Perspectives on the Standards

When a clubhouse names itself—when the colleagues who found it choose its name—it is giving the world an indication of its purpose and philosophy. We do not give our clubhouses sterile, clinical names, because they are not sterile, clinical places! Our name belongs to us alone and demonstrates that we have chosen to be affiliated with other clubhouses throughout the world. Our clubhouses’ names suggest hope and achievement, warmth and community. We can proudly tell anyone where we are going, without using stigmatizing, clinical words. The separate mailing address and telephone number serves the same function. The separate name, mailing address and telephone number set each clubhouse apart from systems whose main function is therapy, and signal that this place has a different function. Just as other communities and families need boundaries from "the outside world," so do clubhouses. Being associated with a clubhouse should convey a sense of pride, no matter what the person’s other affiliations are.