Club gives mentally ill a social connection By Alexis Cubit Hi-Desert Star | Posted: Friday, July 18, 2014 5:33 pm Club gives mentally ill a social connection (l-r) Susie Cartwright, Phebe Pang and Mauricio Cruz are part of the friendly staff working to help those with mental ilnesses at the Santa Fe Social Clubhouse. YUCCA VALLEY — Being diagnosed with a mental illness isn’t a death sentence. People still must find a way to live life with their condition. That’s why the Santa Fe Social Clubhouse aims to help those with mental illnesses become and stay fully functional parts of society. “It’s more like a social club,” Mauricio Cruz said. “We don’t have clients or patients. We have members.” The idea of a social club for people with mental disorders started in New York over 10 years ago. “It was a group of clients who got together and created their first clubhouse, without any kind of clinical assistance,” Cruz said. “From there, it stemmed to other places and became more of a regular practice. California was one of the first states to start having clubhouses.” In 2002, a clubhouse came to the Morongo Basin area and was called the Santa Fe Social Clubhouse. The club operates as a support system for those with mental illnesses and provides services, such as vocational training, help with securing a job and housing as well as improvement of communication and social skills. The club also allows members the opportunity to host rummage sales, food giveaways and many other community service events. Sometimes, however, there are stumbling blocks to their progress. “They’re homeless,” Susie Cartwright, a peer partner at Santa Fe Social Clubhouse, gave as an example. “They don’t have showers. They don’t have a place to go eat. They don’t have a place to go sleep.” This results in many of the members not having the necessities they need to go find a job. A lack of transportation is also a challenge people with mental illnesses must overcome. “Even for a lot of them who are on SSI (supplemental security income) because of their disabilities,” Cartwright said. “Social Security would require someone to go to Palm Springs to see a mental health professional. They don’t have transportation down there. Or, the appointment’s on a Saturday or a Sunday. The buses don’t run on Saturdays and Sundays so they can’t get down there to even keep that appointment.” Despite the many challenges they face, the members of the Santa Fe Social Clubhouse know they have a supportive, encouraging place to go.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 16:10:57 +0000
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