The success of Fountain House in rehabilitating people with mental illness has been the inspiration of the worldwide clubhouse movement. Following thirty years of promoting its philosophy, Fountain House in 1977 developed a generic training design to replicate the Fountain House model. With the emergence of the International Center for Clubhouse Development (ICCD), Fountain House became one of ten authorized ICCD Clubhouse Training Centers featuring this common training approach. Since 1977, over 2,000 people have come to Fountain House to learn how to establish a clubhouse.
The training was invaluable. We enjoyed both the three-week basic and one-week employment track trainings. The experience of being in New York and the training was wonderful. We learned a lot and enjoyed the warm, courteous hospitality of Fountain House staff and members.
Marina Covey
The Promise Club
Wenatchee, Washington
USA
As a practice in the power of human relationships, training at Fountain House is through hands-on experience. Training in the clubhouse model involves staff and mental health consumers living and working with the staff and members of Fountain House for an extended period of time.
Colleagues who come for training are fully integrated into the daily routines of the clubhouse. They work in the clubhouse, learn about job placement, provide educational, housing or other community supports to members, and participate in after-hour social activities. Each afternoon, training groups meet for discussions of the programmatic and theoretical aspects of psychiatric rehabilitation and the assimilation of the clubhouse culture.
Eligibility
The goal of Colleague Training is to promote the development and growth of the Clubhouse Model on an international level. Fountain House provides three-week basic clubhouse training for those wishing to start a clubhouse or strengthen an exiting one, a one-week employment program on job development, and a three-day orientation for mental health consumers and professionals who are in a position to promote the clubhouse concept. Any agency or group of people applying for the training must have the intention to build a clubhouse or better an existing one. Fountain House gives priority to applicants for training who intend to start an independent clubhouse.
In order to start a clubhouse a working group or agency must demonstrate both a clear commitment and the necessary resources for accomplishing the task. Significant factors in the establishment of a new clubhouse include space, funding, staff and an independent Board of Directors or Advisory Committee.
Fountain House considers itself as part of a broader human rights movement founded on the principles of member freedom and empowerment espoused by the ICCD. Participation in the broader network of clubhouses through ICCD membership, and the intention, when ready, to seek peer review through ICCD certification is essential. Existing clubhouses applying for training at Fountain House not listed in the latest Clubhouse Directory must demonstrate their intention to use the training to strengthen their program and apply for ICCD membership and certification.
