Members learn and improve vocational and social skills while working together to run all aspects of the Connections House — everything from clerical to cooking, governance to fundraising.

The work ordered day

AN EFFECTIVE PROCESS

CHANGING LIVES

A Journey To Recovery

Connections House, formerly Putnam Clubhouse, is a welcoming community where adults recovering from mental illness come to rebuild their lives. Participants—called members, not patients or clients or consumers—share ownership and responsibility for the success of the organization. The underlying premise is that each member can sufficiently recover from the effects of mental illness to lead a personally satisfying and productive life. Recovery is achieved at Connections House through work and work-mediated relationships, which are proven to be restorative and provide a firm foundation for growth, self-respect, and individual achievement.

Members work in a unique partnership with their peers and a small trained staff, building on personal strengths instead of focusing on illness. Connections House provides an accepting place to spend the day, valuable work to perform within the organization, opportunities to socialize, health and wellness activities, expressive arts programming, and access to education and paid employment within the wider community.

Connections House was the first program in Northern California to be accredited by Clubhouse International. The Clubhouse International Model is included in the United States Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Registry of Evidence Based Practices and Programs. Extensive research indicates Connections House members and the communities in which they live benefit from higher employment, reduced hospitalization and incarceration, improved well-being, and reduced cost of services compared to other programs.

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation presented the 2014 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize of $1.5 million to Fountain House/Clubhouse International.

The Hilton Foundation gives the annual award, the world's largest humanitarian prize, to an organization that is doing extraordinary work to alleviate human suffering. Fountain House/Clubhouse International was selected for the 2014 Prize by a prestigious independent international jury.

Today Fountain House and Clubhouse International directly affects the lives of more than 100,000 people who participate in 340 clubhouses in 32 countries. The concept of membership underpins every aspect of the community. Clubhouse members have shared ownership and shared responsibility for their community starting with the "work-ordered day" that provides structure for their lives by assigning them duties to work side-by-side with staff to run the clubhouse.

Clubhouse model awarded the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian prize

WHAT WE ARE