Let's talk focus clubhouse

I can’t say I know how it feels to suffer with a mental illness daily.         
Or maybe I can….
I’ve battled depression for a lengthy period. Debilitating depression. The kind of depression where you can’t get out of bed and you are too weak to cry. You don’t answer your phone and you hide when someone knocks on your door. You no longer function like a normal person and you don’t know how to get out of it. Your mind is akin to a hamster running on a wheel and you can't  get off the wheel to make it stop!
​I've been there. 

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Unfortunately, as life altering as depression can be, depression is nowhere near the only type of mental illness one can suffer. Often, as in my case, depression is situational. Divorce, the loss of a loved one, a tragedy or tremendous change in life. Situational depression is real, but luckily, it goes away over time.
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You weren’t aware depression is classified as a mental illness?
Well, let’s talk about mental illness first then. 

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Mental Illness is merely a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Harvard Medical School states, “A mental illness is a mental health condition that gets in the way of thinking, relating to others, and day-to-day function.”
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I’m guessing that sums up most of us at one time or another.
So, where does FOCUS Clubhouse fit in with mental illness and what is their purpose?

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FOCUS Clubhouse is a place where people who are diagnosed with a mental illness are welcome to socialize among staff and peers who hold an understanding of what they are going through. FOCUS Clubhouse is about “acceptance,” regardless of the level of mental illness one is diagnosed with. The Clubhouse model is especially effective for those with mental illnesses that leave them feeling as an outcast in society. For those who have nowhere else to turn. For those who need socialization and to learn people and professional skills to assist them in becoming productive members of society. 

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There are nearly 300 mental illnesses listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illness. They range from mood disorders like Bi-polar and depression, anxiety disorders that interfere with everyday living, or psychotic disorders like paranoid schizophrenia. Were you aware PTSD, substance abuse, and even eating disorders are classified as mental illness? That’s right. Thirteen years after Karen Carpenter sang the words, "we’ve only just begun to live", she died due to complications brought forth by Anorexia and body dysmorphia, now recognized as a mental illness.

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We urge you to educate yourself on mental illness and encourage you or the loved one in your life suffering with a mental illness to drop by and see how FOCUS Clubhouse can make a difference in the emotional and overall well-being for the one suffering.

Compassion. Understanding. Acceptance.
That’s what FOCUS Clubhouse is about.

Please contact us via website, email, or phone, or drop by during the hours listed on the site for a tour and a vision of what the Clubhouse model is all about.

FOCUS Clubhouse.............  Where our FOCUS is your mental health.
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J. Lynn Trahan / Assisting in the needs of those who suffer with mental illness