WANA Gordon Marx, - TopicsExpress

WANA Gordon Marx, Potential Place Clubhouse 1948 in New York City was much like any other year in many respects. There were cost-cutting initiatives, poverty, unemployment and homeless people. There were mentally ill people. Hospitals, always strapped for cash, regularly discharged patients as soon as they were deemed to no longer need the services of the facility and mental institutions were the leaders in this pack. A group of mentally ill people found themselves kicked out of institutions on to the streets of New York without any kind of further support from their previous places of residence. This group who were informally knowledgeable about each other began getting together for discussions on the front steps of the New York Public Library. The group became fairly tenacious and as members of this un-named or un-recognized group stated a particular need, the other members would gather ‘round and give support. More mentally ill people who heard of this meeting place began attending and eventually, WANA was born. We Are Not Alone. As members of this now-named group stated needs, other members related how they had overcome that very need and gave both physical and moral support. Somehow, as this group became more proactive, more visible and viable, some community-minded person recognized what was being done and having one, offered a small store-front facility for the group to meet in. Out of the cold and inclement weather, into a space with walls, roof, floor and some protection. At no time was this group “supervised” by two staff members. If an injury or other calamity occurred in the group, the members dealt with it by themselves. Nobody stole from the group, mainly because each person was just as vulnerable as the one next to him. The group began to become family-like in that each one cared for the other members of the group. The members found residences for those who needed that. They found employment for those who needed such and they worked among themselves to make each of them more able to return to the larger community successfully. Their efforts were successful to the point that the membership of the group was declining. People got jobs, homes, entrance to scholastic facilities and began moving on. What remained of this group, recognizing what was happening, decided that they needed someone at their “clubhouse” to receive new members, answer questions posed by visitors, and make the clubhouse more recognizable in the neighborhood. The members hired ONE employee. The employee was told what job had to be done and how. This employee DID NOT supervise the members or have any say in the running of the clubhouse. The clubhouse operated when the members wanted and was open late at night at least as much as in the daytime so that working members could involve themselves. The employee didn’t have a key to the clubhouse at first and was only given one when it was deemed necessary. All the members had keys and could come and go 24 hours a day as they pleased. With this “staff” member in the clubhouse, more needy people were able to become acquainted with the clubhouse, its way of handling the problems confronting the mentally ill and how they too could become members. Naturally, the clubhouse grew…and grew…and grew. At no time was there ever any question about whose clubhouse it was. Employees were just that, employees and took their direction from the members. There was no Alberta Health providing funding and no board of directors that was composed of people with their own agenda or an ax of their own to grind, like there is at POTENTIAL PLACE CLUBHOUSE in Calgary Alberta. IF there had been a board of directors, each and every one of them would be expected to be in the clubhouse on every day of operation. The members operated the clubhouse. They decided among themselves how to handle any and all situations. The employees had no input because it wasn’t “THEIR” clubhouse, they were, at the very best, just employees. ALBERTA HEALTH gives us 60% of our operating budget. In return for the financing, ALBERTA HEALTH demands that we adhere to any and every demand they chose to make. They have taken control of the clubhouse completely out of the hands of the members and put the employees in charge. The employees run the clubhouse and get their paychecks from Alberta Health. The employees are in no way at all accountable to the clubhouse members. They are accountable only to Alberta Health. • No clubhouse member can have a key to the front door or be in the clubhouse without two “supervisory” employees being present. • Clubhouse members do not warrant being trusted by Alberta Health’s standards • The 36 standards by which ALL clubhouses are supposed to operate are secondary at best to Alberta Health’s policies and demands. • Clubhouse members are absolutely not allowed to be on the premises without supervisory “employees” being present. • No activity such as a movie, organized by the clubhouse but outside of the clubhouse can proceed without two employee “supervisors” being in attendance. • No thing can be done in the clubhouse or outside of it that is not sanctioned by Alberta Health. What these policies do and are designed to do is provide employment for so-called “professionals” in Alberta. The needs and desires of the clubhouse members are not even considered. The clubhouse is literally a “spout” through which money is channeled to highly paid employees. The clubhouse is first of all, a business. A business that must stay within the budget that is determined by Alberta Health. A business that must comply with business ethics at all times. A business that has as its source of income, Clubhouse members. Instead of humans, Alberta Health could be running cheese with the same objectives and goals. The clubhouse members have absolutely no control at all over anything except at the behest of Alberta Health.