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THE CLUBHOUSE MODEL: EMPOWERING APPLICATIONS OF THEORY TO GENERALIST PRACTICE, by R. L. Jackson. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2001. 210 pp.
The clubhouse model began in Fountain House New York in 1948 when a group of men and women with major mental illnesses joined together to support one another to adjust to life outside the hospital. The goal of Fountain House, the very first clubhouse, was to provide an atmosphere where even the most severely mentally ill could find some recovery. The year 1948 was before the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill of the 1960's, before the popularity of the "community" approach to social problems of the 1970's, and before the mental health consumer movement of the 1980's. The clubhouse as a model of support for the mentally ill is amazing in that it has been able to adapt to and incorporate years of changes in the mental heath system and continue to serve the needs of its members.
Why does the clubhouse model of recovery work? What lessons can be learned from the clubhouse model and how can they...