In Hudson, Vincent House is an organization dedicated to assisting, promoting, and celebrating individuals recovering from mental illness.
The director is this week’s hero, Elizabeth Statzer.
What You Need To Know
- Vincent House is a non profit dedicated to helping those with mental illness
- It functions in what’s called a “Club House Style”
- Participants called “Members” work a variety of jobs.
“We serve individuals 18 and up that are living with a mental illness.” Stazer said. “We are not a clinical program. We don’t do the hard work of therapy and medication management.”
Their focus is on improving social and vocational skills and, for some, becoming employed in the community.
It’s known as a “Clubhouse Model” which began decades ago in New York. There are over 320 clubs in the world.
“Our founders Dianne and Elliott Steele, their daughter lived with a mental illness and once diagnosed they did a lot of work, a lot of research and advocacy and they formed the clubhouse model which didn’t exist in Florida at the time.”
That first Vincent House opened in Pinellas Park almost 20 years ago. Another opened in Spring Hill five years ago.
Vincent House Pasco opened in September 2020.
It’s a non-profit supported by state and county funding, and the local community. Members don’t have to pay.
Elizabeth told Bay News 9 about a wonderful program called “transitional employment”, unique to “clubhouse” and a call-out to community businesses with entry-level job openings.
“We look for 12 to 20 hours a week for six to nine months.” said Stazer. “Staff will go learn the job first and then we’ll provide the on-the-job training with our member.”
The people at the clubhouse are called members.
The program mimics a workday and is called a recovery through work program. Members, if they wish, can work several jobs at the club. Some of those jobs include working in the kitchen, preparing lunch or working on the daily newsletter.
“If you haven’t worked in a long time or ever because of your mental illness, we give them a chance to find that purpose and have activity during the day in a place where they’re wanted and needed.”-Stazer
