Arrowhead Clubhouse

Arrowhead Clubhouse is a place where people living with mental illness on the Sunshine Coast can come to learn skills, get support and build relationships in a safe, stigma-free environment.

Our Clubhouse is an inclusive community of hope where individuals find encouragement, opportunities, and, mostly importantly, a sense of ownership and belonging.

Arrowhead is a community of 225 people working together to achieve a common goal. The Clubhouse is divided into four units that offer an opportunity for members to use their skills or learn different ones in various areas: Kitchen, Clerical, Peer Support and Garden/Maintenance. Members can also participate in member-led activities such as creative writing, yoga or art.

Clubhouse members and the staff are striving to create positive work opportunities on the Sunshine Coast for our members. These opportunities not only provide members with sustainable income, but shift negative perceptions about mental illness within our society. In the past, we have offered:

• SEED (Skills Enhancement for Employment and Development) Course

• Free first aid courses

• Food safety courses

• Access to an employment specialist for members to work on resumes and their interview skills

 Arrowhead Clubhouse is a member of Clubhouse International.

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Decision making

The philosophy regarding decision making in the Clubhouse relates to two Clubhouse International Standards:

Standard 11 states – “Responsibility for the operation of the Clubhouse lies with the members and staff and ultimately with the Clubhouse director. Central to this responsibility is the engagement of members and staff in all aspects of Clubhouse operation.”

Standard 37 states – “The Clubhouse holds open forums and has procedures which enable members and staff to actively participate in decision making, generally by consensus, regarding governance, policy making, and the future direction and development of the Clubhouse.”

It is felt at Arrowhead that involvement of members in all levels of decision making is vital to the success of the Clubhouse and its members. This creates ownership and control. This is what makes the Clubhouse unique and important.

It is the role of the Project Lead to maximize the number of ‘open forums and procedures which enable members and staff to actively participate in decision making’. If however, a decision made conflicts with the principles of Clubhouse International, SCCSS policy and procedure, or health and safety regulations then the Project Lead will overturn that decision and clearly explain why.

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Decisions Making Meeting

Wednesdays – 1PM

This meeting is held in the Main Room around the large table.

The facilitator starts with a short land acknowledgment (introduced in 2022) then proceeds to run through the agenda (items have to be added to the board in the dining room 24hrs in advance).

The facilitator helps the meeting to reach consensus around the topics under discussion. People raise their hands to show the facilitator they would like to speak next. The facilitator makes sure all get to be heard. The facilitator will request for someone to take minutes before the meeting begins. These minutes are stored in the Members Decision Making Meeting file. A quorum of 4 members are needed at the meeting for decisions to be binding.

If an agenda item to be addressed is a potentially controversial one, the item should be added a week before so others can see it is due to be discussed. The meeting/facilitator can always decide to carry the item over to the following week if more voices need to be heard before a decision is made.

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peer support and wellness

Mondays – 1PM

PSW meets once a week on Mondays for approximately 30 minutes. The group has two primary areas of focus, Peer Support (“members helping members”) and personal Wellness, which focuses on the emotional and physical health of the individual. Often the things we plan promote both. Our group meetings are times to create and plan positive, healthy and inclusive opportunities both onsite and outside the Clubhouse where members can support and bond with one another.

This could be a group outing such as Kayaking or a visit to the art gallery or a movie day at the clubhouse. Any positive social interaction where members rely on one another. The PSW group also schedules one-on-one, closed-door meetings where members chat with their peers, discussing life challenges, successes and other more personal information.

Along with peer support, the group discusses ways to assist members in their emotional and physical wellness as well as ways the Clubhouse can be a more welcoming space. Ideas are shared as the group plans things like professional speaker workshops on mental health, weekly yoga classes or the setting up of new fun groups and classes.

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garden and maintenance meetings

Tuesdays – 1PM

Every Tuesday at 1 PM sharp we have the Garden and Maintenance meeting.

These meetings revolve around anything to do with the garden and general upkeep of Arrowhead Clubhouse. This is the time to have your voice heard about things such as:

• What do we plant in the vegetable garden this year?

• The Clubhouse is due for a paint job, what color do we use or stick with plain

white?

• Do we budget for painting the fence?

• Do we raise Alpacas?

This is by far the most entertaining meeting of the bunch (ok we all say that!), so come and join us!

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Kitchen

Thursdays – 1PM

Every Thursday at 1pm we hold our Kitchen and Maintenance Meeting. At this time we plan the menu for the coming week. We decide both what we will cook and who will prepare it (both a staff and member each day). We monitor the finances of the previous week ($80 per day) to ensure we remain on budget.

Lastly we explore any maintenance requirements throughout the Arrowhead kitchen and make a plan to follow up on these requests. If you love food – this is the unit for you!

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aRT AND eNTERTAINMENT

Wednesday 1PM

The Art and Entertainment Group meets sporadically on Wednesday mornings. It is the newest Unit, just started Spring 2022, but it has the most projects! We have two Big things we are responsible for, and for this year (at least until next Spring) they are all we are focusing on.

1) The Clubhouse Sandwich - Arrowhead’s monthly magazine (which until this June was a weekly newsletter)

Every month we pick a theme and get Art, Creative Writing, Articles, Puzzles all together and print out copies of our magazine, and also post it on our website. We have some regular features, a lot of ideas for new articles, and a Severe Need for More Members to participate. The good thing about helping with the magazine is it is very new so anyone who has a good idea, or a feature they would like to add to the magazine, we would be glad to have your input. We have an editorial team who would love to have others contribute material for the magazine. The one thing we really want to add is Videos on our on-line Edition but we need people to contribute. Whether you just want to submit some Art, or Creative Writing occasionally, or if you have a column you would like to submit regularly (hint, hint, the cooking column, health and wellness, a comic strip, advice column, editorial, local events reporter or Clubhouse events photographer are some of the things we have discussed but PLEASE FEEL WELCOME TO JOIN US WITH YOUR OWN IDEAS), We need you!

2) Art Program – Melanie take a lead on the Art Program, she is our Creative Director. This is a very huge project that got lost in the pandemic and is just starting to be organized. We have Art Program once a week, on Thursday mornings. On that day we work on planned activities. We also provide supplies for use in the Clubhouse for your own projects and interests. We also have supplies that members can take home. We buy some items for the Art Program, and to distribute, but we also get a lot of donations. PLEASE ASK ME FOR SUPPLIES IF YOU HAVE A PROJECT YOU WOULD LIKE TO DO! Or if you just want to browse what we have to get an idea, just ask!