Clubhouse Community Support for Life: Staff–Member Relationships and Recovery

Abstract

With signs that early interventions for severe mental illness have at best only a modest impact on longer-term outcome, a need for a long-term care and support system that facilitates recovery is resurfacing. This article describes a well-established long-term support program, the clubhouse model, drawing on qualitative interview data from 105 users and 25 staff from five clubhouses in the U.S. and Finland, which was analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Recurrent patterns of transformative life changes emerged. Central to these processes was a sense of equality between staff and members that transcended social roles and mental health status and was experienced as embodying trust in human potential and respecting member's choice. This staff–member relationship can be framed by the Aristotelian notion of friendship for life. The clubhouse, offering a home base to which members can return in times of need, may provide a viable safety net for recovery.