THREE-WEEK TRAINING
At Fountain House, you can expect to learn with us the way we learn from each other -- in partnership. Each colleague is assigned to a work unit as a base throughout the training. A substantial portion of the colleague's time is spent in this unit, experiencing how restorative relationships develop within a clubhouse environment through members and staff working together.
Members and staff at Fountain House have years of experience with the model. In the training, they will share with colleagues their experiences in setting up employment and educational programs, provide guides for development of consensus decision-making, and foster member leadership within the clubhouse.
Colleagues will visit Fountain House’s Transitional Employment sites and a nearby clubhouse as part of their training. Nine group discussions will take place on essential topics pertaining to the clubhouse model for which colleagues are expected to read a series of relevant articles in preparation.
Special arrangements can be made in advance for colleagues to meet and discuss their options for their own clubhouse regarding the many special programs that exist at Fountain House: housing, a deaf or young adult program, substance abuse, clubhouse research, fund-raising and advocacy.
Finally, several special evening events are arranged for colleagues including a welcome dinner, an Employment Dinner and a reception at the home of a member of the Fountain House Board of Directors.
Prior to the conclusion of training, the colleagues from each agency formulate a written Action Plan enumerating objectives they intend to implement upon returning home.
All colleagues must stay at the Fountain House Guest House for the entire length of the training. During the second weekend of training, the colleague group goes together with the training team to High Point Farm, a working farm and estate owned by Fountain House in a hilly, forested area of northwestern New Jersey. The weekend at High Point provides an opportunity to share and reflect on the training experience in a relaxed setting.
The third week includes a place for an additional person from each clubhouse or agency. Ideally, this person has some administrative responsibility and should be an executive of an auspice agency or a board member. If a clubhouse has previously attended three-week training, the third week visitor could be the clubhouse director. The role of the third week visitor is to enlist administrative support for the development and implementation of the clubhouse’s Action Plan.
Three-week colleague training is an intense and rigorous experience, both mentally and physically, with some scheduled activities running more than eight hours. Colleagues must be able to withstand and benefit from the intensity while also living away from home at the Fountain House guest house. While most of the training occurs at Fountain House, there are visits to TE placements, and other activities that require taking subways, buses, and taxies around New York City and on the second weekend, a two-hour van ride to High Point Farm. It is important that individuals who come for the training participate in the full gamut of scheduled activities.
For agencies intending to start clubhouses, the training is designed for three people: prospective clubhouse director, a staff worker and an influential, prospective member. The staff worker is expected to be someone who has made a commitment to stay employed with the clubhouse as the new program develops and who has shown the capability to learn, apply, and communicate the ideas from the training to develop the clubhouse. The prospective member is expected to have leadership abilities and to have made a commitment to use those abilities to attract and engage others in the clubhouse.
For existing clubhouses, the training is designed for two people: a staff worker and a member. Both people should have sufficient experience in the clubhouse to demonstrate capacities for leadership and influence and who want to devote their energies to development and improvement of the clubhouse upon their return.
During the third week, training includes an additional person from each agency who is responsible for administrative oversight of the clubhouse, such as an executive of the auspice agency or a Board member. This person is included in order to provide administrative support for formulating a practical action plan and who will see to its implementation upon return home to the clubhouse.
Six to nine months afterward, the training team from Fountain House will visit each clubhouse. The purpose of this visit is to provide consultation regarding the goals set forth in the Action Plan as well as to offer continuing guidance in the development and strengthening of the clubhouse.
EMPLOYMENT TRACK
The one-week Employment Track training is designed for clubhouses that wish to enhance their employment services to members. Training includes a mix of theory, visits to employment sites, job development skill building exercises, and review of such organizational issues as social security benefits review, outcome statistics tracking and placement management problem solving. Colleagues will develop a specific action plan to take back to their clubhouses. The fee includes program, materials and lodging at the Ellabee Guest House for two people (a staff person and a member) for the one week.
THREE-DAY CLUBHOUSE ORIENTATION PROGRAM
The three-day Clubhouse Orientation at Fountain House provides an overview of the Fountain House approach to psychiatric recovery. It is intended for individuals who wish to start a new clubhouse or transform an existing program into the clubhouse model, and not for individuals who are solely seeking information. The experience will provide participants with an understanding of the foundation milestones in opening a clubhouse and provide assistance in organizing the development of or transition to the clubhouse model.
Participants will learn about the nature of the clubhouse community, how the day is organized, the roles and responsibilities of members and staff, employment basics, decision-making, and the role of an independent Board of Directors. Opportunity to discuss funding is available. As with all training at Fountain House, participants will learn by working with the staff and members and participant in reflective discussions. A related set of selected readings will be provided. Fountain House expects participants to establish a strategic plan for setting up a clubhouse upon their return home.
Ideally, attendees will be representatives from a working group interested in starting a clubhouse. Medical personnel and government officials who will play a key role in the development of a clubhouse or regional funding are also encouraged to consider attending an Orientation at Fountain House. The Orientation is not for people who work in existing clubhouses and is not a substitute for the three-week ICCD Basic Clubhouse Training.
For more information on all types of training please contact Alan Doyle, Director of Training, at (212) 582-0340, extension 303.
