By Emalee Gillis, NAMI Spokane Blog Editor.
The Evergreen Club in Spokane is a place to come to for those with a serious and persistent mental illness, a place to return to. At the Evergreen Club, members find support towards meaningful work and they also find meaningful relationships.
The Evergreen Club was started in 1981 and it began with what is now called Clubhouse International. It was all about combatting the stigma of mental illness and finding a way to re-integrate into the community. The Club stood up against “othering” those with a mental illness and casting them aside. The Club organizers strongly believed that a person with a mental illness could do meaningful work in the community.
The Spokane Clubhouse is a psychosocial rehabilitation program. Assisting people with a mental illness to get work is the intervention.
Megan Chandler, the Clubhouse Director said, “By supporting employment, the Clubhouse combats social isolation and provides vocational support.”
The Clubhouse has three tracks for employment. The first level is transitional employment. The Clubhouse works with local businesses in the community to find jobs for members. These are typically entry-level jobs. The Clubhouse also provides training and provides coverage if a member misses work. These jobs include data analyst, construction jobs, and grocery store jobs.
The next level of vocational support is called supported employment where the member determines how much support they want. That support could include resume building, interview help, job search, training, and other assistance. The third level of vocational support is independent employment where members find a job on their own with Clubhouse support.
“The Evergreen Club believes that the only factor needed to begin the journey towards employment is a desire to work. The Clubhouse will meet the members where they are and will help members achieve their employment goals,” said Chandler
The Evergreen Club currently has 107 active members. Each member must volunteer at the Clubhouse a minimum of once a month. The Club has a café, a boutique/thrift store, and an administrative unit that does budgeting, fundraising, new member orientation, and banking. The Club has about 30 members that show up each day. Through volunteering at the Club, members build confidence and gain applicable skills. The Clubhouse is designed to be under-staffed, so that members play critical roles in the organization and make sure lunch is served, fundraising happens and the banking is done.
Chandler explained that becoming an accredited Clubhouse with Clubhouse International was an intensive process and re-accreditation happens every three years. The process begins with a self-study where the entire Clubhouse gets together and rates itself on 37 standards. The document that comes out of that self-study is often 60 pages long. After that, demographic data is collected and turned in. The two people who are trained in accreditation visit and spend three days in the Clubhouse observing and pouring over the reports and data generated in the process.
Chandler said, “Fifteen studies over the past 20 years show that if the 37 standards are followed, Clubhouses are amazing for a community. Benefits included reduced incarcerations and hospitalizations and members report feeling better, having more confidence and being able to form long-lasting relationships.”
The Evergreen Clubhouse is a program of Frontier Behavioral Health. The Clubhouse can bill Medicaid since they are part of Frontier. The Clubhouse also has a federal block grant that allows them to give services to those who aren’t on Medicaid. The group also has a grant from the Washington State Health Care Authority. Using the grants, the Clubhouse was able to remodel their entire building and make the space more welcoming and inviting. The grants also allowed the Clubhouse to send people to trainings. Through Clubhouse trainings, trainees are immersed with other people who are dealing with the same things and much idea sharing happens.
Chandler said, “The Spokane Clubhouse is getting stronger every year.”
The Evergreen Club is open an any adult aged 18 and older in Spokane County living with a serious and persistent mental illness who does not have a recent history of violence. If someone is already with Frontier, they can request a referral to the Evergreen Club. However, the request does not need to go through Frontier. To become a member of the Clubhouse, call 509.458.7454 to get set up with a tour and to have a conversation that covers what the Clubhouse is all about.
Megan Chandler has been the Clubhouse Director in Spokane for about two years. Previously, she worked in homeless services in Spokane. She was a supervisor at Hope House and supervised Family Coordinated Entry through Catholic Charities.
Emalee Gillis is a writer and blog editor. She is the author of the memoir Adventures on the Path to Living Well with a Mental Illness and has a related TEDx Talk.