Founded in 2019, the Summit County Clubhouse has steadily expanded. It offers a supportive environment for people navigating mental health challenges and addiction recovery. Executive Director Jen O’Brien says the clubhouse provides both community and structure.
“Social isolation can be difficult for any of us, but for someone with a mental illness or substance use disorder, it's devastating,” she said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour,” April 13. Many of the people that we serve have been alienated or estranged from family and friends. Certainly, if you're recovering from addiction, those old social peer groups aren't serving you anymore. So, Clubhouse is a place to rebuild a sense of connection and belonging, and it's a place where Monday through Friday and many evenings, weekends and holidays, it's a place to go, place to get out of bed and show up to.”
O’Brien says the clubhouse also offers work-like opportunities.
“To regain the daily structured routines that work provides, and to regain the sense of purpose and dignity that work provides,” she said. “Many people with mental illness have had educations and careers interrupted. They're often used to being seen for their diagnosis. In this case, they're coming in as volunteers, and they get the same sense of dignity and worth from that experience, frankly, that I do showing up for work each day.”
The third reason people come – and what O’Brien says is driving growth – is access to support services.
“More people these days are coming for help,” she said. “In any community that the people with mental illness are disproportionately affected by housing costs, by homelessness, but in this community with the cost of living, it is really at a crisis point. So, we are connecting members to resources for certainly for housing, for education, for employment, and increasingly for basic needs.”
O’Brien says many members live on fixed or limited incomes, often relying on part-time or hourly work, making stable housing difficult to secure.
“And as soon as either there's a mental health setback or there's a cut in hours because of a bad season, or because it's mud season, that can spiral into financial crisis and even eviction really, seemingly almost overnight.”
Even with new affordable units coming online, O’Brien says rent remains out of reach for many of their members. What’s especially lacking, she says, is transitional housing for those exiting incarceration or homelessness.
“There's no transitional housing for people in this position, so they're thrown back out into a position of instability,” O’Brien said. “We see this as a crisis. We would love to have an opportunity to be able to build and manage permanent and transitional housing for people with mental illness.”
Food insecurity is another challenge. Through partnerships with Waste Less Solutions and local businesses, the clubhouse maintains a community refrigerator stocked with fresh food, in addition to the meals prepared onsite.
O’Brien invites the community to visit the clubhouse May 1 to kick off Mental Health Awareness month. Registered guests can tour the facility, enjoy lunch and hear directly from members about how the clubhouse model works.
Click here to register for the May 1 luncheon and member presentation.
