J.D., the Clubhouse, and Me
by Heather Lowe
Why did the clubhouse model work for J.D. (Jennifer Duncan) as well as it did? Let me start to answer that by stating that it was not because all the other programs she had tried had failed, or because she had failed at those other programs. It was simply because the daily work in the clubhouse held the most pieces of the puzzle that J.D. needed to put herself together. Everything that had come before in her life, including treatment, brought her to this point, to the clubhouse. At the clubhouse, we, the whole clubhouse community of members and staff, were able to put the puzzle pieces in her hands.
How did the clubhouse hold those puzzle pieces? Let's assemble them and see.
Relationships
The first piece was relationships. The relationships she made in the clubhouse were real. They were also reciprocal. What does reciprocal mean? Well, it does not mean you care more! Anyone who works in this field and does it well does so because they care. Most care a great deal. Reciprocal as defined by the clubhouse means that the member has an opportunity (is guaranteed) the opportunity to be as helpful to the clubhouse community as the clubhouse community is to the member.
In my relationship with J.D. there was a great deal of this reciprocity. She was a new member in August of `94, when I was newly hired. She was struggling with her addictions as well as her mental illness, while I was struggling with ... COMPUTERS!! As I had been in recovery from my own addictions for quite some time, there was in me a great deal of information that would be helpful to her recovery. As she had been tooling around computers since grade school she hand hands on experience I was desperate for. Fair trade? You bet. But how could we begin to access this? Here we were two people with the potential to help each other tremendously. How to get to it? How to open the door?
Work
The real work that comes out of each unit daily to keep the clubhouse functioning was to be the second piece of the puzzle. I must tell you that a part of me responded deeply to J.D. I honored her struggle and identified with it. I came to care for her, and in caring for her, I held her accountable to our friendship. I expected her to do what she told me she was going to do. Back to work though.
In clubhouse one of our premises is that everyone needs positive productivity -- not just people with mental illness, but everyone. The work in the units is real. No food preparation results in no lunch. Had members in units and on committees all over Massachusetts not come together in positive productivity we would not be here today.
J.D. ate this work up. It was like putting a banquet before a starving person. She attacked each day, solving problems, and she shone! She began to share her work and her accomplishments with others. I believe that sharing this gift with me and other members in the unit began to give J.D. a belief that she made a difference at Baybridge. That without her input not only wouldn't the work get done, but people
