Thursday, December 31, 2015

2015 has been an exciting year at Friends in Action Clubhouse.

According to Clubhouse International Standards, our clubhouse should be open five days a week, including holidays. This is our first year of being open for the holiday’s and the response has been wonderful. We had so much fun planning and cooking for them. Party hats and all the decorations made the clubhouse look really festive for 30 members on New Year’s Day. 40 people came to enjoy a pot luck lunch on Memorial Day. You would not believe all the food we had. How can you resist BBQ brats and hot dogs on the July 4with 34 of your clubhouse family? This year was our second year for hosting Thanksgiving Dinner and again we had 23 members at the dinner. Christmas dinner was the best; we had ham, Kelly’s Homemade stuffing, and everything else that we could think of. That day 24 members arrived to join in on the fun.

Happy New Year's
From Friends in Action Clubhouse

Thursday, December 24, 2015

The Journey Back to School

Og Mandino once said, “Failure will never overtake me, if my determination to succeed is strong enough”. At a critical time in my life, I was inspired to go back to school. I was inspired by my father’s caseworker, who also had disabilities. To me, she represented hard work and determination. I met her when I went to visit my father in the hospital. She sat down and talked with me and my father and helped us work through some of our issues. She inspired me because despite her disabilities she seemed like she was a hard worker and cared about the people that she took care of.
First, the caseworker and I discussed the situation with my Dad and for the first time I was able to be open with him. The situation that we talked about was not good, but the outcome of talking about the situation created a better atmosphere. After this, she shared some experiences she had known about, prior to this meeting in regards to my father. These experiences were not good ones, but helped me to learn more about my father. This caseworker helped to go above and beyond just through communication and taught me the importance of this. My father had acted the same way toward her as he had with me, knowing that she was in a wheelchair. I found though, that her disability did not hinder her progress and this inspired me. This event changed me because it made me realize that if I put my mind to anything I can become anything that I want to with a lot of hard work and determination.
I was even inspired by her work. I had had previous experience working with mental health. I had a social worker in high school. She had also inspired me when she was working for me, the way she took care of my needs helped me to feel at peace with things. After this I began thinking about a career in the mental health field. This experience reassured me that this is what I wanted to do with my life. If someone with some of the same disabilities as me could do this profession then I knew that I could too.
This event was important to me because it involved my father and I really looked up to my father, but also because this experience taught me to never give up on my dreams. If you have a dream, you should go for it, no matter what your circumstance is. I chose this specific experience because this is what inspired me to go forward with the journey I am on.
Another thing that inspired me to go back to school was my mother. My mother decided to go back to school at fifty years old. One of the main reasons she went back to school was to show her children that you are never too old to go back. The first child to pick up on this lesson was of course me. The second was my sister. My sister has gotten her RN and has even encouraged me to continue on with my journey to school. I look up to my big sister as well and she has really inspired me to continue on. When I lived with her that was one of the things she often said. “To live with me you need to either have a job or be continuing your education.”
I have been going to Friends and Action Clubhouse for a couple years now and along the way I knew that I wanted to do this kind of work, but being at clubhouse and seeing all the staff there and how much they take pride in their job and how much they care for the members really inspires me even further. I know, like I said in the beginning, it will be a lot of hard work, but in the long run it will pay off. I know by doing stuff in the work order day and helping lead clubhouse meetings it will better help me with what I am facing in my journey and in my future.
On my own journey back to school, I have learned that it is tough. It is a lot of hard work, but I know in the long run it will pay off. Failure can never overtake me, if my determination is strong enough.



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davidcarruba

Friday, December 11, 2015

Our Monday Evening December 7th

WOW! St. Paul’s Lutheran Church from Farmington came to the clubhouse and put on a concert with their hand bells. “Oh My God!!!” they were great. I mean the sound’s they made were just phenomenal. One of our staff members, Cindy plays in the hand bell choir. Everyone all really enjoyed the evening. After the concert everyone stuck around so that we could have some punch and goodies. So, why not come and enjoy some of our day and night activities. Our next event is December 21. We will be having a band from Southeast Mental Center. It’s going to be a blast.

Kenny O

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Evening, Weekend and Holidays (EWH)

Evening, weekend and holidays is a time that we all look forward to. It's special time where you will hear: "At the Clubhouse" This statement means: That we are the "happening now crowd". We are "encouraged to join" in the EWH. It's where we come together to watch a movie, football game, or do whatever we enjoy. December 3rd we watched a Christmas movie called "Polar Express" and had some great food. Mike Hunt made some awesome chili and everyone else brought something. We had a great time eating supper and watching a movie. You can not ask for a better place. Like the saying goes "there is no place like home" and to me Friends in Action is home. It's better then Disney World.
Kenny O