Hello everyone! I’m Jiayu and I’m working with Abby at Threshold Clubhouse this summer.
Threshold is an organization that works with people with severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, and major depression to help them “stay out of the hospital, succeed at work, advance their education, and reach their goals”, so that they can integrate back into the community. Logistically, this is done through a Transitional Employment program, where Threshold works with various employers, such as the restaurant Angus Barn, to set up six month placements. This ensures that people have consistent and stable work experience that can expand their resume and increase their chances of employment. However, on a day to day basis, Threshold runs like any clubhouse. People come to hang out with each other, talk, and eat. This is done through four units: the kitchen, the snack bar, member services, and clerical, respectively taking care of tasks including serving food, completing employment-related paperwork, organizing the clothing thrift store, maintaining the reception desk, answering phones, distributing mail, cleaning up the building, and so on. This past week for orientation, Abby and I have rotated through each unit, assisting with cooking food, preparing the monthly newsletter, and welcoming people at the reception desk. Our main project this summer is to develop a budgeting class to help members take their salaries and divide it into money for medication, transportation, food, personal entertainment, and other uses. We will sit down with the staff and plan out the course once we finish up with orientation, so more details will follow soon!
What really makes Threshold special is that no one with a mental illness is referred to as “patient”. Instead, they are “members” of the clubhouse and are the people who really work to keep it going. Each morning, we open with a general meeting lead by a member to decide on the distribution of tasks for the day. Different members are assigned to water plants, make phone calls to outreach to members who are not present, clean up the clubhouse, and so on. This is followed by morning meetings in each unit, run in a similar fashion. What I’ve noticed in these past few days there is that in terms of daily tasks, staff and members are treated completely equally. The staff really is there for administrative processes, complicated paperwork, and drive members to/from work. As our supervisor, Irene puts it, we work WITH the members, and not AT them.
As Irene told us on the first day, it is okay to have stereotypes about people with mental illnesses, but it is important to realize that those are not representative, and that they will be dispelled. Just this first week, I’ve learned that our members are not only sweet (I just had a conversation with a member on our mutual love for stuffed animals today), but also extremely productive. Really, I would say that this week they have helped and taught me more than I have been able to do for them. I look forward to getting to know them better this summer, and hopefully I’ll be able to walk out with a completely new and informed view.
Threshold is an organization that works with people with severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, and major depression to help them “stay out of the hospital, succeed at work, advance their education, and reach their goals”, so that they can integrate back into the community. Logistically, this is done through a Transitional Employment program, where Threshold works with various employers, such as the restaurant Angus Barn, to set up six month placements. This ensures that people have consistent and stable work experience that can expand their resume and increase their chances of employment. However, on a day to day basis, Threshold runs like any clubhouse. People come to hang out with each other, talk, and eat. This is done through four units: the kitchen, the snack bar, member services, and clerical, respectively taking care of tasks including serving food, completing employment-related paperwork, organizing the clothing thrift store, maintaining the reception desk, answering phones, distributing mail, cleaning up the building, and so on. This past week for orientation, Abby and I have rotated through each unit, assisting with cooking food, preparing the monthly newsletter, and welcoming people at the reception desk. Our main project this summer is to develop a budgeting class to help members take their salaries and divide it into money for medication, transportation, food, personal entertainment, and other uses. We will sit down with the staff and plan out the course once we finish up with orientation, so more details will follow soon!
What really makes Threshold special is that no one with a mental illness is referred to as “patient”. Instead, they are “members” of the clubhouse and are the people who really work to keep it going. Each morning, we open with a general meeting lead by a member to decide on the distribution of tasks for the day. Different members are assigned to water plants, make phone calls to outreach to members who are not present, clean up the clubhouse, and so on. This is followed by morning meetings in each unit, run in a similar fashion. What I’ve noticed in these past few days there is that in terms of daily tasks, staff and members are treated completely equally. The staff really is there for administrative processes, complicated paperwork, and drive members to/from work. As our supervisor, Irene puts it, we work WITH the members, and not AT them.
As Irene told us on the first day, it is okay to have stereotypes about people with mental illnesses, but it is important to realize that those are not representative, and that they will be dispelled. Just this first week, I’ve learned that our members are not only sweet (I just had a conversation with a member on our mutual love for stuffed animals today), but also extremely productive. Really, I would say that this week they have helped and taught me more than I have been able to do for them. I look forward to getting to know them better this summer, and hopefully I’ll be able to walk out with a completely new and informed view.