Fountain House by Alan Doyle Julius Lanoil Kenneth Dudek

Author:Alan Doyle, Julius Lanoil, Kenneth Dudek [Doyle, Alan]
Format: epub
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2013-03-13T04:00:00+00:00

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MOTIVATIONAL COACHING

It is easier to sustain a sense of efficacy when there are difficulties, if a significant other expresses faith in one’s capabilities.

—ALBERT BANDURA

Mark Glickman is a former member of Fountain House who now lives and works successfully in Southern California with his wife. His credits include a book, Fountain House: Portraits of Lives Reclaimed from Mental Illness (Flannery & Glickman, 1996), a documentary film on Fountain House, and a seat on the board of the International Center for Clubhouse Development. His life was not always this way. Glickman (2005) related that when he was twenty-four years old his father accompanied him to the front steps of Fountain House in New York City following his hospitalization for a mental breakdown. After an initial successful transitional employment, he was eager to return to college. He admitted, however, that he moved too quickly, failed miserably in his first semester of school, and dropped out of Fountain House for several years. Glickman refers to this period as his “lost years,” due to the shame and disappointment he felt from failure. He subsequently returned to Fountain House and was able this time to transform his situation and move on with his life. Such sporadic initial involvement is not uncommon among our members.

Glickman’s story is not unlike the stories of many others who are afflicted with severe mental illness. We know that mental illness is not just a disease that trips people up and causes them to lose their bearings as their young lives begin to unfold. The illness has pernicious consequences on the psychological state, social and economic status, and continuing quality of life of those who are affected. Members of Fountain House regularly experience symptoms of confusion, loneliness, social rejection, educational and employment failure, and loss of self-esteem. It is with this awareness of the pervasive impact of the illness on the personal functioning of its members that Fountain House has its staff workers build significant relationships with members.

Every member of Fountain House is expected to select a staff social worker to be his or her guide or mentor. Members can choose whomever they want, but they must choose. Likewise, staff are expected to assume a mindful responsibility for the progress of the members to whom they are assigned. John Beard inculcated this practice at Fountain House. When asked to describe Beard’s approach, Bob Harvey, an early staff person there, recounted that Beard called him into his office one day and asked to see his member cards. Staff workers were expected to maintain information about the ongoing progress of each of their members on three-by-five cards. Beard recognized that a community designed to support individuals in psychiatric recovery required intervention on an individual basis. Thus he expected staff to form personal relationships with individual members as a crucial part of social practice at Fountain House. Fountain House continues this practice today in the form of motivational coaching.

Motivational coaching is the aspect of social practice that deals with the individual. In contrast to restructuring

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