“It’s a home away from home.”
“I love my Clubhouse.”
“You ask what my Clubhouse has done for me? I answer: What hasn’t it done for me?”
As mental health clubhouse members and staff gathered at our Bernie Wohl Center to celebrate surviving a turbulent year, one member after another stepped to the microphone to express what their Clubhouse means to them.
Clubhouses help their members live independently by building community and gaining skills, education, jobs and housing. They have a regular schedule of activities and classes, and members work alongside the staff to run the day-to-day operations.
In a world that often stigmatizes and isolates people with mental health issues, Clubhouses bring them together.
“We not only learn about each other’s struggles but sometimes, in looking at what other people are going though, you get enlightenment about yourself,” said Chelton Loft Clubhouse member Jose Muñoz. “Chelton Loft has helped reinvigorate me to get out of the shadow and come into the light. It’s kept me from going into the dark and I’m very appreciative of that.”
Earlier this year, the Adams administration adopted a plan to invest in large Clubhouses rather than smaller community ones like these. Faced with closure, members of the smaller Clubhouses decided to fight back. They rallied at City Hall, gave interviews to reporters, and circulated a petition that garnered more than 5,000 signatures.
Late in the budget season, just when hope was running out, they won. City Council announced an initiative to fund community Clubhouses for the coming year. While some closed, five were able to remain open, including Goddard’s TOP Clubhouse.
Our City Council member, Gale Brewer, and Mental Health Chair Linda Lee were key players in keeping the Clubhouses open. Both of them joined in the celebrations.
“TOP Clubhouse provides psychosocial rehabilitation services, teaches skills needed to live independently, and fosters a sense of belonging to those who may otherwise be isolated. Clubhouses like TOP are essential,” said Council Member Brewer.
Questions remain about the future of TOP and the other Clubhouses, since the Council funding runs out next year. Clubhouse members say they’re ready to keep fighting. TOP Member David Mitchell was active in the advocacy campaign. “I went to City Hall, I talked to Gothamist, I had people sign petitions,” he said. “I was really focused on letting the mayor see that hey, we need our Clubhouse. If it works, don’t fix it.”
Before he joined TOP three years ago, he said, “I was in and out of psychiatric hospitals. I was kind of lost at times, I didn’t have too much to do. So I came to TOP and that changed, and I’ve been out of the hospital for three years.”
At 54, he’s getting his GED and planning to go to CUNY to become a peer counselor.
“All that was inspired by coming to TOP Clubhouse—which is my family,” he said. “And I’m going to fight until we are absolutely open for good.”