The “official” Mental Health Awareness Month of May ends soon, but I’m for making it ALWAYS. With that being said, I want to celebrate the work and the members of my favorite mental health nonprofit, (CHARLOTTE CLUBHOUSE) beginning with its mission statement:
To facilitate wellness, happiness, a sense of achievement, and a stable quality of life through meaningful work, supportive community, and creative endeavors for individuals impacted by mental illness.
Now almost three years since its inception, the success of Charlotte Clubhouse shines brightly through the achievements and important life milestones of its members. To be clear, the Clubhouse gives all the credit to each individual for what they have accomplished. But the mission statement and the following testimonies reflect the value of a supportive and intentional community that offers members the opportunity to find wellness, meaningful work, a sense of achievement, and a stable quality of life. I asked two of the members to share their recent successes using the following three questions, and their responses follow below:
- What drew you to the Clubhouse? Specifically, what was going on in your life that contributed to your being attracted to the Clubhouse?
- What impact did the Clubhouse have on you, your mental health, your challenges in the beginning?
- What recent event or milestone in your life are you celebrating, and how did being connected to the Clubhouse affect this process?
PHOENIX
I had just gotten out of a treatment facility and was looking for places to volunteer and spend my time during my gap semester. I tend to thrive more in in-patient environments. While Charlotte Clubhouse isn’t exactly that, it was a place that I could go once a week and interact with people who faced similar mental health challenges.
The Clubhouse added much needed structure in my week, and I had something to look forward to. I began to bond with a lot of the members, and I started bringing in my guitar to play music for people during lunch. It also helped to be of service to people and get out of my own head.
I recently got a few milestones. I turned 25, I picked up 2 years of sobriety and finally graduated with a B.S. in Psychology from UNCC. I couldn’t have done it without the love and support I’ve received from Charlotte Clubhouse. The community I gained from joining was one of the things I had been missing in school since COVID happened, and it made a big difference. A big thank you to Kristin, Mick, and Lucas, alongside all the members who got me to where I am today.
TARANNUM
It was a time when it was impossible to get along with loved ones but love for children inspired self-betterment at all costs. When the confinement of the hospital was the only retreat to focus on what you need, willing to take most abhorred medications, that are really forced there, for any opportunity to achieve long awaited milestones. After multiple hospitalizations in about every hospital in the state, now back-to-back, with all the people I could relate to, I was referred by Monumental Coaching to the Charlotte Clubhouse.
Whether it was the warmth of the jacket given in the cold, the delightful greeting of fellow members, a hug full of love, genuine help with struggles, and caring support all along the way, the Clubhouse became a community unlike ones I never managed to stay in, a place where I belonged.
The Fountain House model that the Clubhouse operates on with a work-ordered day assigns us the simplest of tasks to regain confidence in what we can do, help, serve, and achieve together, like watering a plant or entering our hours into the laptop. When we are used to fearing white noise hallucinations, it is possibilities, hope, love, and joy that we experience cooking together, eating together, and cleaning together in what becomes our second home.
I have, with the Clubhouse by my side, achieved a Bachelor of Science in Biology, Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, and Minor in Cognitive Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and I have learned to believe in me, Faith, and Love, and to not stop. This, after a twenty-year college journey through unchecked bipolar and major depression, prodromal paranoia snowballing into anxiety from delusional perception. An unreal world of messages from everyone and everywhere absolutely isolating, until forced treatment and then unregulated withdrawal from the meds, ending up with auditory, visual, tactile hallucinations and possession-like movements. I have ultimately adjusted to side-effects and medicinal incapacitating sedation, having missed out on so much life and time and ability to study, to read, to think, to write.
Congratulations to Phoenix and Tarannum (who chose to show her cap!) for all their accomplishments and willingness to share their stories. We wish them every success going forward.
Until next time,
Linda
Charlotte Clubhouse is one organization that works to help stabilize persons with mental health issues. Click here to find out more about their vital work and how you can help restore lives that have been interrupted by mental illness.
