Contra Costa Clubhouses, Inc.

Contra Costa Clubhouses, Inc.

In partnership with NAMI Contra Costa

The Contra Costa Clubhouse Project was created to afford people living with mental illness the opportunity to recover meaningful and productive lives through reintegration with the workplace and the community.

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News Flash:
Clubhouse moves to its own space in Concord on February 1, 2008!

                      New Address:
                      Contra Costa Clubhouses, Inc.
                      3024 Willow Pass Road, Suite 230
                      Concord, CA 94521

Persistent mental Illness is a devastating disruption to a person's life that separates and isolates them from typical daily activities. Approximately 7% of the population lives with mental illness at some time during their life. In Contra Costa County alone, 10,000 people seek treatment annually for a severe mental illness. The services currently available in our county are inadequate to meet their needs. Existing programs are under funded and focus on temporary treatment instead of offering an ongoing recovery process. That's why a group of concerned family members and friends started Contra Costa Clubhouses, Inc., a program of NAMI Contra Costa.

We are working together to build a social and vocational rehabilitation program following the proven model of the International Center for Clubhouse Development (ICCD) at www.iccd.org. The first clubhouse program in Contra Costa County will provide our loved ones and others living with mental illness a low-cost option for gaining respect, hope, and unlimited opportunity to access the same world of friendship, housing, education, and employment as the rest of the community.

A Clubhouse is a membership-based community where people living with persistent mental illness come to rebuild their lives. Participants - who are called members, not patients - share ownership and responsibility for the success of the organization. They work in a unique partnership with a small staff, building on strengths instead of focusing on illness. The Clubhouse provides an accepting place to spend the day, valuable work to perform within the organization, opportunities to socialize with friends and co-workers, and access to employment within the wider community. Membership is for life and provides ongoing support.

Contra Costa Clubhouses, Inc. believes that that every member can sufficiently recover from the effects of mental illness to lead a personally satisfying and productive life. The Clubhouse is a community of people dedicated to one another's success. Recovery is achieved in the Clubhouse through work and work-mediated relationships, which are proven to be restorative and provide a firm foundation for growth, self-respect, and individual achievement. The clubhouse model has been implemented in more than 400 communities in 28 countries since its inception in 1948 and has proven successful with rehabilitation, recovery, and reintegration into the community.

The International Center for Clubhouse Development (ICCD) is a global network that promotes the development and success of clubhouses through its training and certification programs. Founded in 1994, ICCD promotes the development of clubhouses throughout the world and provides a set of clubhouse standards, a well-documented training process, and certification for clubhouses. Contra Costa Clubhouses, Inc. is a member of the ICCD network and will aspire to meet the ICCD standards.

The first Contra Costa clubhouse will potentially serve 500 adults each year with an active membership of approximately 125 people and an estimated daily attendance of 50 members. Membership is voluntary, long term, and open to anyone living with persistent mental illness who meets the Clubhouse membership criteria. It will be established in the Concord area close to Bart and other public transportation. The building will be home-like and comfortable, convey a sense of respect and dignity, and will be completely separate from any medical or treatment facility. Ideally the location will provide space for flower and vegetable gardens. The Clubhouse will have a reception area, office/administrative area, conference room, commercial food-service kitchen, dining area, and thrift store. All areas are open to members and staff.

The clubhouse paid staff will be very small as directed by the ICCD model. There will be an executive director and 4-6 staff who usually work in a generalist capacity. The work of running the Clubhouse will be performed primarily by members. All clubhouse programs and activities are operated by the members and staff working together, taking advantage of the talents and skills of the members. The activities - which provide work for the members and services to the members - are centered around doing the tasks needed to run the clubhouse (cooking, clerical, gardening, fundraising, etc.), paid outside employment through a variety of structured programs, social and recreational activities on evenings and weekends, educational opportunities, community support, reach-out to other members, and participating in the governance of the clubhouse. Please click here for more detailed information about components of a clubhouse.

Documented research on existing ICCD clubhouses indicates that members and their communities benefit from higher employment rates, a decrease in hospitalization, reduced incarceration, improved well-being, and reduced cost of services in comparison to other programs. The Contra Costa Clubhouse expects to achieve similar outcomes. For more about benefits, please click here.