What makes a newcomer return to Clubhouse?
The Clubhouses are visited for many different reasons. During the introductory visit and in the early stages of membership, someone decides to come again, while someone else never returns. The desire to return, to commit to the community and its activities is not always self-evident.
The reasons for visiting Clubhouse and returning there, can be examined from the perspectives of push and pull factors, the things that push towards the house and things that rise attraction. Here are introduced some push and pull factors, which came up in the interviews of 31 Clubhouse members.
Heading towards Clubhouse
Sometimes Clubhouse had been suggested or recommended to person as a possible solution to his problems or needs. And in some cases a person may have even been forced to the Clubhouse for example by a parent or a housing unit supervisor. These can sometimes be said to really push a person towards the Clubhouse.
As coming to Clubhouse some had issues with personal life which they wanted to solve and find help to. Some were recovering from mental illness and had problems with a mixed up cirkadian rhythm. Some experienced a lack of meaningful content in life or maybe just had a need to find a reason to get out of bed in the morning or find a place to spend time outside home.
Some people who came to Clubhouse for the first time had a desire to put their abilities to use. They could have a degree or had just gained some professional skills in life before falling ill. So a newcomer may also have long term aspirations about work or studies, which he wants the Clubhouse to help him achieve. The need to solve these challenges and to find opportunities can as well be seen as aspects, that pushes them towards Clubhouse.
All the things mentioned above may make a person to return to the Clubhouse after first visit and become a member, but on the other hand, pull factors are also needed to make him continue and commit.
Warm atmosphere and other pull factors
One of the obvious factors that attracted people to visit and return to the Clubhouse was the special atmosphere they sensed there. For many the reception and encounter at the Clubhouse had been so warm and welcoming, that they decided to come again.
The newcomer can also be inspired by the observation that the members also have power in the Clubhouse and that everyone can have a genuine influence in its daily life and in the meetings. For many, the message of equality was also the note that the members were given the same tools as staff and for example the authority to handle the money in the cash.
The attractiveness of the Clubhouse in the early stages of membership can also arise from these experiences:
• to feel that he is wanted, expected and understood as himself
• to be encouraged to join others, i.e. is asked and invited to participate
• the way in which one is invited to the activity or company enables to join in a way that suits oneself
• a good and sufficient connection is created with other people encountered at the house
Often, attraction of the Clubhouse for the newcomer was about experiencing a suitable balance between one's own separateness and the interest shown by others in oneself. It seemed important to receive appropriate attention, but also to be able to observe in peace and to delimit one's own space. One interviewee had felt that people were too curious on the first visits, while another felt that in a similar situation he was left alone and without attention.
The ability of the staff and members to recognize the newcomer's needs and wishes is essential. The experience of other members in the initial phase can help them to identify with a newcomer and to recognize his concerns and wishes. It is also came clear from the interviews, that while all members of the community are important, the role of staff members is emphasized in the early stages of the membership. The size of the community and the number of staff members naturally have an effect on how much and what kind of attention can be given to a newcomer.
The second pull force of the Clubhouse is often created by authentic freedom of choice between meaningful tasks. For a newcomer it was often inspiring to come, observe and realize all that wide-ranging work, which members were doing at the Clubhouse. One very important aspect about the Clubhouse is, that it is designed in a way that every input and work effort of the Clubhouse members is genuinely needed for the shared success.
It seems important for even a newcomer, that the various tasks done by Clubhouse members are genuinely needed to be done, not just something the staff members hand them to pass the time. Here is a sample from our interviews:
"In the Clubhouse I could do different work and tasks, which I liked. And then I felt, that I was necessary and I could really help with the tasks."
When there is a wide variety of tasks, something for everyone is the idea that attracts. And if one´s own abilities are not what you want them to be, for some interviewees it was essential to notice that it is also alright. One can be weak or fail at the Clubhouse, and there is no need to feel shame for this. However, it had been challenging for some to decide what they wanted to do in the house and where to be involved, in which case they needed support in that too. Aki himself received an important piece of advice in the beginning from an experienced staff member, which he has often reflected on later: "Learn to will". Finding a balance between freedom of choice and sticking to tasks is often a matter of a suitable combination of freedom and self-determination as well as guidance, encouragement and sometimes even a gentle "nudge".
An opportunity worth taking?
In spite of warm atmosphere at the Clubhouse, various opportunities and meaningful tasks it can sometimes be a true challenge to return. And some people may not identify themselves with other members or do not feel a need of recovery. Some may as well feel that they are simply in a wrong place.
For one interviewee entering Clubhouse enlightened his situation and lack of competence in a shocking way:
“I had a very unpleasant feeling as I struggled with myself every time I came to Clubhouse, because I did not want to start that personal process. But because the people were so friendly and the atmosphere was so warm and inviting and gave a chance to just be so of course I came, because I knew, that it was a opportunity.”
Since there are plenty of reasons to stay at Klubitalo based on the interviews, the reasons for leaving can also be diverse. However, the warm atmosphere of the clubhouse, meaningful tasks and other opportunities offered can at best make even an uncertain newcomer realize that this is an opportunity that should not be missed. This in turn may strengthen their willingness to face even difficult feelings, challenges and obstacles, encourage a to abandon the role of a patient and to take an ownership of their own recovery.
Writer: Aki, member of East-Helsinki Clubhouse in Finland & co-researcher in OSSI-project, Finnish Clubhouse Coalition
Background: In this article co-researcher Aki discusses the factors that make a newcomer return to the Clubhouse and become an active participant. It´s based on the experience-oriented analysis of 31 interviews of Clubhouse members. There was a total of 22 interviews (two of them were conducted in a group, one as a pair interview and one member answered our interview questions in writing), which were carried out by OSSI-project (Community Inclusion & Individual Transitions Project 2020-2022, STEA Funding Centre for Social Welfare and Health Organizations, Finland) The experience oriented analysis method was developed by the project.
Aki himself became a member in Clubhouse “because the supervisor of the supported housing unit, where I had recently became a resident, demanded me to start regular visits to local Clubhouse. I really didn´t want to do that.”
Aki has now been a member for some 13 years and thinks he has made a lot of progress in his life during that time. For a long time his focus has been in working and part-time jobs outside the Clubhouse. Being part of this OSSI- team and project has been important and rewarding to him as well.
Aki´s research question was: What makes a newcomer to return to Clubhouse and become an active participant? His interest in this subject was awakened, as he discussed about OSSI co-research with the director of his own Clubhouse. She said that there is a nationwide, perhaps even global problem, that many newcomers are never heard of again. As Aki could not ask those people directly, he concluded that all the people we interviewed had become members for extended time so things had obviously worked out for them. So he decided to concentrate on aspects, which had made them to return to Clubhouse after first visit and helped then to become an active Clubhouse member.