Justin Zaccagnini is bothered by how the general public’s perception of people with mental illness is often colored by media reports of them committing “atrocious crimes.”

To the 26-year-old Oxford resident, these depictions do not represent him or his fellow members of Clubhouse Inspiration in the Oxford Mills shopping center.

“Most of us are just regular people,” Zaccagnini said. “Most of us are completely harmless. Most of us are really nice. We just want to blend in and most of us do.”

Zaccagnini is doing what he can to fight these stereotypes by helping to promote Clubhouse Inspiration and its mission as a member of its advisory committee.

What is Clubhouse Inspiration?

Located at 1350 S. Lapeer Rd., Clubhouse Inspiration offers adults with chronic and long-term mental illness a community center where they can go to participate in activities, socialize, develop new skills, find support and assistance, help make decisions and engage in work that makes them feel needed and valued. The place will celebrate its 21st anniversary next month.

According to Clubhouse Inspiration Supervisor Carol Carr, an Oxford resident, the program has “close to 90” members.

“Our average daily attendance has been about 29,” she said.

Because many clubhouse members are “over 50,” Carr would like to encourage younger people to check out the place and consider joining.

“I think if we had a larger group of younger adults, then we’d get more (coming),” Carr said.

The clubhouse is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. It’s also open on holidays such as Christmas, New Year’s and Thanksgiving.

Time to work

Inside the clubhouse, staff and members work together to keep the place running.

“We work hard every single day,” said Zaccagnini, who’s been going there since he was 18, the minimum age to be a member.

Because the clubhouse staff is limited to four full-time employees, including Carr, and two part-timers, Zaccagnini said the place couldn’t function without members pitching in.

“Most of the members do all of the work around here,” he said.

“You shouldn’t be able to tell who’s staff and who’s a member because we’re supposed to be working side-by-side,” Carr said.

Clubhouse is divided into two parts – the culinary unit and the business unit.

The culinary unit oversees the kitchen and is responsible for preparing and serving lunch on a daily basis at noon. Lunch costs only $1 and Carr said for some members, “that might be the only meal (they) get during the day.” The unit also runs a snack bar.

The business unit keeps track of clubhouse attendance, performs data entry, assists with Medicaid billing, composes and publishes a newsletter and runs a small boutique that contains mostly low-cost clothing that’s been donated.

Every day, clubhouse members sign up for specific jobs and tasks. Everyone is encouraged to work, but no one is forced to work.

“Everything’s voluntary here,” Carr said. “For some people, just getting up and coming in (here) in the morning (takes a lot of effort when) you’re really depressed. If that’s all you can do, that’s OK.”

Working at Clubhouse Inspiration helps members feel better about themselves, it helps them sleep better at night and it gives them something else to focus on when struggling with issues and symptoms related to their mental illness, according to Carr.

“I think when you’re busy, it helps take your mind off of those things,” she said.

Carr noted it’s “proven” that spending time at a place like Clubhouse Inspiration improves people’s mental health and lessens the amount of time they have to spend in the hospital due to their conditions.

Time to play

All work and no play makes for a dull life. That’s why Clubhouse Inspiration tries to offer its members at least one social outing per week and at least one Saturday outing each month.

Members take trips to malls, casinos, farmers markets, the zoo, events at Canterbury Village in Orion Township and holiday events, such as the Dickens Festival in Holly. Transportation is provided and proceeds from the clubhouse snack bar and boutique are used to provide participants with some spending money to enjoy themselves.

Zaccagnini is grateful for these opportunities to take “fun” trips because without Clubhouse Inspiration, “we wouldn’t be able to get there on our own.”

Better together

Spending so much time together in and out of the clubhouse has helped members develop close relationships.

“We’re a family,” Zaccagnini said. “We all know each other. We all come (here) every single day . . . We know everything about each other. We know when to pick each other up and when someone is struggling.”

“They talk very openly about their issues and what’s going on with them. I think that really helps a lot,” Carr noted.

Living well, living longer

Clubhouse members spend 30 minutes each day engaged in activities meant to improve their physical and/or mental wellness. Activities include working out at a gym, going for walks and engaging in exercise time inside the clubhouse.

“In the Clubhouse world, wellness is really important because people with mental illness tend to die 25 years sooner than the average population,” Carr said.

Lessons learned

Working at Clubhouse Inspiration for the last nine years has taught Carr “not to judge people so harshly” and “don’t take your mental health for granted” because “things can change like that.”

Carr knows clubhouse members who were enjoying good lives with no issues, then they experienced a traumatic event that triggered a mental health condition and they were never the same again.

“It can (happen to) anybody,” she said. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Carr noted, “A lot of people think if you’re mentally ill, you’re (also) developmentally disabled.”

“There’s nothing farther from the truth,” she said.

While there are developmentally-disabled people who suffer from mental illness, not all mentally-ill individuals are developmentally disabled.

Having a mental illness doesn’t preclude a person from living independently, having a job and enjoying an active life, according to Carr.

“Your next-door neighbor who’s going to work every day could be suffering from mental illness,” she said.

Join the advisory committee

Clubhouse Inspiration is currently seeking community members to serve on its advisory committee.

“We really need help,” said Carr, who added she would like to have some members with professional expertise in the fields of finance, law and medicine.

The committee meets on the last Wednesday of each month from noon to 1 p.m.

Committee members are expected to help spread the word about Clubhouse Inspiration by raising public awareness and extolling the place’s virtues. They’re also expected to attend special events, assist with fund-raising efforts and help find employment opportunities for clubhouse members within the community.

Carr noted there are three categories of employment for clubhouse members – independent, supported and transitional.

Independent employment involves a member finding and holding down a job on their own.

Supported employment involves clubhouse staff helping members fill out applications, driving them to interviews and possibly to and from work, and acting as a liaison between members and employers.

Transitional employment involves a company training a clubhouse staffer to do a particular job, then that staffer teaches a member how to do it. The member ultimately does the job, but whenever he or she can’t make it to work, the clubhouse staffer automatically fills in. The employer only pays the member for the time he or she works, not the clubhouse staffer who fills in. “It’s guaranteed coverage,” Carr said.

Final word

Zaccagnini said the time he’s spent at Clubhouse Inspiration has helped him “tremendously” as far as keeping him out of the hospital, enabling him to hold down a job and providing him with friends and a support system.

“It’s just been great to come here for the last eight years,” he said. “I wouldn’t give it up for the world.”