GRAND AVENUE club

                   A community that works

 

Home            Contents        GAC Location        Email Us

 

  STANDARDS FOR CLUBHOUSE PROGRAMS  

Clubhouse Training Manual

Grand Avenue Club has published a clubhouse training manual entitled TEACH, (Together Everyone Achieves Club House).  It is available to all clubhouse colleagues for $25, which covers the cost of the manual, handling and postage to anywhere in the world.  TEACH is organized via the International Standards for Clubhouse Programs, which unites all Standards-based clubhouses and contains short, original essays on each Standard, written by colleagues at Grand Avenue Club.  It will be useful to clubhouse communities that are interested in acquainting colleagues with the Standards and their implementation in the creation of an effective clubhouse.

Colleagues who are interested in receiving the 2001 edition of TEACH should mail their request with a check for $25 to

Education and Employment Unit (EEU)

Grand Avenue Club

210 E. Michigan Street

Milwaukee, WI  53202

Questions about TEACH will be warmly received by Carol Meverden, Greg McGuire or Rachel Forman at Grand Avenue Club.  Tel: 414-276-6474;  E-mail: gavenue@grandavenueclub.com or rzforman@yahoo.com;  Fax: 414-276-1606.  TEACH will be revised after the 12th International Seminar on the Clubhouse Model, which will be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota from October 11-16, 2003.  The 2nd edition of TEACH will reflect changes in the Standards after they are decided upon clubhouse colleagues throughout the movement.

The International Standards for Clubhouse Programs, consensually agreed upon by the worldwide clubhouse community, define the clubhouse model of rehabilitation.  The principles expressed in these Standards are at the heart of the clubhouse community's success in helping people with mental illness to stay out of hospitals while achieving social, financial and vocational goals.  The Standards also serve as a kind of "bill of rights" for members and a code of ethics for staff, board and administrators.  The Standards insist that a clubhouse is a place that offers respect and opportunity to its members.

The Standards provide the basis for assessing clubhouse quality, through the International Center for Clubhouse Development (ICCD) certification process.

Every two years the worldwide clubhouse community reviews these Standards, and amends them as deemed necessary.  The process is coordinated by the ICCD Standards Review Committee, made up of members and staff of ICCD-Certified Clubhouses from around the world.

Grand Avenue Club spent the better part of a year discussing the Standards. Here are our perspectives on what the Standards mean to the clubhouse movement and how they make us different from other programs that deal with mental illness.

   STANDARD TOPICS   

 

MEMBERSHIP

RELATIONSHIPS

SPACE

WORK-ORDERED DAY

EMPLOYMENT

FUNCTIONS OF THE HOUSE

FUNDING, GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

Please click on a Standard to read our perspectives...

MEMBERSHIP                                                 Click here to return to Standard Topics

  1. Membership is Voluntary and without time limits.

  2. The clubhouse has control over its acceptance of new members.  Membership is open to anyone with a history of mental illness, unless that person poses a significant and current threat to the general safety of the clubhouse community

  3. Members choose the way they utilize the clubhouse, and the staff with whom they work.  There are no agreements, contracts, schedules, or rules intended to enforce participation of members.

  4. All members have equal access to every clubhouse opportunity with no differentiation based on diagnosis or level of functioning.

  5. Members, at their choice, are involved in the writing of all records reflecting their participation in the clubhouse.  All such records are to be signed by both member and staff.

  6. Members have a right to immediate re-enter into the clubhouse community after any length of absence, unless their return poses a threat to the community.

RELATIONSHIPS                                             Click here to return to Standard Topics

  1. All clubhouse meetings are open to both members and staff.  There are no formal member only  meetings or formal staff only

  2. Clubhouse staff are sufficient to engage the membership, yet small enough in number to make carrying out their responsibilities impossible without member involvement.

  3. Clubhouse staff have generalist roles.  All staff share employment, housing, evening and weekend,   and unit responsibilities.  Clubhouse staff do not divide their time between clubhouse and other  major work responsibilities.

  4. Responsibilities for the operation of the clubhouse lies with the members and staff and ultimately  with the clubhouse director.  Central to this responsibility is the engagement of members and staff  in all aspects of clubhouse operation.

SPACE                                                        Click here to return to Standard Topics

  1. The clubhouse has its own identity including its own name, mailing address and telephone number.

  2. The clubhouse is located in its own physical space.  It is separated from any mental health center or institutional settings, and is impermeable to other programs.  The clubhouse is designed to facilitate the work-order day and at the time be attractive, adequate in size, and convey a sense of respect and dignity.

  3. All clubhouse space is member and staff accessible.  There are no staff only or member only spaces.

WORK-ORDERED DAY                                   Click here to return to Standard Topics

  1. The work-ordered day engages members and staff together, side by side in the running of the clubhouse.  The clubhouse focuses on strengths, talents and abilities: therefore, the work-ordered day is inconsistent with medication clinics, day treatment or therapy programs within the clubhouse.

  2. The work done in the clubhouse is exclusively the work generated by the clubhouse in the operation and enhancement of the clubhouse community.  No work for outside individuals or agencies, whether for pay or not, is acceptable work in the clubhouse.  Members are not paid for any clubhouse work, nor are there any artificial reward system.

  3. The clubhouse is open at least five days a week.  The work-ordered day parallels normal working hours.

  4. All work in the clubhouse is designed to help members regain self-worth, purpose and confidence; it is not intended to be job-specific training.

  5. Members have the opportunity to participate in all the work of the clubhouse, including administration, research, intake and orientation, reach out, hiring, training and evaluation of staff, public relations, advocacy and evaluation of clubhouse effectiveness.

EMPLOYMENT                                            Click here to return to Standard Topics

  1. The clubhouse enables its members to return to paid work through Transitional Employment and Independent Employment; therefore, the clubhouse does not provide employment to members through in-house businesses, segregated clubhouse enterprises or sheltered workshop.

Transitional Employment

  1. The clubhouse offers its own Transitional Employment Program which provides as a right of membership opportunities for members to work on job placements in business and industry.  As a defining characteristic of a clubhouse transitional employment program, the clubhouse guarantees coverage on all placements during member absences.  In addition the Transitional Employment program meets the following basic criteria:          

  1. The desire to work is the single most important factor determining placement opportunity.

  2. Placement opportunities will continue to be available regardless of success or failure in previous placements.

  3. Members work at the employer's place of business.

  4. Members are paid the prevailing wage rate, but at least minimum wage, directly by the employer.

  5. Transitional Employment placements are drawn from a wide variety of job opportunities.

  6. Transitional Employment placements are part-time and time-limited, generally 15 to 20 hours per week and from six to nine months in duration.

  7. Selection and training of members on Transitional Employment is the responsibility of the clubhouse, not the employer.

  8. Clubhouse members and staff prepare reports on TE employment for all appropriate agencies dealing with member's benefits.

  9. Transitional Employment Placements are managed by clubhouse staff and members and not by TE specialists.

  10. There are no TE placements within the clubhouse.  TEP at an auspice agency must be off-site from the clubhouse and meet all of the above criteria.

Independent Employment

  1. The clubhouse assists and supports members to secure, sustain and subsequently, to better their employment.

  2. Members who are working independently continue to have available all clubhouse supports and opportunities including advocacy for entitlements, and assistance with housing, clerical, legal, financial and personal issues as well as participation in the evening and weekend programs.

FUNCTIONS OF THE HOUSE                           Click here to return to Standard Topics

  1. The Clubhouse is located in an area where access to local transportation can be assured, both in terms of getting to and from the program and accessing TE opportunities.  The clubhouse provides or arranges for effective alternatives whenever access to public transportation is limited.

  2. Community support services are provided by members and staff of the clubhouse.  Community support activities are centered in the work unit structure of the clubhouse.  They include helping with entitlements, housing, and advocacy, as well as assistance in finding quality medical, psychological, pharmacological and substance abuse services in the community.

  3. The clubhouse is committed to securing a range of choices of safe, decent and affordable housing for all members.  The clubhouse has access to housing opportunities that meet these criteria, or if unavailable, the clubhouse develops it's own housing program.  In clubhouse housing:

  1. members and staff manage the program together;

  2. members who live there do so by choice;

  3. members choose the location of their housing and their roommates;

  4. policies and procedures are developed in a manner congruent with the rest of the clubhouse culture;

  5. the level of support increases or decreases in response to the changing needs of the member;

  6. members and staff actively reach out to help members keep their housing, especially during  periods of hospitalization.  

  1. The clubhouse assists members to further their vocational and educational goals by helping them take advantage of adult education opportunities in the community.  In addition, clubhouses provide in-house educational programs that significantly utilize the teaching and tutoring skills of members.

  2. The clubhouse has a method and takes responsibility for objectively evaluating it's effectiveness.

  3. The clubhouse director, staff, members, and other appropriate persons participate in a three week training program in the clubhouse model at a certified training base.  Consultations by the Faculty for Clubhouse Development are provided to all programs seeking to implement the clubhouse model.

  4. The clubhouse has recreational and social programs during evenings and on weekends.  Holidays are celebrated on the actual day they are observed.

  5. The clubhouse provides an effective reach out system to members who are not attending, becoming isolated in the community, or hospitalized.

FUNDING, GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION    

                                                             Click here to return to Standard Topics        

  1. The clubhouse has an independent board of Directors, or if it is affiliated with a sponsoring agency, has a separate Advisory Board comprised of individuals uniquely positioned to provide fiscal, legal, legislative, consumer and community support and advocacy for the clubhouse.

  2. The clubhouse develops and Maintains its own budget, approved by the board or advisory board prior to the beginning of the fiscal year and monitored routinely during the fiscal year.

  3. Staff salaries are competitive with comparable positions in the mental health field.

  4. The clubhouse has the support of appropriate mental health authorities and has all required licenses and certifications.  The clubhouse seeks and maintains effective relationships with family, consumer and professional organizations.

  5. The clubhouse holds open forums and has procedures which enable members and staff to actively participate in decision-making regarding governance, policy-making, and the future direction and development of the clubhouse.

 

 

 

Revised October 2000

 

INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR CLUBHOUSE DEVELOPMENT

425 West 47th Street

New York, New York 10036-2304

Telephone:       212-582-0343

FAX:                 212-397-1649

Web Address:   www.iccd.org

e-mail:             iccdnyc@compuserve.com

 

Go to Top of Page

 

Send mail to gacclerical@yahoo.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: September 23, 2005