors. We painted, met with contractors, wrote for more grants, and began moving in.
In our first year of operating we found that 97% of our active members had 0 hospitalizations, and 96% had 0 jail stays. We are now working with Klamath County and Lincoln County to establish Clubs in their communities. We are branching out to join statewide boards, and task forces to further promote the Clubhouse Model. Our goal is to spread the Clubhouse Model around the State of Oregon, and to one day be able to stand up here and not just tell you the story of Compass House, but tell you how Clubhouse Oregon has changed the world of mental health care in our State.
Doing this takes a community, and that community must hold a shared vision of Clubhouse. This vision cannot live in a vacuum, or only be held by one person, but it has to breathe through all of us, working together to create it. Demosthenes once wrote that “Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.” I believe that in Oregon we are entering into a new dawn of opportunity, and that the Clubhouse Model will become a model that every community will want to replicate, and we will be here to help them do it.
