Celebrating anniversaries

 On the last Friday of every month, we have an afternoon celebration to honor member and staff anniversaries. We decided that the anniversary of becoming a part of the B’More Clubhouse community is something to celebrate and that a monthly party is a good way to honor members and staff.

Planning the celebration consists of making a baked good such as cheesecake or cookies, creating a giant card with poster board, and creating a slideshow with pictures of all of the monthly anniversaries.. We work on these tasks in the BizCom unit during the month, and we have a lot of fun preparing for this celebration. When we make the slide show we hunt through pictures from Clubhouse activities to find fun photos of anniversary celebrants. We make a giant card out of poster board which we decorate with our creativity and imagination. At the party we invite colleagues to share their favorite memories of their time at the Clubhouse. It’s a way to show our appreciation for our colleagues and reminisce about the ways B’More has helped our recovery.

This is a fun new tradition at B’More Clubhouse and gives us the opportunity to celebrate all year round. Join us on the last Friday of the month to enjoy this celebration with us.

Visiting Norway

By: Jason Woody 

B’More Clubhouse was and is the only Clubhouse in Maryland. I am proud of the work that we have accomplished during the past 15 years and I’m excited about the opportunities ahead. One potential opportunity is to expand Clubhouse presence in Maryland by opening new Clubhouses in Baltimore County. 

I have been talking to other Clubhouses around the world about their experience in expanding their Clubhouses. During the 2022 World Seminar in Baltimore, I met two colleagues, Harvard and Torhild, from Fontenehus Norge (English translation - Fountain House Norway). I was very impressed by their work on Clubhouse expansion! Less than two years later I had the opportunity to travel to Norway to visit their Clubhouse! Norway has a similar population to the state of Maryland and they currently have 23 Clubhouses. Fontenehus Norge is the Clubhouse Coalition for the country of Norway. They have five staff members who work in a central office to support the existing Clubhouses and help to open new Clubhouses. It was very interesting to learn more about the work that they do and the ins and outs of how they accomplish their goals. Generally speaking, they focus on five key areas of work to support Clubhouses: political advocacy and funding, data collection and research, marketing and communications, new Clubhouse development, and building partnerships with employers and education programs.

While I was in Norway, I was also able to visit four actual Clubhouses. While they were all unique in their appearance and vibes, they were also so familiar to me, as most Clubhouses are. It is amazing to have that consistent feeling when you walk into any Clubhouse in the world that is following our standards based model. I was pleasantly surprised that during my visits, I ran into a couple of people that I’ve met before at various Clubhouse conferences. It was a really nice feeling to make the world feel a little smaller for a moment. 

Since my visit to Norway, I’m excited about the possibility of Clubhouse expansion here in Maryland. I have some fresh ideas about where we can go from here. We have already made a lot of progress but it will take a lot of time and patience. If anyone would like to learn more, stop by and chat anytime!