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An Affiliate Of The National Alliance on Mental Illness |
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Savannah Clubhouse Case Statement
The Need for a Clubhouse Serious and persistent mental illness is a devastating disruption to a person’s life that separates and isolates them from their families and the community. In Chatham County over sixteen thousand people are currently suffering from the effects of persistent mental illness. On average, twenty three people with mental illness commit suicide in Chatham County each year. The largest provider of mental health services in Chatham County is the police department. Service programs in Savannah and Chatham County for the mentally ill are inadequate to meet their needs. Existing programs are under funded and focus on temporary treatment instead of offering an ongoing recovery process.
Building a clubhouse in Savannah will provide family members, friends, and neighbors living with mental illness a low-cost option for gaining respect, hope, and opportunity to access the same world of friendship, housing, education, and employment as the rest of the community.
The clubhouse model has been implemented in more than 325 communities in 28 countries around the world has been proven successful with the rehabilitation, recovery, and reintegration of the mentally ill back into the community. The International Center for Clubhouse Development (ICCD) is a global network that promotes the development of clubhouses through training and certification of programs to its standards.
Vision The Savannah Clubhouse will provide individuals with mental illness a community of loving acceptance, social activity and employment training in an attractive and convenient atmosphere of dignity, hope and respect.
Mission To afford people whose lives have been disrupted by mental illness the opportunity to recover meaningful and productive lives through reintegration to the workplace and the community.
Clubhouse Description The Savannah Clubhouse is a membership-based community where people living with persistent mental illness come to rebuild their lives. Participants, who are called members, not patients, share ownership and responsibility for the success of the organization. In partnership with a small staff, they build on their strengths instead of focusing on their illness. Membership in the Savannah Clubhouse is for life and provides support for as long as necessary. Members will find an accepting place to spend the day doing valuable work within the clubhouse, opportunities to socialize with friends and co-workers, accesses to employment within the wider community and educational opportunities to further their skills.
The Savannah Clubhouse community is built upon the belief that every member can sufficiently recover from the effects of mental illness to lead a personally satisfying and productive life. The clubhouse is a community of people dedicated to one another’s success. Recovery is achieved through work and work-mediated relationships, which are proven to be restorative and provide a firm foundation for growth, self-respect and individual achievement.
The Savannah Clubhouse is based on the 36 standards set forth by the International Center for Clubhouse Development (ICCD), an international group which provides training in the operation of clubhouses and certifies clubhouse compliance. As a member of the ICCD, the Savannah Clubhouse will meet the standards for certification and participate in ongoing training and compliance to maintain this certification in the future.
Clubhouse Membership The Savannah Clubhouse will potentially serve 400 members each year with an active membership of approximately 100 people and an estimated daily attendance of 40 members. Membership is voluntary, long term, and open to anyone living with persistent mental illness who meets the clubhouse membership criteria.
Clubhouse Location The Savannah Clubhouse will be located in a safe and easily accessible area of Savannah. The clubhouse will be located in a building of approximately 4,000-5,000 sq. ft. It will be home-like and comfortable and will convey a sense of dignity and respect. The Savannah Clubhouse will be completely separate from any medical or treatment facility. It will have enough outside area to plant a vegetable and flower garden.
The Savannah Clubhouse will have a usable reception area, a commercial food-service kitchen, a large dining room and adequate space for both group and individual activities. All areas are open to members and staff.
Clubhouse Staff The clubhouse paid staff will be small, as directed in ICCD standards, and will consist of an executive director and 4-5 staff members who usually work in a generalist capacity. The work of running the clubhouse is generally performed by members and reinforces the belief that work and work-mediated relationships lead to the restoration of lives affected by mental illness.
Components of the Clubhouse. All clubhouse programs and activities are operated by the members and staff working together, taking advantage of the talents and skills of the members. These activities provide work and services to the members. The activities provided by the Savannah Clubhouse are as follows.
Clubhouse Components - Work-Ordered Day The Savannah Clubhouse is designed to provide opportunities for work for all its members organized around a work-ordered day. The work-order day is an eight hour period, Monday through Friday, during which members and staff work together as colleagues to carry out the tasks involved in running the clubhouse. Members volunteer to participate as they feel ready and according to their individual interests. The clubhouse work involves cooking and cleaning, gardening, fundraising, news and media production, research, outreach, intake and orientation of new members, administering the employment programs, assistance with education, planning social activities, and assisting members to obtain services from the wider community.
Clubhouse Components - Employment Programs The clubhouse provides members with opportunities to return to paid employment. Transitional employment is a highly structured program for members returning to work, The clubhouse contracts with employers for jobs that it guarantees to fill. The clubhouse then trains members to do the job and assures that a clubhouse member or a staff member if necessary fulfills the commitment. These placements are generally part-time, include a lot of support from the clubhouse staff, and last from 6-9 months. When concluding a placement, the member can choose to try another placement or move to supported or independent employment. Supported employment is a program through which members, when ready, are given help from the clubhouse to apply for or acquire a job of their own. Assistance from the clubhouse, either at the clubhouse or on-site when requested, is available. Independent employment assistance is provided at the clubhouse for members who are ready and want to find jobs on their own within the larger community.
Clubhouse Components – Social and Recreational Programs The clubhouse organizes structured and non-structured social activities for the members. These activities are always scheduled outside the work day. On evenings and weekends members and staff get to know each other outside the activities of the work-ordered day.
Clubhouse Components – Educational Opportunities The clubhouse assists members to complete education that has been disrupted or to start certificate and degree programs at academic or adult education programs. The clubhouse takes advantage of the talents and skills of staff and members to provide in-house educational opportunities.
Clubhouse Components – Community Support Members are given support in acquiring and keeping affordable housing, good mental health and general medical services, government disability benefits, and any other services they may need.
Clubhouse Components – Reach-Out Part of the daily work of the clubhouse involves keeping track of members. When a member does not attend the clubhouse, a “reach-out” telephone call or visit is made to let the member know that he or she is missed.
Clubhouse Components – Decision Making and Governance Members and staff meet in open forums to discuss policy issues and future planning for the clubhouse. Clubhouse members also serve on the advisory board and the board of directors.
Benefits of the Clubhouse The primary benefits of the Clubhouse to members and the community is to provide meaningful activity that helps people with mental illness stay out of hospitals and off the street by having the opportunity to achieve social, financial, and vocational goals. Current research on existing clubhouses has shown the benefits of the clubhouse model and the positive results that have been achieved. The Savannah Clubhouse expects to achieve similar results to other ICCD clubhouses. The results are: Higher Employment - Two studies have shown that the clubhouse model produces higher rates of employment, longer job tenure, and higher earnings than other programs offered for people with mental illness. A study of 17 clubhouses has shown that longer job tenure and higher earnings correlates to clubhouse membership. Reduced Hospitalization – In one study, membership in a clubhouse reduced the number of hospitalizations by one third and reduced the average number hospital days by 70%. Reduced Incarcerations – Criminal justice system involvement has been found to be substantially reduced during and after clubhouse membership. Improved Well-Being – Compared with individuals receiving services at traditional programs, clubhouse members were significantly more likely to report that they had close friendships and someone they could rely on when needed. Reduced Costs of Services – The cost to support one person for one year at the Savannah Clubhouse will be about $3,500. This is significantly less than other service models.
What If No Clubhouse Is Built? If no clubhouse is established in Savannah the Sun will still continue to rise every day. And many of our mentally ill citizens will continue to sit at home without a future, or wander the streets seeking membership in a community that seems not to care about them. It is a telling fact that while South Carolina has one of the premiere training sites for ICCD clubhouse development, and that North Carolina currently has ten ICCD model clubhouses, the State of Georgia has no clubhouses for the mentally ill. Georgia, with a per capita income that is 28th in the nation, is 44th in the nation on spending for mental health services. If no clubhouse is built in Savannah the police department will continue to provide services to our mentally ill as best they can. If no clubhouse is established in Savannah our mentally ill will get by as they always have, on the fringes of a community that seems indifferent to them.
Testimonials
“Why do we need clubhouses, in a world full of all kinds of mental health programs and services? As a long-standing member of a clubhouse, my answer to that question is because it works, and our mental health system needs it. Clubhouses provide many ‘services’ with minimal staffing; it is both cost and time effective. There is no overlapping of ‘services’ as happens when people have to go to a different worker and agency for every aspect of their lives. When needs change, people do not have to go elsewhere. Whether they are interested in pursuing employment or education, need safe, affordable housing, want to learn new skills or to become more active socially, the clubhouse can assist them to help themselves in meeting these needs. Helena Korsman, Progress Place Clubhouse Member
“These are the things that Clubhouse communities provide for their members. They may be simple things, but they are the things that make a difference between a life of lonely despair, and a life where it actually feels good to be alive today – and where there is the hope that tomorrow, it may very well feel even better.” A Clubhouse Member
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