"Life does not feel hopeless anymore..."

Abstract

Introduction:The Clubhouse concept is a therapeutic community with the philosophy that its members, including those with mental illness as well as the staff, are all colleagues working side by side to perform the work important to the Clubhouse community. This qualitative study aims to explore the experiences that members of a Clubhouse in Norway had with social support and takes a salutogenetic approach. Methods: Ten members of a Clubhouse in Norway contributed to this study; six persons with mental illness participated in semi-structured in-depth interviews and four staff attended a focus group interview. Results: Participants expressed three main themes: (i) a fellowship promotes belonging (ii) increasing belief in one's own skills, and (iii) self-decision-making promotes the use of resources. Conclusion: This study summarises the importance of belonging, autonomy, and participation as the fundamentals of the social support experience. Future research should be focussed on Clubhouse members from minority backgrounds and differences in experiences within psychosocial recovery outcomes.