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European Clubhouse Magazine

2/2014

2

Content

3 Introduction

Clubhouse Europe

4 My Vision as Vice-Chairperson of Clubhouse Europe

5 The New Board

8 Finn Mortensen leaving Clubhouse Europe

9 Report of the Working Groups

10 Empad: Clubhouse Trainings Courses 2015

13 t h European Clubhouse Conference

11 13th European Clubhouse Conference 12 Oslo Fontenehuset at the 13th European Clubhouse Conference

13 European Conference in Stirling/Scotland 2014

14 Our Impressions from the Conference

16 Why Is Accreditation So Important?

18 How to promote your Clubhouse via a Facebook Page

May we introduce:

20 Motala Fontänhus

24 The “Open Soul” Clubhouse

26 Clubhouse Working Group in Greece

The Clubhouse World

27 October 10th – World Mental Health Day

30 The Past and the Future: Celebrating 30 years in Malmö

31 Professional Exchange of the German Speaking Clubhouses

32 What does Internationalization bring to the Clubhouse Members?

33 Voices from “Fountain House Course”

35 Networking Island Communities

37 Clubhouse Heikintalo’s Function presentation

39 The Beauty Day in Russia House

40 Great Day for Warsaw Fountain House!

42 One Week Training with Alrami Clubhouse in Pavlodar in Warsaw Fountain House

44 Works Out on the Wolfgang Lake

45 Clubhouse – In Short

Member Story

46 Relation beween Family Members and Mental Ill Victims of Abuse

The European Clubhouse Magazine is edited by Clubhouse Europe Working Group Communication © 2014

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Introduction

Dear European Clubhouse Community,

this is the largest issue of the European Clubhouse Magazine we ever had since 2009! Thank you to

everybody, who has supported this edition with her/his individual contribution.

You will find a large part of information about the work of Clubhouse Europe and the new Board.

Tracy Uren, Vice-Chair of Clubhouse Europe shares her vision about networking between the

different European Clubhouses.

The 13th European Clubhouse Conference, held October 12th-15th, 2014 in Sterling/Scotland, takes

also a broad space.

We will know more about Motala Fontänhus in Sweden, the “Open Soul” Clubhouse in the Republic

of Belarus and a Clubhouse Working Group in Greece.

Many Clubhouses have sent reports of their ongoing or past activities. There are so many different

ways to live the Clubhouse Model…

In this issue we introduce a new section: “Clubhouse – In Short”. In this part you have the possibility

to shortly announce events in your Clubhouse, ask questions to the European Clubhouse community

or even just say “hello”.

The next European Clubhouse Magazine date of publication will be June 2015.

Deadline for contributions will be May 15th, 2015

Please send everything you want to be published until this date to the following e-mail address:

charly.kahl-gortan@web.de

Don’t worry to forget it: I will send a reminder e-mail 8 weeks before.

Have fun reading and don’t hesitate to write letters to the

editor about any part of the magazine.

Wishing all of you a quiet and peaceful end of the year.

With best regards

Charly Kahl-Gortan

(for Clubhouse Europe Communication Working Group)

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Clubhouse Europe My vision as Vice-Chairperson of Clubhouse Europe

I believe strongly in the clubhouse model. And that the future looks bright.

I would like to see that the number of Clubhouses in Europe be increased, especially Eastern Europe.

Therefor I’m very glad to have got articles for this magazine from Poland, Russia and even Belarus.

I see a future in which more clubhouses with the help and support of Clubhouse Europe become

accredited and send their staff for training to keep the standards of our work high, so that more

people suffering from mental illness have the possibility to participate in the precious work-ordered

day of a Clubhouse.

Clubhouse Europe aims to connect the European Clubhouses. We will have a database, where

Clubhouse materials will be translated into European languages, so it will be easily accessible for all

Clubhouses. We will have a register of all the members of Clubhouse Europe, so Clubhouses can

easily see and contact each other. Our goal is to gather all European Clubhouses under the umbrella

of Clubhouse Europe.

My vision for the future? To spread the Clubhouse Model all over Europe, so that everybody dealing

with mental health issues knows, what a Clubhouse is…

Why should your Clubhouse not be a part of the European Clubhouse community?

Join Clubhouse Europe – it will be worth it!

Please, visit our website: www.clubhouse-europe.org

and our Facebook page: www.facebook.com -> Clubhouse Europe

Wishing you a successful 2015!

Tracy Uren

(Vice-Chair Clubhouse Europe)

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The New Board

Wander Reitsma, Chair

Tracy Uren, Vice-Chair;

I am vice chair person of

Clubhouse Europe and vice

chair person of the

communication group. I have

been a member of Clubhouse Europe since 2012

and have been a active proud member of

Fountain House Stockholm since 2006. I also

enjoy working internationally with different

Clubhouses.

Leah Middleton,

Secretary

I am the Secretary now. Been a

Clubhouse staff member for 15

years at Flourish House and

been involved with the Board since it was set up.

Francine Mclean,

Vice-Secretary

Been a member of Scotia

Clubhouse for 2 years. She has

just started an accountancy course and is looking

forward to learning more about Clubhouse

Europe.

Working Group Training, Accreditation & Dissemination of Clubhouses:

Maresa Ness, Chair

Maresa worked in the NHS for

32 years. She started her NHS

career as a general nurse and

then as a mental health nurse.

She then spent the last 15 years at director level

in various mental health trusts in London.

As a general manager in Lambeth mental health

services in 1994, she was part of a team who

established a clubhouse in one room in an ex-

day hospital. She has remained in touch with

Mosaic Clubhouse ever since then, joining the

board in 2004 and serving as chair for several

years. In 2012 Mosaic was concluding a long and

protracted negotiation concerning a new

contract for an extended service and a move to a

building refurbished to a clubhouse

specification, as the Director was leaving,

Maresa was asked to “hold the fort” during the

transition as an interim chief executive.

She loved the role so much that she applied and

was appointed in June 2012.

Mosaic has almost doubled its ADA and number

of TEPS and courses on offer in the last year. It is

now also functioning as a training base once

again and is at the heart of the local mental

health community with many thriving

partnerships now offering members more

opportunities than ever before

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Joel Corcoran, Vice-Chair

Albert Gelang, Member

Working Group Communication:

Charly Kahl-Gortan, Chair

Tracy Uren, Vice-Chair

Emily Adamberry Olivero,

Member

Emily is a new candidate on the Committee

although she has been involved previously with

the Communication Group.

Emily is very enthusiastic about

developing Clubhouse Europe

and helping to increase the number of

Clubhouses within Europe.

Mikko Heino, Member

I am 40+ years old. I come from

Tampere in Finland's oldest

club house, where I have been a member for five

years. I have worked in all the units and

completed three siirtymätyöjaksoa at the time.

Now I'm in a supported employment.

I have participated in an international project

called Puzzle. As a result, I was able to

participate in the European seminar held in

Iceland and I have also completed a three-week

Clubhouse training in Brisbane.

In the board of Finland clubhouses Association I

have been since the spring of 2014. I have been

developing our own clubhouse and now in the

board of Finland clubhouses and also the board

of CE I would like to be developing all the Finnish

clubhouses. I have been actively edited our

clubhouse magazine during the time I have been

a member of our clubhouse.

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Working Group Research, Funding and Advocay:

Esko Hänninen, Chair

Esko served in 2000-2009 as

Director of Unit for Social

Inclusion and Accessibility of

People with Disabilities and

Mental Disorders in the National Institute for

Health and Welfare (THL) in Finland. In 2009-

2012 he was part-time expert in THL Mental

Health (MH) projects and in 2013 as expert in

the Republic of Serbia. During a couple of earlier

decades he has accumulated large expertise on

social and health policy, service innovations, and

disability and MH policy. He has been a board

member of the Clubhouse International since

1998 and chairs the WG research of Clubhouse

Europe. He has also experienced mental

disorders in his family.

Pauli Löija, Vice-Chair

I’m now 49 year old Finn living

in Helsinki, capital of Finland.

After high school I made my

master degree year 1991 in the

University of Helsinki in the

Faculty of Theology. Since that

I have been working in many

different kinds of jobs until I my illness became

too difficult to handle 2006. I have been a

member of the Helsingin Klubitalo (Helsinki

Clubhouse) since April 2007, where I was couple

of years also member of the board. I am also

member in the Faculty of the Clubhouse

International and made some accreditations in

Nordic countries.

Tanja Gielen, Member

My name is Tanja Gielen and

I’m from Belgium.

I fell in love with the clubhouse

model at Fountain House Stockholm, and have

been expressing my dedication to the clubhouse

model since then, 2011. Furthermore I’ve had

the opportunity to intern at Fountain House New

York and I’m currently working at The

Waterheuvel Amsterdam.

Besides my experiences within the clubhouse

world I’ve also obtained a degree in fine arts, a

bachelor in social work, a master in political

science and I’m currently working on my MBA. I

have a passion for international relations, and

have been awarded for that passion and

dedication.

I’m looking forward to contributing my energy

and expertise to the clubhouse model within the

working group research, funding and advocacy.

Martin Dives, Member

8

Finn Mortensen leaving Clubhouse Europe

In the General Meeting of the Clubhouse Europe in October 2014 – formerly

the European Partnership for Clubhouse Develoment (EPCD) – in Stirling

Scotland our successful Leader for the Clubhouse development, Mr. Finn

Mortensen expressed his wish to retire from the Chair’s post of the

Clubhouse Europe and a new Chair Mr. Wander Reitsma was elected to

continue Finn’s work in the lead of the Clubhouse Europe since October 2014

until 2016.

Finn Mortensen has been the key person when

we transformed our informal EPCD – established

in March 2007 in Stockholm to support the

ELECT Lifelong Learning Grundtvig project

“ELECT” – to a formally registered international

association under the laws in Denmark. This

legal process was finished in 2011. After our

European Conference in Reykjavik in 2012 the

name of EPCD was changed into Clubhouse

Europe based on the similar change at

worldwide level of the ICCD into the Clubhouse

International.

At the worldwide level Finn Mortensen has

served as a Board Member of the ICCD, today

Clubhouse International, from 2001 until 2010.

During this period he served as Secretary of the

ICCD Board in 2003 – 2004, and since 2005 until

2008 as Chair of the Board of ICCD.

In addition, he has been a key person in

supporting and chairing the Danish Clubhouse

Coalition that has been successful in

disseminating the Clubhouse model in Denmark.

On behalf of the Clubhouse Community we have

to thank very much Finn for his support and

achievements in promoting the Clubhouse

model in Europe and worldwide.

Esko Hänninen

I think that Finn Mortensen’s persistent

engagement has been essential to the fact that

we today have Clubhouse Europe. You can count

on Finn once he commits himself to do a job! His

engagement for people that suffers mental

health is immense and by his involvement he has

made a difference on a Danish, European and

International level. On a personal level Finn is

very helpful, considerate and as the boss of the

Danish coalition he is very supportive,

understanding and fair towards his employees.

He is a very knowledgeable person and he likes

to share his knowledge with you.

Hanne Gingold

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Report of the Working Groups

Working Group Training, Accreditation & Dissemination of Clubhouses

By Maresa Ness

Here is the list of possible activity for the Training, Accreditation and Dissemination Committee that

was developed at the workshop in Stirling.

1. Identify the host/location of the next European Clubhouse Conference

2. Address language concerns (ongoing translation of articles, translation quality review, web page posting and updating of translated articles).

3. Review training and accreditation survey from 2012 and decide if a new survey is needed.

4. Consider strategies for addressing affordability and accessibility issues with Clubhouse Training, Accreditation and Conferences.

5. Develop a conference management manual for future hosts.

6. Possible additional trainings ( Clubhouse Orientation, On-line opportunities, Board member training, NCD in Europe, Director training)

7. Feedback to Clubhouse International regarding training structure and curriculum

Additionally we talked at the Board meeting about our committee helping with a Clubhouse Europe

membership campaign.

Working Group Communication

By Charly Kahl-Gortan

The past year we have:

1. Built up the website and Facebook site

2. Published 2 European Clubhouse Magazines

3. Reviewed our leaflet

4. Designed a Clubhouse Europe member certificate

In addition during the coming year we will work on the database (please notice the announcement in

the part “Clubhouse – In Short” on page 45), to have important Clubhouse materials available in all

European languages.

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Working Group Research, Funding and Advocay

By Pauli Löija

I see advocacy in the Clubhouse International as a European aspect very important work to do. First:

as a member of the Faculty of the Clubhouse International I have tried to expand the understanding

about the European perspective in the worldwide Clubhouse community concerning the

accreditation. This work will continue. Second: I’ll try to organize to every European country which

already have a Clubhouse/Clubhouses, a person who collects published articles from newspapers and

magazines concerning the work of the Clubhouses, and translate main point of those articles in

English. Under Clubhouse International works a group, which is very interested to know what is

happening all around the world. I belong to this working group. This kind of “article bank” might also

give many helpful tips to other European Clubhouses.

Empad Clubhouse traning courses in 2015:

• 1st-10th of February 2015: Clubhouse Fountain House Stockholm, Stockholm/ Sweden

• 10th-19th of May 2015: Clubhouse De Waterheuvel, Amsterdam/ The Netherlands

• 5th-14th of July 2015: Clubhaus Schwalbennest/ Clubhaus München Giesing, München/ Germany

• 1st-10th of November 2015: Clubhouse Fountain House Stockholm, Stockholm/ Sweden

Arrival on Sunday, Departure on Tuesday; Training fee: 700 euro pro person.

For more information please have a look at: http://www.empad-project.eu/

If you have questions about the courses in general, please contact Mr. Wander Reitsma:

w.reitsma@waterheuvel.nl

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13th European Clubhouse Conference

The Conference was held in Stirling, Scotland and organized

by the Scottish Clubhouse Coalition. There were 140

delegates from 14 countries including new Clubhouses

from the Faroe Islands and Paris, France. Feedback from

the delegates was very positive and our invited guests were

very impressed with the International Clubhouse Model.

These guests included the Mayor of Stirling, university

lecturers, a funding representative and other mental health

organizations.

The staff of the Stirling Court Hotel wished us to pass

on their regards to all delegates; they had enjoyed

hosting the conference and were really impressed

with the Clubhouse movement.

Clubhouse International signed a memorandum of

Agreement with the World Association of Psychiatric

Rehabilitation, and we hope this will be the beginning

of a fruitful partnership.

Finally Clubhouse Europe held its AGM. After a

tricky period we hope to be back on track with a

host of new working groups and would encourage

every Clubhouse in Europe to join; Together we a

re stronger!

Finally a huge thank you from

everyone in the Scottish clubhouse

coalition to all our delegates,

visitors and guests. We hope you

had a wonderful time, and we hope

we will see you again at future

conferences.

TheScottish Clubhouse Coaliton

Team.

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Oslo Fontenehuset at the 13th European Conference

By David, Oslo Fontenehuset, Norway

It was a busy and active open day at Oslo

Fontenehuset on World Mental Health day.

Just as the event was coming to an end it was

time for three staff and four club members to

head off to the airport.

After several months of

preparation we were finally on our

way to the 13th European

Clubhouse Conference. We landed

in the amazing and friendly city of

Edinburgh late on Friday evening.

All day Saturday and Sunday

morning we had the opportunity to

relax and enjoy the sights. We

visited the castle, museums,

Stockbridge, we shopped and

some of us walked up to Arthur’s Seat, where

we were able to behold some spectacular

views. On Saturday afternoon four of us went

to the Hibs football game against Dumbarton,

the highlight being an encounter with the club

mascot Sunshine.

Relaxed and refreshed we arrived in Stirling on

Sunday afternoon where we were warmly

received, unlike the Norwegians who first

visited Scotland 12 hundred years ago.

Our group were very active attending the

lectures and workshops where we were also

able to share our views and experiences with

our fellow clubhouse colleagues.

Three of our group also gave talks in two of the

many workshops. The feedback and discussion

afterwards made us feel that our contribution

had been worthwhile and we felt proud to

have been able to contribute.

On Monday and Tuesday a different member

of our group was also privileged enough to visit

both Flourish and Scotia House in Glasgow. We

were made to feel very welcome and we

appreciated the warm Glasgow hospitality. We

always learn new things by visiting

other clubhouses and we would

really like to thank both the members

and staff of Flourish and Scotia for

opening their doors to us.

The Stirling University campus was an

excellent location for the conference.

Although there was little time due to

the schedule to really discover and

appreciate the stunningly beautiful

surroundings we were able to use the excellent

training and swimming facilities. One group

member even managed to run up to the top of

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the mountain nearby, while two of us visited and climbed the Wallace memorial.

On the Monday evening we visited an excellent

eatery in Stirling just below the stunningly

impressive walls of the castle, where we had a

fantastic dinner with the clubhouse members

from Stavanger.

The gala dinner with its bagpipes, songs and

the very talented and professional band, was

the culmination of a very successful event

There have been enough superlatives

justifiably levied on the event organisers and

the conference with which we are in total

agreement. We would like to thank everyone

involved.

We certainly felt privileged and honoured to be

able to attend. We made many new friends

and contacts that we hope to continue to

develop. We have also brought back some

newfound knowledge and ideas that I am sure

will benefit our clubhouse in the future.

Remember if you are in Oslo you are always

welcome to visit us.

European Conference in Stirling/Scotland 2014

By Tracy Uren, Fountain House Stockholm, Sweden

Fountain House Stockholm had the good

fortune in being able to send 10 people to the

conference. We were a very dynamic group.

Very eager to gain more knowledge,

experience, network and make new friends. I

think all our aims were achieved. We

participated in a lot of workshops. Some of the

group, like myself, had attended conferences

before. For others it was a completely new

experience. But we all came home happy and

content, each having achieved their own

individual goals.

I had never been to Scotland and apart from

the conference itself I was looking forward to

seeing Highland Cattle. I wasn’t disappointed.

Beautiful animals.

I participated in the AGM which was well

attended and I felt people were engaged. Then

Clubhouse Europe had a workshop directly

after where we divided the workshop into 3

subgroups representing each working group.

Again these were well attended. I was in the

communication group with Wander. We had a

lively discussion. Good questions and felt we

could answer then well. The board meeting

followed and I was elected in as Vice Chair

person for Clubhouse Europe!

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Being elected in was the highlight of my trip I

felt very overwhelmed when asked by Wander

and asked for time to think. But decided on

Yes! And take my new role very seriously and

am looking forward to the challenge!

The conference ended with wonderful Scottish

music.

I managed to only see a small part of Stirling

which was very pretty. And spent a day in

Glasgow. Which I enjoyed stocking up on foods

etc. I miss from the UK, so I could take back to

Sweden!!

Came home tired and content. A great

conference!

Our Impressions from the Conference

By Angelika and Dominic, Clubhaus München Giesing, Germany

I was asked for writing a short article for the

European Newsletter about the European

Conference between October 12th and 15th in

Stirling/Scotland.

Our journey over Amsterdam was uneventful.

Our welcome from Stefan of the Flourishhouse

was very nice and friendly. After that we drove

through the befogged landscape to Stirling. We

met the other delegates at the welcome

meeting with a short delay and we were very

pleased about the little appetizer, because we

didn’t have enough food over the day! It was

the first conference for all of us so we were a

little overwhelmed from all these impressions.

After a re-creative dormancy we had the

opportunity to get a more accurate view of our

accommodation and the other conference’

visitors. Subsequent to a very comprehensive

and good breakfast, we went to our first

plenary. Angelika and Dominic were a little bit

excited about the following presentation at the

workshop “multigenerational clubhouse”, but

back to the plenary.

“Plenary! What will happen?” No Stress! Only

salutations and greetings, inter alia from the

„Lord of Stirling“, chairman of Clubhouse

Europe, Wander Reitsma and the director of

Mosaic Clubhouse in London, Maresa Ness. At

the conference there were 140 delegates from

15

14 countries, to mention only one information

of the many we got.

In the evening plenary Martin Dives reported

about his experience as a family member of

people with mental illness. Then we heard

facts about the support and maintenance for

people with mental illness all over the world

from Dr. Afzal Javed and Dr. Ross White.

In the evening we had the chance to watch a

film at the Stirling University. Other than that

we had time to drink a coffee or to do

something else.

In the next morning it was time for the next

presentation from our clubhouse. Karin and

Anne presented the topic “work-ordered day”

and got some burst of laughter for their

dramatic presentation “What happens if...

nobody wants to make the cash point???”

We were welcomed from a piper to the gala

dinner at our last evening in Stirling. The dinner

had three courses and a very nice band played

Scottish folk music. It should be a very short

night for some of the delegates.

Against our expectations we had the

opportunity to get a view over the medieval

city of Stirling at our last day in Scotland. We

went to the castle at the castle hill, but without

seeing the castle, because it was a little bit too

expensive for us. Instead we found a very nice

and comfortable café, where we get delicious

coffee and a few sandwiches. Then we drove to

the airport and had a smooth return journey to

Munich, aside from the train conductors’

walkout, which forced us to take a cab to the

city centre.

Thanks for the nice days in Scotland. The

conference was informative and a great

experience for us.

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Why is accreditation so important?

By Hanne Juul, Danish Clubhouse Coalition

In 1991 I was one of the founders who opened

Kildehuset in Denmark. I became the director

for the next 19 years. Before my clubhouse

carrier I was an occupational therapist at the

Psychiatric Hospital. I have seen how patients

at the hospital changed their lives after they

came to the clubhouse and through work,

involvement and participation got more self

esteem, enlarged their network and developed

a much more meaningful life. This is what

clubhouse is about. 4 years ago I became a

pensioner but I cannot stop my clubhouse life.

It has become my lifestyle and it has given me

such a rich life and so many wonderful

experiences. Today I am working on 3 boards. I

am on the board of Clubhouse Frederikshavn,

the Danish Coalition and Clubhouse

International.

Why am I here today? I am here because I

want to work for better and stronger

clubhouses because I have experienced how

much influence clubhouses have on the life of

persons suffering from mental illness. I want to

motivate each of you to take the challenge and

help you to develop your clubhouses to be

stronger and give the members the best

quality.

I know You are here because you are involved

with clubhouses – as members, staff, directors

and board members. You are here because you

love clubhouses and because you want to

develop and learn from each other and

exchange your experiences from your daily life

in the clubhouse. You are here because you

want to make your clubhouses stronger and

give the members the best possibilities to

develop and get a meaningful life with

education and employment.

Clubhouse International has set a strategic plan

for the period 2011 to 2016. One of the goals is

to get more and optimally to double the

amount of accredited clubhouses. Today we

have 78 clubhouses in Europe. Only 29 of them

are accredited.

What is Clubhouse International

Accreditation? Accreditation by Clubhouse

International is a credential that affirms that a

program is operating as a clubhouse, and is in

substantial compliance with the International

Standards for Clubhouse Programs. The faculty

is comprised of members and staff from

accredited clubhouses.

Why is it so important to be an accredited

clubhouse. Accreditation is a proof of our

quality assurance. Going through an

accreditation process is the most important

tool we have to become stronger clubhouses,

and to become more qualified to do our work.

This is our way to look at ourselves, and to get

help from the faculty. The Accreditation

Faculty is made up of experienced members

and staff from strong accredited clubhouses

around the world, who have gone through an

intensive faculty training course.

But why are so few clubhouses accredited?

Clubhouse Europe has done research on this

important issue. There are different answers to

this. One is that some clubhouses feel that it is

too expensive for them. Other clubhouses say

that they are too young a clubhouse to be

ready for Accreditation. Other clubhouses say

that they are too busy and it is hard work to go

through an accreditation process. All of these

reasons may be reasonable and true, but any

clubhouse that experiences Accreditation will

know how fruitful it is and how much more

wonderful and exciting it is to come to a

17

clubhouse that has gone through this enriching

process. An accreditation visit is a challenge we

have to take to develop our clubhouses. Many

clubhouses are not asking for accreditation

because they fear that they will not achieve a 3

year accreditation. Many don’t ask because

they don’t have enough transitional

employment placements.

Of course all clubhouses want to get a 3 year

accreditation; but the truth is that it is

wonderful to be accredited at any level. It is

not the result which is the most important. It is

the process which leads to the result.

Even if you cannot afford to get a visit from the

faculty, you can go through the self-study

questionnaire with your clubhouse community.

It is the most important and helpful tool to

look at yourself as a clubhouse and find your

strength and your weaknesses. It takes time -

yes - but it is worth it, because it involves all

members, staff and the director. You can set

up the organization for the self-study work in

many ways. Some clubhouses gather all

members and staff per unit and take 2 hours in

a week to talk through all of the self-study

questions. Some gather all members and staff

from all the units and meet together as a

whole clubhouse. You can do it the way which

suits best in your clubhouse. The self-study

questionnaire includes questions about all

aspects of your daily work in the clubhouse and

is related to the different parts of the

International Standards. Going through the

questionnaire, you will experience so many

and really good discussions and so many

different suggestions to change and develop

the clubhouse, because it involves all active

members and staff. It also helps members as

well as staff to be more involved and engaged

in the daily work. Many grow through the

process. They become more visible and get

more self esteem.

If you choose to be accredited you must ask

Clubhouse International for an accreditation

visit. They will find a suitable team consisting

of a member and a staff person from the

faculty to do the visit. Before the visit you will

go through the whole self-study process with

your clubhouse and send the completed

document to the faculty team before the visit,

so they can begin to understand your

clubhouse even before they get there.

The accreditation team participates in the daily

work in the units, and experiences the

atmosphere in the clubhouse. They talk with

the members and staff. They also visit

employment placements and talk to the

employer and the members working there. In

their Preliminary Findings meeting, at the end

of the visit, they will tell you about all the

things you are doing well and give you

recommendations and suggestions about how

you can continue to develop your clubhouse,

or point out special issues or things where you

can do it better. I remember one team asking

us to be open on Christmas and at New Years

Eve which has been very successful evenings

since then.

All research shows that accredited clubhouses

are the strongest clubhouses with the best

results. As I mentioned Clubhouse

Internationals strategic plan has more

accredited clubhouses as a goal, in fact to

double the number.

The Clubhouse International Board, Faculty,

and other working groups of Clubhouse

International have for years discussed who

should be a member of Clubhouse

International and who should be in the

Directory. This last year we have decided to

strengthen the membership, so from the first

of January 2015 clubhouses will have to be

accredited to be a member of Clubhouse

International. New clubhouses will now have 4

years to achieve accreditation, and existing

clubhouses will have 2 years to ask for

18

accreditation. We think this will strengthen the

clubhouse movement around the world.

Another reason to be accredited is that it is

important that you can document that you are

an accredited and quality assured clubhouse

when you are applying for grants and funds.

Clubhouse International and Fountain House in

New York have recently won the very

prestigious Conrad Hilton Humanitarian Prize.

The main reason we received that prize was

because we have successfully demonstrated

our quality during the last many years.

So Friends, members, staff, directors and board

members. Go home and tell your clubhouse

about accreditation! We need to get more

accredited clubhouses in Europe. If you need

help, just ask. You can get help from already

accredited clubhouses in your country, from

the local Clubhouse Coalition and from

Clubhouse International.

Plenary speech at the 13th European clubhouse conference in Stirling, Scotland

How to promote your Clubhouse via a Facebook Page

By Emily Adamberry Olivero, Clubhouse Gibraltar

One can compare a Face book page to a shop

window. If it's attractive it will catch people's

attention. However after the initial impact it

needs to be interesting, up to date and

progressively changing with news or

information etc depending on the function or

purpose of the page.

I have noticed that some Clubhouse put their

weekly menu on their Facebook Page and this

is something that would be mainly useful to

the members who attend. If the purpose of

the Facebook page is to promote the

Clubhouse or for the purpose of Fund raising

then the content has to be adjusted

accordingly and the purpose will also influence

who gets invited to 'like' the page.

Currently I have been looking out for postings

from European Clubhouses in order to share it

on the Clubhouse Europe page (as I happen to

be an admin). In addition there are also

interesting posting from Clubhouse

International, NAMI, Mind and other Mental

Health Awareness and Support Groups which

can be very interesting to your page liker's and

will encourage them to visit your page. A

measure of a page's success or interest can be

the amount of PAGE LIKES. This is not the same

as a comment like. A page is 'liked' only once

and this entitles you to get notifications (if you

so choose) whenever a new posting is made.

There are 3 main types of Facebook identities

• An individual page - which is usually used

by individuals and which collects 'friends'

• A Group - which is attached to and

individual's page and can be handy for

adding friends as you don't need to ask

their permission (it's up to them to choose

to leave the group).

• A Page - This is the most professional way

for a Clubhouse (or any other organization)

to promote themselves on Facebook.

However getting people to 'like' you page

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• can take a lot of constant effort and in my

experience some people have been sent a

request to 'like' a page and have

responded by liking the request and not

the page.

In my experience posting photographs are very

popular and inevitably more people tend to

visit your page and press 'like'. However it is

very important to respect individuals and their

privacy so please ensure that the people who

are in the photographs consent to it being

posted on Facebook.

You also have your faithful supporters on

Facebook for which one must be very grateful.

They are the ones who as soon as you post

something they press 'like'. This is great

because 'Everyone loves a winner' so I would

encourage everybody in the Clubhouse world,

to make it a point to explore pages belonging

to other Clubhouses and start clicking 'Like'.

First on the page itself, which is located in a

box on the top right hand side and if you wish

you wish to get notified when this page has

posted something, click on the arrow next to

like and it gives you the option to 'get

notifications'. When you read comments or

see postings don't forget to click 'like' on the

comments or postings that you find of interest.

If somebody has made the effort or taken the

time or trouble to post something, the least we

can do is acknowledge the comment by

pressing 'like' and not just look at it.

Only admins can share on a page but there are

other ways in which anyone can post

something but please ensure that your

postings or comments are appropriate. An

admin should be on the look out for unsuitable

postings and proceed to delete them. On the

whole postings on Facebook should be

interesting and enjoyable reading and this

attitude will be transmitted to others who will

look at the page constantly if it is interesting to

them to keep up to date.

If you want to write(or post) on a page there is

a blank space at the top which says 'status' and

this has a sub phrase which says 'What have

you been up to?'. On this space you can also

paste something and this can be a link to a

website for example. To do this copy the full

address on the blue space at the top left hand

side of the page (which is usually a long

address) and paste it on to the status space

then click 'Post' and you're done.

So there you are, happy hunting, happy

postings, and keep liking. Invite your friend to

like your page and then your friends to invite

their friends and so on. The more people you

have the better so that when you advertise a

local public or fund raising event you will reach

a great audience. Enjoy!

Info Sheet for Social Media Workshop at the 13th European Clubhouse Conference 2014

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May we introduce:

By Magnus Wallman, Motala Fontänhus, Sweden

Motala Fontänhus is the latest

addition to the clubhouses in

Sweden. We began as a

workgroup in autumn 2011,

looking for information and

visited the existing

clubhouses. 2012, we

could, as part of an

existing social

cooperative start the

operation itself. We

were part of the social

cooperative until the

end of 2013 and the

last year we have been

a fully independent

clubhouse. From the

start we decided to be

members of both the

Clubhouse International as

Clubhouse Europe.

When you come into our

clubhouse today, it may be

hard to believe that it´s only

three years then we started.

The winter and spring of

2011/2012, we made several

trips to the already established

clubhouses in Sweden. The first

thing the working group then

did was to invite about 120

officials in the local area for a

briefing. We invited people

from the Employment Service,

Insurance Agency, health care

and the municipality. We had

four meetings over two days in

order to reach as many people

as possible. We had an

information on about 60

minutes where we

talked about the

history of the

clubhouses and

what the

clubhousemodel is

all about. It was

received very

positively and we

went on to search

for a local.

In April 2012, we

signed a lease for an office and

started inviting people who

showed interest in becoming

members.

On 28 May 2012, the first

work-order day, Magnus

Wallman, director, and Jörgen

21

Fock, member No. 1 was in the

house to begin planning

activities. The clubhouse is

located on the first floor where

it was previously an big office.

The landlord was generous

enough to build a brand new

kitchen for our liking. In total

there are 9 rooms including

the dining room, all in all about

300 sqm. The first few weeks

were the only furniture we had

an old kitchen table and 8

wooden chairs that the

municipality has given us. Here

we sat down and planned what

the individual rooms could be

used for and what equipment

we'd need. We had the help of

some people who were

interested in becoming

members, we started to paint

on in some room and go to

IKEA to equip the premises.

Until the end of the year much

of the work was to find

routines and bring order to, for

example, reception and

meeting rooms.

When we started the

clubhouse, we had the

ambition that we would be

able to accredit us in 2014 or

2015 and that we would have

at least 20 members to the end

of the year 2013. Now we've

just begun our accreditation

and expects to be completed

and approved in October 2015

and at the end of 2013 we had

34 members. We have over the

years been a constant member

development and today we

have 48 members and 4 staff,

including the director.

Like most other clubhouses, we

have unit meetings twice a day

and even though we only have

one unit it´s in practice divided

into a kitchen unit and a

reception and administrative

unit.

The work-ordered day is of

course the basis for our work,

but in addition to the work-

ordered day, we can offer our

members a variety of activities

beyond that.

Diet and exercise are important

aspects in order to be able to

feel good, so we have training

at the gym once a week and a

running-group (you can even

walk) once a week. In the

kitchen, we try to cook good,

healthy food at an inexpensive

price.

We have a course in watercolor

painting on a weekly basis. We

also have a music group for

those who want to learn to

play guitar. We have had movie

nights where we watched

movies and eating snacks.

Thanks to the people who think

we are doing a good job we

had free massages for

members on various occasions,

we also have a relaxation

group once a week.

22

We have been fortunate to be

able to make several nice trips

and visiting other clubhouse.

Among other things, we have

been and looked at birds in a

known bird lake, Tåkern. We

have also had several trips to

various nature reserve where

we walked and grilled.

We recently visited the

Swedish Parliament and our

chairman Johan Andersson,

MP, showed us around. We

also took the opportunity to

visit Fountain House Stockholm

while we were in Stockholm.

This summer we visited the

clubhouse in Båstad. They had

arranged so we were more

Clubhouses from Sweden who

attended and ran in a

marathon (relay).

In Motala we ran a 5k race,

though most members walked

around!

We have been visiting the

clubhouse in Örebro several

times.

We have something we call

"The Afternoon the" when we

have to speak English for one

hour. On two occasions, we

have linked us up by Skype and

talked to Fresh Start Clubhouse

in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We

enjoyed the afternoon break to

drink tea and coffee, they have

eaten breakfast (time

difference is 6 hours). This has

been very popular with both

our members and also

members of the Fresh Start has

appreciated this. It gives us an

opportunity to feel in everyday

life that we are members of an

international movement.

In the current situation, we

have no transitional

employment so that we have

begun to work with. The

Swedish legislation is designed

so transitional employment is

not suitable for many of our

members. The Swedish welfare

system is relatively generous,

and many can not work

without losing their benifits.

Workin part-time for a short

period could make them loose

a lot of income and for many

members it may mean that

they will not only lose a lot of

money in the meantime they

have a transitional

employment, in the worst

cases, they may be without

compensation afterwards and

be forced to live on welfare.

We have instead focused on

having a close collaboration

with the Employment Service

and the municipality in terms

of being able to offer

internships or finding

appropriate jobs. We try to

support members in all ways

for them to find work, with or

without additional support.

So far we have four members

who has started their own jobs.

We have just begun a

collaboration with counselors

at Motala Municipality in order

to support those who want to

go on to study. Two of our

members started full-time

studies in August this year.

We also plan to contact a

college to see what interaction

we can have for preparatory

studies.

A new group has begun to

work to attract younger

members, 16-35 years, to our

clubhouse. The group calls

itself "Hope 4 the Young" and

has just begun a collaboration

with a major youth center in

Motala.

23

In our board we have

representatives from the

Swedish Parliament, Motala

Municipality, the Employment

Service, the Social Insurance

Agency and the County

Council. Of course we also have

members of our board.

We try to work with so many

other players as possible in

Motala. We organized a full

day of lectures on October 10,

hosted the day for mental

health. This we did with health

care and the municipality even

if it was we who accounted for

most of the work. It was 10

different activities showing

there work or talking about it.

We even had time to engage us

internationally, and two of the

staff and one member has

been on the Basic Clubhouse

Training on Fountine House

New York. We recommend all

to try to send as many as

possible in training.

The people who go get a great

insight into and knowledge

surrounding the clubhouse

model and it has, at least for

us, has been a real boost for

the whole house. We have

been fortunate that on both

occasions been able to have

consultation visits afterwards

with people from Founatin

House New York, Clubhouse

Pelaren from Åland and

Fountain House Stockholm.

This has been very inspiring

days where the whole house

has been involved in planning

for how we can move forward

and develop as a clubhouse.

We have also been to the

Swedish conference and the

recent European Conference in

Stirling.

We hope that within a few

years, both accredited and we

have representatives might

both Clubhouse Europe Board

but also in the Clubhouse

International. It would also be

nice if we could have someone

who was involved in the

accreditation of other houses,

that we believe would be

beneficial also for our

clubhouse.

For more information about our Clubhouse please check out

www.motalafontanhus.se and www.facebook.se/motalafontanhus

24

The «Open Soul» Clubhouse

Republic of Belarus

We are the members of the «Open Soul» — a Clubhouse in Minsk, Republic of Belarus. We would like to tell you about us and our work. We’re the first Clubhouse in our country. We have been working since 2011 with a support of the Belarusian association of social workers. Financial assistance was provided by the German Foundation «Aktion Mensch». Also our friend and partner is Clubhouse Schwalbennest in Germany.

Here are some directions of our activities:

1. Our guests. It has become a good tradition to invite musicians, actors, artists and other extraordinary people to our Clubhouse. They visit us once a week. We hold various concerts, theatre plays, masterclasses and presentations at the Clubhouse as well.

2. Our theatre. Being inspired by our creative guests we decided to organize a theatre project. One of our members Irina wrote a fairy-tale which is used as a basis for writing scripts and drawing characters. We have a plan to organize a theatre of shadows. We`d like to show performances to patients of the Republican Research and Practice Center for Mental Health and children from orphanages. We want other Clubhouses` members to become aware of the results of our theatre project as well.

3. Our music. We`re planning to use live music for our theatrical plays. There`s a real musical club here! Some members learn playing musical instruments, one member also plays the Celtic harp. There are even members who write their own music. You can listen to it on our website opensoul.dvizhenie.by/in-english/

25

4. Our traveling. We visit different places in our city and country. We take pictures while sightseeing. That`s why we have numerous beautiful photos of the Belarusian nature. We’ll be glad to share them with you and discover your landmarks as well.

5. Our cooking. There`s a group of people that are responsible for cooking delicious food in here. The cooking group mostly works when we organize evening parties with our guests. We`re ready to share our recipes with a big pleasure and gladly find out what kinds of dishes are prepared in other Clubhouses.

6. Our fundraising events. Currently we are getting ready for a charitable concert where many talented Belarusian bands will perform in order to support our Clubhouse. Members of several bands are also members of the “Open Soul”. The concert is a fundraising activity that

is going to be held on November 15, 2014. We`ll be very glad to inform you about its results. It`s also possible to find a number of our bank account on the website to which you can send a financial support for us.

7. Our English Club. We should mention our English Club as well where we study the English language and read the European Clubhouse Magazine. We`d like to find penpals from other Clubhouses, to share experiences and information concerning interesting events. Please, do not hesitate to write to us.

Our contacts:

www.minskclubhouse@basw-ngo.by Skype: minskclubhouse

Our site: www.opensoul.dvizhenie.by/in-english/

Our page on Facebook: facebook.com/opensoulclub

26

Clubhouse Working Group in Greece

By Eleni Vradi

My name is Eleni Vradi and last year I completed the Walther Fellowship program at the Fountain House. During my fellowship I was trained in order to become a clubhouse leader as well as to create the first Clubhouse in Greece. I

have been always fascinated by the principles of the model and clubhouse’s views on the working community mitigating the negative symptoms of the mental illness.

My name is Lena Theodoropoulou and I work as an independent curator, art therapist and drug recovery worker. My research interests include the study of drug addiction and recovery as a tool for the examination and understanding of politics of normalization in different cultural contexts.

In the beginning of this year, we created a working group in Athens that is working towards the achievement of this goal (the creation of a Clubhouse in Greece. The working group is comprised of psychologists and social workers with experience in mental health services using community based rather than clinical approaches.

Why a Clubhouse in Greece?

The psychiatric reform in Greece, whose implementation has started already, and will be completed in June 2015 is based on the closure of two main psychiatric clinics in Athens (Psychiatric Hospital of Attica and Dromokaiteio). While the original aim of the reform was supposed to be the reintegration of the people suffering from mental health illness in the community and the fight against stigmatization through the construction of mental health services and social centers, the current governmental planning has announced that most of the patients will be transferred to

hospital, raising once more the issue of medicalization of mental health. The above mentioned services that were supposed to support the patients after the closure of the clinics were not only never constructed, but the staff of the existing ones has been significantly reduced , making it even more difficult to sufficiently support the existing patients.

At the same time, in the current socioeconomic crisis, more and more people suffer from mental health issues, with the number of suicides being raising significantly since 2008. Although we understand that these structural issues cannot be solved through just one service, the Athenian Clubhouse aims to assist as many people as possible to develop their skills and interests in an inclusive environment, based on equality and mutual respect.

Further on, and taking into account the current unemployment rates in Greece (the highest ones in the EU) and the constant deterioration of the working conditions (low wages, long hours etc) we aim to build up a strong network of services sharing the same values as the clubhouse and create opportunities for the people approaching the clubhouse to work in a decent and respectful environment. We are specifically interested in the creation of a social enterprise (as a cafe) that will aid financially our members while at the same time it will help them develop their skills.

We are very excited about the idea of the Greek Clubhouse being part of a new, larger project located in the center of Athens, where it will co-exist with other social justice organizations. In line with the International Clubhouse standards, the staff of the Greek Clubhouse will work side by side with members in partnership in order to accomplish the needs of the community while building strong and healthy relationships based on mutual need and mutual aid. Overall, the clubhouse will provide educational, vocational and social

27

opportunities not available outside of its community.

Our group is currently working towards overcoming the financial obstacles we are

facing and we are hoping to get funds from the EU and the local authorities that will support our effort and will make our vision of creating the first Clubhouse in Greece a reality.

October 10th – World Mental Health Day

By Vera, Clubhaus Schwalbennest, Munich, Germany

Dear folks,

This year Clubhaus

Schwalbennest

organized a big parade

through the center of

Munich together with

11 other organizations.

We had a big stage at

Karlsplatz, Stachus

where bands were

playing and different

speakers talked about

mental health and the

burden of stigma. After

some time about 350 people walked for 45 minutes around the area of Central Station and coming

back to the starting point. On the first truck we had a band called “Giesing Connection” and they

were playing well known standards like “Yellow

Submarine”, “Mackie Messer”, “And when the saints”

and so on. So everybody went very cheerful and happy

through the sunny streets of Munich. This year we also

had the perfect weather for our parade!

28

29

So let’s see what what happens next year!

We hope to grow and get more attention each year!

30

The past and the future: Celebrating 30 years in Malmö

The Malmö Fountain House opened on the 3rd

of September in 1984. Exactly 30 years later the

sun shone on the exact same spot as around 600

visitors crowded the open house celebrations

led by manager Anna-Karin Ekman. 30 years is

literally a lifetime, but Anna-Karin looks straight

ahead, constantly trying to find new ways to

make her haven a place showing several options

for a new start in life.

So the anniversary

was celebrated on two

separate days. One

looking back and

opening up the house

from morning until

evening with

members performing

speech, song, dance, theatre and ”plain” life

stories. Among visitors were the closest

neighbor houses Lund and Copenhagen, the

latter

performing

as a

celebratory

choir lyrics

written for

the

occasion.

The second anniversary day was looking to the

future, a week later in the town hall under the

supervision of the city mayor. Delegates from

Fountain Houses, local, regional and national

politics, clinics,

universities, social

services and media

took over the 61

seats normally used

by elected politicians

only.

A two hour debate followed as it was aired live

on the radio show Radiofontänen (which is

normally

one hour

a week by

members

of the

Malmö

Fountain

House).

Malmö soon has a total of 900 members. This

includes all those who have moved, passed away

or put their focus elsewhere since 1984. Last

year, 324 members came by, 200 of them more

than five times. There are twelve Fountain

Houses in Sweden.

31

Professional exchange of the German Speaking Clubhouses

By Clubhaus <pro people>, Austria

Professional exchange between the national

and international Clubhouses is part of our

concept.

On Monday, 24th march 2014 many of the

German Speaking Clubhouses, organised by

our organisation, had a conference in a public

home for folks in Ebelsberg. About 50 persons

took part in it, the hall was filled and Naima

gave a hearty welcome to all the participants.

A short introduction to the theme had been

followed by the Munich Clubhouse called

“Schwalbennest”. The fundamental theme for

the day had been the tenor and experiences of

the international experience exchange. To say

it in other words, our conference was held on

the purpose of discussion. The Clubhouses

handles every day a lot of tasks and working

issues. Sometimes there is the question, if the

effort is actually worthwhile for personal

meetings beyond the borders? We separated

into two groups with a short time brake within

four workshops:

Charly from the Clubhaus München Giesing

had reported about her international

experiences (as a member of the Board of

Clubhouse Europe)

The Manageress of the Clubhouse

Schwalbennest had reported on the European

Empad Project, which was offered by her

Clubhouse organisation.

A staff member of the Clubhaus München

Giesing had reported on the experiences of a

recent occurred Clubhouse Training.

“Visit and participation in events strengthen

the Empowerment, but are there also

restrictions?” This issue had been performed

by us. The Clubhouse Schwalbennest had

reported about the participation in

international seminars.

The Clubhouse in Steyr had picked out as a

central theme “the area of conflict between

the work-oriented day and voluntariness”.

The Clubhouse in Vöcklabruck had reported on

the theme “the responsibility in the

Clubhouse”.

On the whole it had been a day with eager

discussions, concerning the contents with a

nice personal encounter and generally a good

atmosphere.

Our results had been the need of international

exchange, despite of limited time resources.

32

It had always been very refreshing to

experience, in how far other approaches and

solutions are chosen on other places.

Some questions and proposals were taken

home for further adaption.

As a comfortable ending of this afternoon had

been the common dinner in the public home

for folks and afterwards a meeting in the local

cubus of the Ars Electronica Center.

Many thanks to all those people who had

successfully contributed to this day.

What does Internationalization bring to the Clubhouse Members?

By Sasti and Markus, Clubhaus <pro people>, Austria

Referring to the film, which was presented at the professional and international day of exchange on

the 24th March 2014 (see article above) and which title was called:

“Interviews concerning the experiences, possibilities and limits of the Clubhouse model”

Motivation

Through a visit in another Clubhouse, it can be

easily realized, that worldwide there is an action

in concert and therefore the spirit for

community is going to strengthen. Members and

staff members come back motivated from a visit

and bristle with new ideas. This causes a new

pep to the whole Clubhouse. Through exchange

new ideas will be born and are able to be

transferred internationally.

Common guidelines

With common guidelines we can carry each

other mutually and as well this gives us security.

They do guarantee that the Clubhouse is a place

with reasonable work and relationships

(referring to the four guarantees.

International exchange

Every two years an international conference of

Clubhouses takes place. The international

conference of exchange is to serve for the

growth and extension of new ideas and

eventually new Clubhouses. You get to know

different working methods as well as new

ideologies, which can push someone further in

the daily life.

Limits / Risks

At international conferences and visits without

staff members and members can easily exceed

personal limits. Therein lies the risk, that a

member gets a burnout, becomes stressed and

forgets that he/she thinks about his/her own

limits. A great attention has to be put on it, that

everybody takes care of one’s limits and also is

33

to be remembered by other members or staff

members.

Options

The Clubhouse offers the option of participation

in decision-making. This is very important for a

greater part of the members to bring in

regularities in their days. Advantages of a

Clubhouse are the own resources being

discovered and relationships being made. The

Clubhouse provides protection against isolation,

loneliness and marginalization. It provides also

participation in decision-making and co-devises

in the life of a Clubhouse.

Voices from “Fountain House Course”

By Fountain House Stockholm, Sweden

The project 2011-2013

2011 The project, “Fontänhögskolan” (The

Fountain House Course) started in three cities

in Sweden, Malmö, Gothenburg and

Stockholm. The respective Fountain House in

each location worked together with social work

educators to develop a week-long course with

the themes of "Places and living" and "Social

vulnerability and response". A project leader

led the various courses together with teachers

of social work courses. Students enrolled in the

course as part of their education training, and

members and supervisors signed up through

their local Fountain House. Courses based on

the above mentioned themes were conducted

under a 3 year period at all three locations. The

following describes in more detail the

Stockholm course.

In total, the entire project has 66 members, 31

instructors and 152 students involved. Of those

152 students 28 have come from Stockholm,

but far more have been informed by those 28

through presentations to their classmates, who

also have been able to participate in public

lectures during Project Week. It has been a

great way to spread the Fountain House

concept. The project has shown success with

the four Skondal students today hold or have

held positions at Fountain House Stockholm. In

addition, one teacher visited Fountain House in

New York and did an internship for two weeks

and two students visited the Genesis

Clubhouse for a month to study Supported

Education. They have since written essays on

what they have learned. The teachers involved

in the project received an educational faculty

prize for his work on the project Fountain

University.

From project to permanent

Following the success of the project Fountain

House Stockholm has chosen to make the

course permanent and in October this year the

course was conducted in-house for the first

time.

Our aim is for the course to be an opportunity

for students, teachers, Fountain House

members, and supervisors to gather and share

experiences on the topics: power and user

influence in the field of mental health, how

vulnerability can be expressed, and how the

relationship between social workers and users

can develop and be optimized. The focus

during the lectures and seminars has been on

attitudes and relationships, communication,

power and user influence on an individual and

34

collective level, and Fountain House model.

Participants, members, instructors and

students share with you their experiences in

these areas. During the week-long course

lectures and seminars are held at the

University and activities in the Fountain House

invite active participation. We also make

evaluation exercises around deprivation,

mental illness, alternative psychiatric practice

and watch the movie "Open Dialogue". These

elements will provide the basis for group work

consisting of about six people who then report

to other students from the college at the end

of the course week.

(Caroline Lindblom, course provider Fountain

House Stockholm)

A few comments about the course in

Stockholm from 2014 participants

"I started as a supervisor at Fountain House

Skondal in March this year, so it felt like I

landed a bit on the house and in my new role

before it was time for Fountain University.

Fountain University was little more than a

week of courses. It was an experience, it was

the exchange of knowledge, there were

meetings between the various people involved

and it was very fun! The set-up with group

work with a fairly loose framework within a

relatively short period of time resulted in about

15 social work students learning a lot,

especially about daring to have faith in the

process. I am a trained social worker and

during the week I began to have the thought,

What if this was part of my social work

education? I think these types of courses

should be mandatory for social work. After the

course week I came back to the house with a

lot of new knowledge, contacts and inspiration.

Thanks to all who attended! "

(Sofie Björklund, Supervisor Fountain House

Skondal)

"My name is Kenneth Sundh and I'm Senior

lecturer at Ersta Skondal University College

and, together with staff at Fountain House

Stockholm responsible for Fountain University

in the years that it been going on. This year's

Fountain University week for me has been as

tumultuous and engaging as previous years.

When I was asked at the end of the week what

has been most relevant from my own

perspective I responded immediately to the

feeling of being a part of it all even as a

teacher. I felt welcomed to participate in all

activities during the week based on the person

I am rather than my formal role as one of the

"course administrators." The atmosphere of

democratic and equal participation that is so

unique in the Fountain House concept

permeated in other words. Another theme that

constantly made me both impressed and

pleased was how Fountain House participants

and students quickly bonded with each other

during the course of the week and seriously

took on the task of organizing a half-day

seminar for other students in social work

education. During training theoretical thoughts

on the importance of working to strengthen

clients' counter-power and active cooperation

with user organizations was depicted in

countless ways throughout the course week "

(Kenneth Sundh, Course coordinator and

lecturer, Ersta Skondal University)

"The user perspective has been from a

theoretical and ethical perspective and existed

as a grid throughout our social work education,

however, user participation has been a small

part of the training in the form of, for example,

lectures of user associations, until now, when

we as social work students had the opportunity

to participate in the “Fountain House Course”

The focus in education but also in social work

practice is very much on social issues, theories,

and methods to counter them. I think Fountain

House Course” became thus a valuable forum

35

for social work students and Fountain House

members to meet in less conventional

circumstances and without the formalities that

occurs between, say, a social worker and a

client. We participants spent a week together

with interesting meetings, discussions and

activities that left us all concerned. One of the

topics that we discussed was about the

prejudices and beliefs that are around people

with mental illness. A special feature Fountain

House Course was getting an opportunity to

talk in depth about the effects of treatment

and categorization of persons with mental

illness in Sweden today and share experiences

with each other. Meanwhile, I got to

experience the dividing lines erased between

what is a social worker, a student or a member

of Fountain House; we were just individuals

each with our own experiences. With this

perspective of the individual we took a

departure from what is considered normal or

abnormal approaches. Where the individual is

understood as a person through their life

experiences and carries the knowledge which

will have a deeper meaning when working with

the structural and individual difficulties that

exist in our society today. My short but

increasingly instructive week at the Fountain

House Course has left me with a greater

humility, sense of responsibility but also

curiosity for human beings with all the

successes and failures in life, not just in my role

as a fully qualified social worker but also as a

person with my qualities and shortcomings."

(Yosef Darwich, Social work student 7th

semester at Ersta Skondal University)

“Imagine seven women and men in a group of

members, staff member and university

students, working towards one goal – trying to

express the very essence of the fountain house

idea, and succeeding in doing so. This I will

always carry with me, the audience enthusiasm

about their new knowledge. Thank you.”

(Lena Liljedahl, Malmö Fontänhus)

Networking Island communities

Benedikt Gestsson project manager Geysir Clubhouse, Iceland

At the European conference in Stirling last

October, there was a Workshop called

Overcoming Challenges. Participating in that

workshop where marginal Clubhouses like

Geysir in Iceland. Blide Hoose in Orkney Islands

North of Scotland and Pelaren in Aaland Islands

in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden,

and a brand new club Fountain-huset

Thorshavn Faroe Islands in the middle of the

Atlantic Ocean founded in April 2014. Also

included as speakers in the workshop were

colleagues from Mosiac Clubhouse, which

36

focused on challenges moving to a new house

for their opperation.

Disccussing this topic in the workshop a lot of

common challenges were reveald, which

brought up an idea in my head if those Island

Clubhouses in Europe could find a common

platform to support each other and share

information related to what we are dealing

with on daily and long term basis. I even

mentioned to some colleagues if those

Clubhouses could form a coalition of some

kind, under the name of Coalition of Island

Clubhouses which maybe was a little to steep,

but brought up some compasionate smiles.

Anyway, what brings us together is more

important than that dividing us. Mentioning a

few, Geysir Clubhouse and Blide Hose are

dealing with expensive domestic transport and

high fuel cost, territorial location high cost of

living, long winters, extreme weather events,

and stigma. Pelaren which mentioned warm,

supporting caring society, and activity in the

outside community. „There is a constant belive

that situation can be changed, sometimes by

relatively small means,“ as colleagues from

Pelaren said.

Among the most happy news revealed in the

European conference was the opening of a

Clubhouse in the Faroe Islands. A couple of

years ago Súna Mørk one of the innovators

came to Iceland to look into options for

rehabilitation of mentally ill people. She came

on a visit to Iceland a couple of years ago and

toured Klúbburinn Geysir and seems like they

were quite happy with the visit. In respect to

that we are proud that they decided to

establish a Clubhouse based on the Fountain

House model.

I really hope that everything goes well for

those clubhouses and hope that we can

establish some kind of liaison for networking

and information distribution, putting island

communities on the map.

37

Clubhouse Heikintalo’s Function presentation

By Lasse Koivumäki, Clubhouse Heikintalo, Finnland

(Our guests from left to right: Harri Hietala, Vertti

Kiukas, Riitta Myller, Erica Mäenpää ja Päivi Lepistö)

Citizens Europe – election informing tour arrived

to Lappeenranta 16.5.2014. Before market place

event euro election candidates were invited to

acquaint citizen organization activity at

Heikintalo (Kesämäenkatu 10). To the invitation

responded member of parliament- candidate

Riitta Myller. Functions of the house were

presented by activity chief Lasse Koivumäki and

on the site was also social- and health branch’s

roof organization SOSTE chief secretary Vertti

Kiukas and area works specialist Erica Mäkipää.

At the same day in Heikintalo visited also Harri

Hietala. Harri works as researcher and an

economist in VATES –foundation, which

promotes the disabled, long term sicks and

partially abled to works equal opportunities to

participate in working life.

Päivi Lepistö, project manager in Finnish

Clubhouses ARTO –project came to consult

Heikintalo’s members and staff in the use of a

new statistics program, Salesforce.

ARTO –project is triannual RAY – funded Finnish

Clubhouses associations project. The main

objective is to develop follow up- and evaluation

model for Finnish Clubhouses. Long term

cooperation partner, Pirkko Haikara, project

chief in South East social area skill center inc.

SOCOM was present with the event.

Guest commentary about Heikintalo:

Riitta Myller: ”Very much needed and

influencing act. If in Joensuu doesn’t have a

Clubhouse, it must absolutely be established

there.”

Vertti Kiukas: “Heikintalo is a good example of

low threshold meeting place, to which it is easy

to come, when there is a need. With a small

societys investment one gets a lot of influencing

action.”

Erica Mäenpää: “Visiting Heikintalo was

rewarding and interesting. Atmosphere was

spontaneous. Everyday tasks were turned to

important and significant duties, to which

everyone participated. In Clubhouse important

work is done.”

Päivi Lepistö: “At Heikintalo there is wonderful

atmosphere; like coming to home. Heikintalo is

an excellent example of that, that with small

money, but with attitude of passion, a lot is

accomplished. Heikintalo is actively and eagerly

with also in Finnish Clubhouses registered

association activity and it serves in Finnish

Clubhouses ARTO –projects as pilot Clubhouse.

In Heikintalo is done model work in informing,

organization cooperation and school

cooperation. Heikintalo is also one of a few

Clubhouses, to where young adults are got to

activity. Different to young adults aimed

activities (eg. rock club) have got a good

reception. text and photo: Lasse Koivumäki

38

Experiences from VaKu-line

(A young member of Clubhouse Heikintalo working in

the media working shop)

In front of life

I tell about my academic year in coaching and

rehabilitating VaKu-line. My place of training is

Saimaa’s vocational college (Saimaan

ammattiopisto ) Sampo. It is quite in site of

Lappeenranta’s core center and in the vicinity of

other vocational centers, the merit of what is

that it is easy to start to build own thing to a

common sides comprehensive subselection.

Own area? What should I do for work? How will I

manage in life? These things cross the mind of

many young; why not of older two.

I’m sure that I will became an artesan. I planned

the thing and went through all chances of

education. When I wasn’t yet sure of the thing, I

called teacher Marita Vanhanen and told, what

was my situation. Previous schooling

experiences were not very good. In VaKu –class I

noticed equal group; no one was deposed and

differenced were accepted as also in Heikintalo.

This is one strong side of small group teaching.

The teachers are comfortable. They coach and

support. Weekly schedule is versatile. On

Mondays and Tuesdays there is the skills of

everyday life. Then lunch is made, cleaned and

baked. Same things are made in Heikintalo also

daily. Teachers are punctual about the trace of

work. My painstaking has got better all the time.

Experiences of Swedish and English are good,

also of exercise and health care knowledge.

In the joint phase education is included periods

in learning from work and knowledge about

professional areas. Now I have experience of

both. In the last fall I was three weeks in Siwa

and now I have got to training in Citymarket. I

have been also in education experience in

common side in artesan line. My experiences

after work ended are hilarious! Along this

education I can take 6 points with me to the next

place that is in Kotka. These points mean a lot

more than 6 points! I hope to get in small group

education of bachelor of economic studies.

In the picture below I practice to make an annual

calendar in Heikintalo. At first I thought,that

making of calendar is really difficult and how

could I manage it. I got some very good advice

and tips of the Heikintalo staff and bachelors of

social science students. I learned something very

new and useful!

Greetings from Finland!

Lasse Koivumäki, Director

Heikintalo - Lappeenrannan Klubitalo ry

(Clubhouse Heikintalo)

Kesämäenkatu 10

53600 Lappeenranta

Phone: 0400 451 344

e-mail: lpr.klubitalo@heikintalo.net

webpages: www.heikintalo.hol.es (Fin)

www.heikintalo.hol.es/?page_id=304 (English)

39

The Beauty Day in Russia House

By Maria Shakirova, Tanya Saphyannikova, Russia House, Russia

We are pleased to share how we spent the International Mental Health Day at Russia House. Our community decided to hold the Beauty Day on that day. First of all, we bought gifts for everybody in the Clubhouse: cosmetic sets, nice scarves and shawls for the Russia House’s girls and women, ties for our boys and men. Natalia Lapteva, a make-up artist from Mary Kay, came to our Clubhouse, gave a master-class and showed girls how to put on make-up. Another guest - Igor Vorobiev taught

boys the different ways of binding up the ties. He did it in such an informal and interesting way that girls also decided to learn it – as a tie can be a bright and unusual decoration of the ladies attire. And what’s more most of the girls have someone to bind up a tie! Natalia and Anna, our staff, taught girls how creatively to tie scarves. After that it was time to have tea with cakes. As the party was coming to an end everybody was tied but happy. And the main aim of the Beauty Day was achieved – noboby thought about their illness!

(A master class how to use cosmetics)

(Learning how to bind a tie)

(Choosing a scarf)

(Sasha is taught, how to bind a tie)

40

Great day for Warsaw Fountain House!

By Marek Bruś, Warsaw Fountain House, Poland

Translators: Marek Bruś, Liliana Drewnicka

This year's September will go down in the

annals of Warsaw Fountain House (WFH) as a

special month for one, very important reason -

after many years of efforts, thanks to the

intensive work of members and staff, we have

become the first Clubhouse in Poland that can

boast about receiving Accreditation.

After receiving the good news we decided to

arrange meeting with representatives of

external institutions from the area of mental

health care, as well as with representatives of

local and national authorities. The meeting had

dual purpose: celebrating the event and

promoting WFH as well as the Clubhouse

Model itself. The date we chose was October

9th, day before World Mental Health Day.

(Participants of the meeting were really interested

in our presentations. From the left: Barbara

Kucharska, v-ce director of Masovian Social Policy

Centre, Krystyna Wyrwicka, director of Department

of Social Assistance and Integration of Ministry of

Labour and Social Policy, Anna Szuster-Kowalewicz,

v-ce dean for Research and Scientific Affairs at

Faculty of Psychology of Warsaw University)

Our guests toured Warsaw Fountain House. From

the left: Wiesława Kacperek-Biegańska, director of

Social Policy Department of Masovian Voivodeship

Office, Mirosław Starzyński, Head of Social Affairs

and Health Department of Wola District of Capital

City of Warsaw, Grażyna Orzechowska-Mikulska, v-

ce mayor of Wola District.

We approached this matter as professionally as

we could – we meticulously designed and

printed meeting schedules, made handouts,

printed additional guides, we wrote and sent

sponsorship proposals to local shops asking to

prop us up with food and drinks for our guests.

Author of this article himself signed a dozen or

so of invitations and sponsorship proposals on

behalf on Clubhouse, feeling like a rock star.

Meeting was divided into three parts:

• Presentation about Clubhouse movement

• Presentation about WFH history

• Presentation about Standards

41

(Our guests were ceremonially welcomed by Kasia

Boguszewska – WFH director, Iwona Wiktorska –

member of WFH and our association board, and

Alan Doyle – Fountain House Institute director)

Kasia Boguszewska, WFH director and Beata

Zarzycka, member of WFH, brought history of

our Clubhouse closer to the listeners. Radek

Czapski, member of WFH and Alan Doyle from

Fountain House in New York told us about

Clubhouse movement.

(Alan and Radek were really happy!)

Presentation about Standards was divided by

sections. Members and staff willing to present

could choose a section and describe, what is in

their opinion the most important in it. I chose

Work Ordered Day. In my view main values of

this section are: authenticity of relations and

actually needed work on partnership basis.

Attendance on the meeting was very high -

about 30 people came! Many of them

contributed, to a greater or lesser extent, to

inception and forming of WFH on different

stages of its development. For this reason

Accreditation received by Clubhouse was also

their own reason to be proud. It was also the

cause of special vibe of the meeting - festive

and at the same time friendly.

(The special moment of meeting was raising of glass

of wine)

We hope for more such occasions to celebrate!

42

One week training with Alrami Clubhouse in Pavlodar (Kazakhstan) in Warsaw Fountain House

By Grzegorz Sikora and Dorota Brutkowska, Warsaw Fountain House, Poland

Translators: Liliana Drewnicka and Marta Wybranowska

From 2nd to 6th June 2014, we hosted in Warsaw

Fountain House guests from Alrami Clubhouse in

Kazakhstan. Our role was to support Alrami in

improving their functioning. Apart from Kazakhs

– Nazigul Bekenova, Bibigul Sharipova and

Ruslan Dovgenko and us – people from Warsaw

Fountain House, there were three people from

foreign Clubhouses. Keith Johnson and Amy

Ferrara from Fountain House in New York and

Tracy Uren from Stockholm Fountain House co-

hosted the training with us. The organizer of the

training, responsible for its accomplishment, was

Fountain House in New York. Keith has been in

our Clubhouse before in order to prepare us for

this new role (we have never taught the

Clubhouse Model anybody from abroad before).

During the training, which lasted five days, we

discussed particular issues making use of

Clubhouse articles and Kazakh’s experiences

from our work-ordered day.

(Tracy and Keith open a meeting with help of Karina –

our interpreter)

During our daily discussions we brought up three

main topics: “Why a Clubhouse?”, “Choice” and

“Clubhouse relations”. We discussed how

Clubhouses help members, what is the role of

Clubhouses in returning of members to a

normal life and why relations inside a Clubhouse

are unique. We took the examples from

mentioned articles: “The Effectiveness of Activity

Group with Chronically Regressed Adult

Schizophrenics” by John Beard, Victor Goertzerl

and Arthur Pearce, “From Patienthood to

Personhood” by Jacqueline Peckoff and

“Clubhouse Relationships Need Work” by Robby

Vorspan. The first article tells about the

beginnings of a new way of treating mentally ill

people, pioneered in the 50’s. This new way -

based on partnership - differs Clubhouses from

psychiatric hospitals, and is common nowadays.

These particular differences between

Clubhouses and other institutions and benefits

from Clubhouse Model were discussed during

the first day of the training. The second day was

about positive changes in member’s previous

lives, which might appear with their input –

that’s why the name of the topic: “Choice”. Our

inspiration was the story of authoress of the

second article. Jacqueline Peckhoff shows her

way from a breakdown to finding job. Finally, on

the third day, we talked about relations inside a

Clubhouse. Our discussion was based on Robby

Vorspan article entitled “Clubhouse

Relationships Need Work”. Relations in each

Clubhouse can be different – in view of the

culture and people who create relations. But the

Clubhouse Model outlines some universal

principles. In Clubhouses there are no relations

like teacher – student, doctor – patient or

contractor - beneficiary. Members and staff

work side by side and their relations are based

on partnership. This cooperation in carrying on a

Clubhouse gives rise to relations.

43

(One of our daily discussions)

Every discussion contains list of topics which

were broadly talked over, taking into

consideration our experiences, activities of

Alrami Clubhouse and what our English-speaking

guests said. We spend much time everyday

talking all together. With the passing of time we

discovered and came up with remarks,

conclusions about which we informed each

other successively. In the last day of training we

had a sum up meeting to gather our findings

appearing during the whole training. Then our

guests went back to Kazakhstan with company of

Polish- Swedish- American team which was

suppose to support them in further

development of their Clubhouse.

(Nazigul attending the Employment and Education

Unit meeting)

For the whole training Kazakhs were

participating in our daily duties. Ruslan spent

much time in Admin Unit, Nazigul in

Employment and Education Unit and Bibigul in

House Maintenance Unit. They did tasks with us-

help to prepare lunch, complete statistics, tide

up and attending the meetings. Bibigul was the

only English speaking person so we had to

communicate also in Russian and sometimes

mimed ☺

(Bibigul and Jacek preparing the cake)

(Ruslan and Marta completing our folders)

That was definitely unforgettable experience for

us. We keep our fingers crossed and hope that

Alrami Clubhouse in Kazakhstan will be

transforming into Clubhouse which comply with

Standards and improve its ways of helping

members.

44

Works Outing on the Wolfgang Lake (Upper Austria)

Clubhaus <pro people>, Austria

On the 3rd August 2014 three buses filled with

fifteen members of the Clubhouse pro people

took a ride via Regau, Gmunden and Bad Ischl to

Saint Wolfgang on the Wolfgang Lake. At 10.45

a.m. we arrived on the place of our destination.

At 11.25 a.m. we went per paddle wheel

steamer called “Kaiser Franz Josef” from Saint

Wolfgang to Saint Gilgen, within 45 minutes of

time. There was also a sailboat competition and

many little boats were on their way. We had an

extremely clear view to the place Saint Wolfgang

with the hotel Weisses Rössl (White Horse) and

to a school building for tourists as well as to the

“Schafberg” Mountain.

The paddle wheel steamer was built in 1873 and

was changed from a coal to a diesel engine boat.

It can carry about 150 persons and reaches a

speed limit of 18km per hour.

After having arrived at Saint Gilgen we went to a

good restaurant for lunch, which was called

“Wirt am Gries”. Then the bigger part of our

members looked forward to going on a shopping

tour. The other part of our members went for

sun bathing and swimming to the public bathing

beach. At 03.p.m. we took a smaller ship back to

Saint Wolfgang. Some of our members visited

the old places at Saint Wolfgang with the old

church and its most famous “Pacher Altar” and

beautiful pictures of the 14th century. On our

way back to Linz we did a short stop at

Traunkirchen to have coffee.

At about 07 p.m. we arrived in Linz.

Concerning the weather it was a well-planned

trip and with many thanks to all our staff

members!

45

Clubhouse – In Short

Club Itaca, Milan, Italy

We have exiting news from Club Itaca Milan: We got a conditional three-years accreditation by

Clubhouse International and we are very proud and satisfied. Our work continues to make our

Clubhouse stronger and stronger and achieve the full three years.

By the way as we are trying to do our best in order to improve our community- based educational

programs, we have a question for you:

Can you tell us how your Clubhouse community-based educational programs are organized?

You can email us at: comunicazione@clubitaca.org

Thank you in advance for your input and help .

Ciao from Milan, Club Itaca Milano Members and Staff

Clubhouse Europe, Working Group Communication

We are looking for translations of the following Clubhouse texts into European languages:

• Building strong

partnerships

• Communities creating

opportunities

• Cost Effectiveness of

Clubhouse Model

• Role of Staff

• Starting a Clubhouse

• What if nobody wants to

make Lunch

• Who decides to do what

and when

• Why work works

We are building up a data base with translations of important Clubhouse materials, using it for

downloads on our website. If your Clubhouse has translated any of these texts, please send them as

a word document, name the file(s) e.g.: Why work works – german.docx and send them to:

Tania Aguilar Romero, member of Clubhouse Europe Working Group Communication:

(taniaguilar@hotmail.com),

Thank you!

46

Relation between Family Members and Mental Ill Victims of Abuse

By Mats Cullin, Fountainhouse Båstad, Sweden

I will here give a slightly different perspective on the relationship between family members and

anyone who is a victim of mental illness and in association with this, some form of abuse. My

intention is to convey how I, who live with mental illness, experiencing how this affected the

relationship with my family and other people in my close surroundings.

It is written and a lot of talk about how it is to

be a relative of someone with mental illness

and / or substance abuse. Less often noted

how a person experiences the relationship

from his point of view. I myself have lived with

anxiety-related and depressive syndromes

during almost my entire 49-year life. Like many

others, I managed to hide it and even my self-

medication with alcohol for the environment

for a long time. This was partly due to the

shame and guilt associated with the above, as

well as on both my and ambient denial and

minimization of problems.

For many years this was due to my and also the

family members' lack of knowledge about

where my external problems and behavior

stemmed from and what they had for the

consequences. This is not to understand

themselves and how they think, feel and

behave creates feelings of guilt, shame,

frustration and alienation. In my case also did

these thoughts and feelings that I waited until

the last moment to seek help. Only when the

problem and its consequences became obvious

and detrimental started asking for it for myself

and my surroundings, I felt that I had to get

help to set things right. The problem was

within myself, not in external factors, I had not

yet really understood. It was easier to blame

my problems on other people and external

circumstances, and make myself a victim. For

the problems lay with me I would surely have

to take responsibility for anything crazy and

destructive, I exposed myself and

others, that everything was my fault.

But so stupid, I could surely not be,

my intellect was and is pretty intact,

so how did then this equation

together: That I was responsible - but

it was not my fault.

It required an explanation for this

dilemma (which in hindsight is quite

logical), and this explanation, I came

with time until by seeking help,

professionally and in self-help groups.

I am not responsible for the suffering of the

illnesses and addictions I have - but to follow

the "recipe" to do what I can to keep them in

check and learn to live a good life despite my

"diagnosis".

47

This can of course be compared with, for

example, that diabetics have to take their

medication and stick to a certain diet to not be

bad.

How have my problems affected

my surroundings? It is obvious

that my parents were worried

about me, for example, when I

isolated myself and made me

unreachable for them and

others. I could be "missing" for

several days and realize in

retrospect that this meant that

people around me do not know

if I was alive or not. This created a guilt and

shame account which became a heavy burden

to carry himself and did I relapsed into

addiction to numb the anxiety, which in itself

made the backpack even heavier, so that at last

I could bear it no longer. That was when I hit

the ground and asked for help to remove the

weights from the backpack. My parents have

also felt the guilt and had thoughts that they

have done something wrong when I became

who I was. Therefore, relatives of the utmost

importance for them to understand their role

in it all.

I have also had an impact in the workplace with

high absenteeism and impaired work capacity.

This has of course caused concern and

confusion among employers as it is not known

the whole picture and frustration for me when

I have not been able to perform at the level I

consider myself capable of.

Today I and also my family members through

various activities and forums had a better

knowledge and greater understanding of my

situation. I have been through conversations

and medication given a foundation to stand on,

and tools to build with if I use them correctly. I

also know the pitfalls that are in my way, such

as sensitivity to stress and manic states, but as

long as I stick to "map" so I can now say that

my relations with the outside world in all areas

has improved.

This is thanks not least to my place on the

Fountain House in Båstad where I can do

meaningful work in my interests as newspaper

production and give lectures at my own pace

and on their own responsibility.

wishes