Last week’s inspection was the first accreditation inspection since the Summit County Clubhouse opened in 2019. The process is overseen by the governing organization, Clubhouse International, which helps support clubhouses around the world reach and meet their standards.
Local clubhouse Executive Director Jen O’Brien said the accreditation is a milestone for the organization. An accreditation process must occur within five years of opening and since the local clubhouse opened just before the pandemic started, she said the accreditation process had stalled until now.
“And there's a governing organization, Clubhouse International, that helps to support clubhouses in reaching and meeting the standards that you need to be accredited as a clubhouse,” O’Brien said. “It's a very specific model of psychosocial rehabilitation, and they're really supportive in helping all of us all around the world to meet those goals and those standards.”
Lee Kellogg is a program officer for Clubhouse International. With 370 clubhouses across 32 countries, he said it’s important to maintain the standards identified by the international organization.
“Any program can call itself a clubhouse but to be a member of Clubhouse International within a certain time period, you have to become accredited and maintain your accreditation, and we did that specifically because of the quality assurance that accreditation is,” he said.
Even before he was on site, Kellogg said O’Brien and the clubhouse members did a very comprehensive self-study, looking at eight different areas the standards cover.
“We're looking at lots of the program areas,” Kellogg said, “including, is the clubhouse addressing employment? Are they helping members who want to return to work, return to work? Do they have a strong, engaging work order day so that members coming into the clubhouse feel connected, wanted, needed and productive? How is their board functioning and serving the needs of the community? So, there's a variety of things that we look at in our time before we get there, and then during the visit as well.”
It'll be several months before the findings are released, but Kellogg said he likes what he saw.
“So, we'll take a couple of months for them to get their final report,” he explained. “But again, I’m very confident and impressed with the work that they've done so far, and excited about their continued growth.”
Once accredited, a clubhouse must be reaccredited every three years. Find out more about the Summit County Clubhouse here.
