Clubhouse Gibraltar – mental health support

Developing a strong community of mental health support

“Clubhouse Gibraltar provides a particularly interesting model of support for people with mental health problems,” says Soma, Kusuma Trust’s Executive Trustee. “They take a community approach where people are not only listened to and supported, they’re helped to build the confidence they need to get into employment.” Part of an international network of Clubhouses, the charity is somewhere people with mental health difficulties can go to work and socialise, alongside professional staff, to help with their recovery. Clubhouse provides employment support, including work experience in their shop and coffee shop, social activities, education, and health and wellness programmes.

One in four people in the world will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives.
Around 450 million people currently experience mental disorders, placing them among the leading causes of ill-health and disability worldwide.
There are 341 Clubhouses in 32 different countries providing over 100,000 people access to their services.

Over three years, £10,144 in grants has supported:

Professional development trainingwith Clubhouse colleagues in the UK.
Mental Health Recover Star training– designed for adults managing their mental health and recovering from mental illness. It’s based on a five-stage Journey of Change model: ‘stuck’, ‘accepting help’, ‘believing’, ‘learning’, and ‘self reliance’.
Mental Health First Aid training – two Clubhouse staff members qualified as trainers in Mental Health first aid. They are now qualified to deliver the course and train others in: recognising the symptoms of mental ill health, providinginitial help, and guiding a person towards appropriate professional help and support.

In 2015/16, Clubhouse received the Kusuma Coaching and Mentoring Award, which includes one-to-one support from the Directory of Social Change. The aim was to improve systems and procedures so they can run more efficiently and achieve greater impact for people with mental health problems. Since receiving the award, Clubhouse has made big changes in the way they operate. They now have a three-year business plan, a long-term fundraising strategy, clear policies and procedures, and social media pages to help raise awareness of their work.

“With the help from Kusuma Trust and the Directory of Social Change, our charity has become more focused. A new funding strategy has made us more professional in our approach and every member of staff is onboard. It’s really helped with public perception of our services.”

Kevin Fowler, Senior Programme Manager at Clubhouse