Our Place of Hope

Our Place of Hope provides people living with severe mental illness a stable, warm, and inviting environment where they can participate in meaningful work and meaningful relationships and can regain purpose, meaning, and hope for their lives.

• Nine out of ten adults believe there's a mental health crisis in the US.
• 150,000 adults in SC live with serious mental illness.
• 87% of adults in SC who live with mental illness are unemployed.
• 395,000 people with mental illness (nationally) are housed in under-equipped US jails and hospitals.
• 90% of suicides are connected to mental illness.
• Mental illness is a community need… and as a community we can respond with a proven, evidence-based, cost-effective solution that has had amazing results in 340 communities around the world - the Clubhouse International model such as Gateway in Greenville, where people with mental illness gain purpose, meaning, and hope.

A Clubhouse operates as a community where each day models a traditional workday. Members work side-by-side with staff to complete daily functions.

A Clubhouse is a community center that serves as the hub for all of the opportunities and activities that are offered to members. It helps people establish routines and build meaningful relationships. In a Clubhouse, people are called members, not clients or patients. It is a place of acceptance, belonging, and inclusivity-an antidote to isolation.

The Clubhouse model is NOT a place where people simply come and hang out. It is a place where people are needed and expected to contribute and do meaningful work (not busy work) each day. By participating in the Work-Ordered Day, a sense of structure and purpose is restored in members' lives.

In an atmosphere of shared responsibility such as the Clubhouse International model, they can regain their confidence and can lead a normal productive life and re-engage with the community at large. The Our Place of Hope Clubhouse will complement available psychiatric treatment and other services by assisting with transitional employment, education, housing, life skills, and meaningful relationships.

Testimonials

Laura, an Our Place of Hope parent:

"I found our toughest challenge was when my son was 18 years old and he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. What came about was a struggle, being out there trying to find help for him. For a long time I was feeling hopeless with my son's situation. He was hospitalized several times because of his schizophrenia and as a result, lost his volunteer job. It was very difficult for me. I had no family in South Carolina. And then I heard of Our Place of Hope and for the first time, I was hopeful. Now when I ask him how his day was, his eyes light up. It's like that darkness is gone and my worry is becoming less. He now has a community that loves him and supports him. Our Place of Hope has given my son and I hope."

Sheriff Leon Lott just recently stated to a group of community leaders who were visiting Our Place of Hope:

"Let's not go back to my dad's generation where he had to suffer with his mental illness and nobody wanted to talk about it and he had no place to go. Let's change that. And this place right here, Our Place of Hope, is providing that. It is a success already for the people it has helped. There is always more we can do. And you are sitting in the place that is doing it. Think about that person you know who needs some help. This is where they will get it."