New York City to Strengthen Club Services to Improve Mental Health Treatment

Clubhouses is a mental health service that a New York City official said was “right under our noses” for more than 75 years.

The model invites people suffering from depression and other mental health issues into a temporary home where they are surrounded by peers and counselors and receive resources for their issues as well as job training.

“The place is community therapy,” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan told ABC News. “It serves as an anchor.”

Two weeks ago, the New York Department of Health announced a $30 million investment in more clubs, double the investment in previous years.

Katherine Keyes, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, told ABC News that the city’s announcement is welcome because studies have not only shown that the clubs are successful in helping patients get back on their feet, but also reduce hospitalizations and incarcerations.

“There’s a good chance it will make a difference,” Keyes said of the city’s new funding.

The first clubhouse was the Fountain House in Manhattan, established in 1948, when former patients of a mental institution decided to meet informally and discuss their conditions, according to Vasan.

Over the years, the clubhouse model continued to be refined as psychiatrists, social workers, and mental health experts added more expertise and methods to the meetings.

Keyes said the clubhouse model is a good system for patients needing a holistic approach to treatment and recovery.

“This clubhouse model allows for not only coordinated care classes, but also classes that provide social determinants of mental health and that sense of community,” she said.

Fountain House’s methods became effective and imitated by other mental health groups. Today, there are 16 clubhouses in New York and more than 200 nationwide, Vasan said.

About 5,000 people are served by New York City clubhouses, according to the Department of Health.

Vasan added that studies have shown that clubhouses help reduce hospitalizations and incarcerations in their local cities.

“If someone shows signs of crisis, this community can help them and get their head above water,” he said.

The commissioner acknowledged that despite the benefits of clubhouses, the city has not done enough to encourage the model’s growth.

“It was a stigma,” Vasan said of the city’s past lack of support for clubs. “Not just stigma at the interpersonal level and stigma at the institutional level. We haven’t prioritized the needs of people with serious mental illnesses.”

However, over the past decade, Vasan said the city health department has taken a new look at mental health treatment models such as clubhouses.

As part of its proposal, the Department of Health issued a call for proposals from organizations seeking to establish a clubhouse with a focus on “improving the quality of the clubhouse, improving of members’ experience and widening referral pathways to support people with serious mental illnesses.”

The Department of Health said it expected an additional 3,700 people to participate in club programs thanks to the new funding.

“What are we going to build and take this model that was right in front of our eyes and energize it for the future,” Vasan said.

Keyes said money is crucial to the success of the clubhouse model because the treatment requires a significant amount of resources, manpower and time to be effective.

“In any type of health care facility, it’s not enough to just provide the facility itself. You have to take care of all the different aspects of that community space,” she said.

Vasan said he is confident the additional funding for city clubs will make a difference and hopes other cities around the world can follow suit.

“It’s about improving the system. We’re opening the taps after decades of this system being starved of resources,” Vasan said.