Heart Forward Conversations from the Heart
The American mental health system is broken beyond repair. Rather than trying to tweak a system which fails everyone, it is time to commit to a bold vision for a better way forward. This podcast explores the American system against the plumb line of an international best practice, recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), in Trieste, Italy. The 40-year old Trieste model demonstrates how a community-based treatment system upholds the human rights of the people served. The Trieste story is anti-institutional and models the therapeutic value of social connection. Topics will address contemporary challenges in the American failed mental health system as contrasted with the Italian approach toward accoglienza – or radical hospitality – as the underpinning of their remarkable culture of caring for people. Interviews will touch upon how the guiding principles of the Italian system – social recovery, whole person care, system accountability, and the human right to a purposeful life – are non-negotiable aspects if we are to have any hope of forging a new way forward in our American mental health system. This podcast is curated and hosted by Kerry Morrison, founder and project director of Heart Forward LA (https://www.heartforwardla.org/). Heart Forward is collaborating with Aaron Stern at Verdugo Sound as the technical partner in producing this podcast (https://www.verdugosound.com). Kerry Morrison is also the author of the blog www.accoglienza.us.
Heart Forward Conversations from the Heart
Beyond Treatment. How Clubhouses for People Living with Serious Mental Illness Transform Lives and Save Money: A Conversation with Fountain House
In this episode, we visit with two representatives from Fountain House in New York. Our primary intent was to provide a platform to share the results of a recent research report issued by Fountain House: Beyond Treatment: How Clubhouses for People Living with Serious Mental Illness Transform Lives and Save Money.
This first of its kind analysis not only offers a fuller accounting of the fiscal and societal costs of untreated mental illness — looking beyond health care spending to include lost wages and productivity, disability benefits, repeated emergency room visits, and criminal justice impacts — but demonstrates how clubhouses are uniquely positioned to drive down spending across the board.
The report finds that if clubhouses were appropriately resourced and expanded to serve even just five percent of the 15.4 million adults in the U.S. who live with serious mental illness, the net societal benefit would exceed $8.5 billion and offer a dramatic improvement in quality of life for countless individuals, their families, and their communities.
The report notes that the U.S. has historically spent most of its mental health care dollars on clinical treatment, such as medication and therapy, with a fraction allocated to fund the community-based social supports people also need to manage their mental illness. These are policy decisions that can and should be changed.
Fountain House is knitting together a national network of clubhouses to help amplify voices throughout the country to underscore the importance of the clubhouse model as a compelling mental health intervention that should be more robustly funded.
The bios for our two guests are linked on the Fountain House website.
Rev. Dr. Phillip Fleming wears many hats, including member, certified peer specialist and member of the Fountain House board of directors.
Dr. Joshua Seidman is the Chief Research and Knowledge Officer.
Other resources and reports mentioned in this interview:
Community as Therapy: The Theory of Social Practice. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal. 12/23.
Mental Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic. National Institute of Health.
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in the general population: A systematic review PubMed Central. 2020.
Project to Evaluate the Impact of Fountain House Programs on Medicaid Utilization and Expenditures. NYU. 2017.
Clubhouse International: Mental Illness Recovery - Clubhouse International (clubhouse-intl.org)
Dec 2020 Interview with then CEO of Fountain House, Dr. Ashwin Vasan.