Clubhouse was and is a revolutionary model of recovery that started in 1948 on the steps of the New York Public Library. It is a world-wide human rights movement (recognized by the UN) with its origins in a group of ex-patients from Rockland County looking for cheap coffee, pie and respect; all things that were in short supply in the state institutions of the time. From the mean streets of Hell's Kitchen the power of community has transformed lives of people suffering from mental illness in more than 350 clubhouses from South Africa to Kosovo. It has been called a cult, anti-psychiatric, and a debilitating escapist program, yet study after study has shown it works in precisely the areas government and private institutions had failed in for decades. Then what is the secret of Fountain House? I have come to the conclusion, as a person who has worked and studied clubhouse for over 5 years, that it is quite simple "” community.

Community is something that is often spoken about but poorly understood from policy wonks to political activists. It is paradoxically both simple and mind-stretchingly complex. For many years staff and members (there are no "patients", "clients" or "consumers" in a clubhouse) have simply called it "the magic". This unfortunately needlessly mystifies the well-reasoned intentionality that permeates the entire clubhouse. It is the transparency of this intention that allows the model to take root in over 25 countries.

The goal of Fountain House is as simple as it is ambitious, "Helping people with mental illness everywhere achieve their potential and be respected as co-workers, neighbors and friends." It achieves this by creating a complex ecology, which addresses both the obstacles caused by psychiatric symptoms and the stigma prevalent in all societies. The clubhouse is not then simply an advocacy organization, nor a treatment program. It is neither a consumer support group nor a therapy-based project. It seeks instead to create an intentional community that aids the individual by drawing on the collective power of the group. There are a variety of ways this is achieved.

The clubhouse evolved from a simple drop-in/recreational social center to a clubhouse by developing and refining the concept of "the work-ordered day". The work ordered day mimics the hours most people in a given society are engaged in productive labor, be it school, work or volunteering. Thus Fountain House in New York City is engaged in the work-ordered day from about 9-5pm. The work-ordered day is characterized by real and engaging opportunities for members to improve the clubhouse community. There is no [make-work??] nor is there any paid work. All work is generated by the needs of the clubhouse. This work could include such diverse tasks as grant-writing, attendance, making lunches, answering the switchboard, and thousands of other tasks. All work in the clubhouse is absolutely voluntary. One can choose the tasks they are interested in, despite skills or functioning, they can even choose not to participate in any work at all and just hang out in the building. The work is organized, decided on and done "side by side" with other members and staff. Members are asked to share their skills, gifts and passions to the collective project of building the clubhouse community. There are no artificial awards or tokens given, only collegial respect from other members and staff. There is an atmosphere of mutual dependence.

On any given day a member can walk through the green doors of Fountain House and know they are needed for real work, that their work will be appreciated and in the end of the day they will have made the community stronger for their efforts. Working side-by-side on meaningful labor inevitably creates meaningful relationships. This is the key to the individual recovery process that occurs in the clubhouse. The psychiatric symptoms and the societal stigma so often associated with severe mental illness often wreak havoc on a person's relationships and self-confidence. The clubhouse provides an understanding place where through mutual and meaningful work, strong and lasting relationships can be formed. It is a recovery process that doesn't deny the illness but places the emphasis on the whole person, celebrating their individual gifts and skills. The clubhouse is structured in such way that the maintenance of the community would be impossible without the voluntary commitment of its membership.

As members build meaningful, egalitarian relationships through the side-by-side work of the clubhouse, they can find supports for overcoming the difficulties in reaching their potential. These could take the form of societal difficulties such as benefits, finding housing, navigating the alienating mental health system and so on. Fountain House's staff is made up of generalists. People who seek to be well-rounded in a variety of tasks. Each member chooses with whom they wish to work and how they'd like to work with staff in seeking the support and services that can lead them to reach their individual goals. Staff and membership, through previously established mutually dependent relationships, create a true and powerful partnership that often leads to success.

Everything in the clubhouse is set up to foster meaningful relationships. The fact there are no staff only meetings (or for that matter member only meetings), no locked offices, decisions are arrived at by consensus, no hidden files and so forth, are all intentionally laid out in the Clubhouse Standards.

Membership is for life. This means there are no prescribed levels or benchmarks a person must follow on their own path to recovery. It means that even if one has moved on, they may still receive and provide support from others. Fountain House is set-up to be flexible enough to provide for the membership no matter where members are in their lives. Some members are University Professors living in their own home in Long Island while others have just been released from state hospitals and are actively delusional and homeless. Both of these folks are equal members in the Fountain House community and can find services and support they need while contributing to the overall strength of the community.

Fountain House is not an island. It realizes that for it to be successful it must create alliances with various individuals and organizations. Fountain House is at its heart pragmatic, in that if a member finds something aids them, then Fountain House is in support of it. Members may seek traditional psychiatric care and medications or decide that medications are not for them. Fountain House can support them no matter what decision they come to. Fountain House makes alliances with landlords and housing programs, mental health advocacy groups, businesses that provide meaningful and paid work to our members, substance abuse support groups and consumer organizations. In addition, Fountain House and the clubhouse movement are cognizant that despite the growing number of clubhouses most people suffering from mental illness are alone or inadequately cared for. Fountain House community is committed to helping folks and reducing the social stigma of mental illness.