Why Clubhouse?

EVERY COMMUNITY DESERVES A CLUBHOUSE

Mental Illness can have a drastic impact on all areas of a person’s life —including family, relationships, job loss, failure in school and homelessness. In today’s broken mental health care system, people with serious mental illness (SMI) are not receiving holistic care in each of these areas. Current solutions typically focus on medication and housing but neglect to address social needs that keep people tethered to their communities. What’s often missing in mental health care —and what clubhouses aim to address —is the treatment of social symptoms. Social symptoms can include social isolation, social withdrawal, apathy and the absence of self-confidence and self-worth.

Much of the suffering experienced by people with SMI is often the result of their isolation in society. SMI can, and often does, spill over into the social fabric of people’s lives, causing a breakdown in social relationships, a detachment from society, family and friends, and stigma. Despite this, these social symptoms regularly go unaddressed.

With a clubhouse model, we recognize that for recovery to be achieved, attention must be paid to social symptoms, with a focus on community, and the entirety of a person’s well-being.

Research has shown that one year of holistic recovery services are delivered to Clubhouse members for the same cost as a 2-week psychiatric hospital stay. Criminal justice system involvement is substantially diminished during and after Clubhouse membership. Active Clubhouse members have fewer hospital stays as a result of membership in a Clubhouse program.

  • Better employment rates — 42% at Accredited Clubhouses annually – double the average rate for people in the public mental health system public mental health system.

The Evidence:

A Systematic Review of Evidence for the Clubhouse Model of Psychosocial Rehabilitation

Keeping Clubhouses Open: Toward a Roadmap for Sustainability

Costs of Clubhouses: An International Perspective

Why do I come to Clubhouse of Lehigh County:

  • Clubhouse got me a job.
  • Clubhouse is my family!!!
  • When I am here, my life has purpose.
  • The staff at the Clubhouse believes in me.
  • Members focus on positives and being nice to each other.
  • It’s a place to socialize and learn new things.
  • Before Clubhouse I was going from job to job every couple of months. Since completing a TE, I have been working for the same company for 5 years.
  • It’s flexible and has an open door policy.
  • I love that the Clubhouse is open on holidays. I have no where else to go on Christmas.
  • Clubhouse helped find me a place to live when I was homeless.
  • They have it all in one place! I don’t have to get referred all over the place.

Our goal is to locate more individuals to join and embrace the benefits of the Clubhouse model. For more information, contact the TEAM Unit at (610)433-9910 x201.

Join the Club!

Clubhouses welcome individuals, regardless of ability and diagnosis, into an environment that promotes care, respect, and fair treatment.