Volume 19 - Issue 2
Reciprocity in the Clubhouse Context
Kimiko Tanaka & Larry Davidson
Abstract
Albeit still limited, the literature has begun to document reciprocity, including service user-provider reciprocity, as key to
psychiatric recovery. This article presents a thick description of reciprocity occurring in the mental health clubhouse context,
drawing on qualitative interview data from 103 users and 25 staff at five clubhouses in the U.S. and Finland, which
was analyzed using a grounded theory approach. We found that receiving and giving support appears to be a part of everyday
life at the clubhouse. We also found that this seemed conducive to recovery in that it helped users, through what we
identified as clubhouse ways, to experience personhood, thereby transforming their battered sense of existence into a sense
of agency and, perhaps more importantly, a sense of self-worth and being part of society. The clubhouse model may represent
a viable collective approach to complement current community-based mental health systems of care that emphasize individual
support.
Paper Details
Volume: Volume 19
Issues: Issue 2
Keywords: mental health recovery; reciprocity; clubhouse way; personhood; transformation; community; everyday life
Year: 2015
Month: December
Pages: 21-33