The "Clubhouse" Model

The clubhouse model is a well-tested evidence-based recovery model featuring employment transition, that has been internationally proven to be highly effective.This model demonstrates that people with a serious mental illness can successfully live productive lives and work in the community, regardless of the nature or severity of their illness.

Gainesville Opportunity Center, Inc is founded on the clubhouse model. Clubhouses strive for certification by rigourous standards set by the International Center for Clubhouse Development (ICCD).

Recovery from a serious mental illness must involve the whole person in a vital and culturally sensitive community. The participants contribute to the community as they grow. A clubhouse community offers respect, hope, mutuality and unlimited opportunity to access the same worlds of friendship, housing, education and employment as the rest of society.

The participants are called members, not patients, and the focus is on their strengths not their illness. Work in the clubhouse—whether it is clerical, data input, meal preparation or reaching out to their fellow members—provides the core healing process. Every opportunity provided is the result of the efforts of the members and small staff, who work side by side in a unique partnership.

One of the most important steps members take toward greater independence is transitional employment, where they work in the community at real jobs. Members also receive help in securing housing, advancing their education, obtaining good psychiatric and medical care, and maintaining government benefits. Membership is for life so members have all the time they need to secure their new life in the community.