TandC Associates, LLC

In 2014 TandC Associates (TCA) announced the addition of Horticultural Therapy to our consultation services. This year, we have the distinct pleasure of combining our extensive experience in psychosocial rehabilitation with the practice of horticultural therapy as consultants to a beautification park program in Brooklyn, initiated by Horticultural Therapist and co-founder of The GreenWorks Team, Joyce Jed. In 2012, Joyce and another colleague set up their not-for-profit, which can be accessed at www.TheGreenWorksTeam.org for complete details of their projects. In 2014, Joyce established this Horticultural Therapy program, working with some members of a clubhouse-like program, BCS Metro Club PROS (located at 25 Chapel Street in downtown Brooklyn) beautifying the garden of McLaughlin Park, facing Jay Street, between Tillary Street and Cathedral Place.

                                                                      Photo by: C. Malamud

In October of 2015, Joyce contacted Gwenn Fried, the manager of Horticultural Therapy Services Department (HTSD) at New York University Langone Medical Center — Rusk Rehabilitation, to inquire whether she knew of a horticultural therapy intern who might be interested in working with the project. Gwenn turned to this TCA partner interning at HTSD and asked whether I might be interested. This opportunity has turned into a natural progression, combining my extensive psychosocial rehab background with my HT training over the past four years.

TCA is pleased to announce that as of May of this year, we began providing consultation services in HT and community development. Sponsorship for The GreenWorks Team project at McLaughlin Park has come from both the NYC Parks Department in the form of plants, mulch, compost and access to secure locker space in McLaughlin Park, and the Partnership for Parks Foundation for staffing allotments. A caveat of the Partnership for Parks affiliation involves progressive garden activities each year. In 2014, the first year, was devoted to creating the garden project at McLaughlin Park with volunteers from the community who are members of BCS Metro Club PROS. The second year (2015), The GreenWorks Team obtained a grant for staffing to develop member Team Leaders. For 2016 (this year) for a consultant to facilitate member Team Leaders’ engaging community involvement in McLaughlin Park by joining Friends of McLaughlin Park. – in order for this beautification of the park to become self-sustaining.

Starting May 9th, 2016 every Thursday, this TCA partner conducts a 45-minute seminar with members of Metro Club, prior to then walking the short block to McLaughlin Park. Each week, the seminars cover community development how-to’s, ranging from designing a banner to place in the Park, writing blurbs for a flyer, composing e-mails to invite community volunteers who have indicated their interest in the garden when walking by; conducting role-plays of telephone inquiries as to whether targeted individuals in the community might attend a Friends-of-McLaughlin Park (FoMP) organizational meeting, writing thank-you notes to people who respond to our invitations, etc. – all with input from the members every step of the way. After the seminar, and for the next two hours, members learn about new plants, with both Joyce’s and my demonstrating the proper planting procedures. We then distribute the new plants in the garden, with members’ decisions regarding their preferences for which flowers and plants to put next to existing garden layout and making sure adequate light will be available. Next, member team leaders are paired with new members for planting and caring for the garden in general. At the end of the gardening activities, members spontaneously share comments about the pleasures of working side-by-side in the garden. One member was amazed to see an Oak Leaf Hydrangea he planted last year had not only survived the winter, but was now bearing enormous white cone shaped flowers. “It makes me feel so good to see my plant in bloom!” he stated.

                                                                     Photo by: C. Malamud

Throughout the week, Joyce and I also discuss plans in person and by phone, as well as working independently.  She, for example, through her affiliation with the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Parks Department has obtained generous donations of plants. In addition, this year, BCS Metro Club PROS has also contributed funds underwriting the costs of new plants to be planted in the McLaughlin Park gardens. Joyce has forged a great deal of community good will at her local nursery, where she purchases and loads up her car with weekly batches of new plants (Coral Bells, Ajuga, Liriope, Black-Eyed Susan’s, Coleus, Caladium, to name some).

I also work independently on creating the flyers and banner based on the member input, and design the weekly psychoeducational seminars designed for out-reach and generalizability for members’ community living skills such as the appropriate way to write Con Ed or cell phone service about a discrepancy in the bill. In addition, I conduct walkabout community outreach, dropping by offices of local business, where potential Friends of McLaughlin Park might be contacted, either directly or indirectly by leaving our flyer on display. Some of the sites I visited are St. James Church, the church next to the park; Concord Village, a 7-unit residential development with its own landscaped courtyard; CUNY – Tech; and NYU/PolyTech School of Engineering. Everywhere I have make contact, I was received cordially and everyone promised to circulate our flyer.

                                                                Photo by: C. Malamud
On Thursday, July 7th, after our seminar and role plays about introducing ourselves to the public while working in McLaughlin Park, two of the new member volunteers accompanied me on a community education and development activity, visiting the NYC Transit Department, located in the same building as Metro Club. All three of us were wearing our Parks Department t-shirts provided by the Partnership for Parks Foundation, and were received pleasantly by one of the NYTA officers at the front desk. Afterwards, when outside the building, I debriefed both members, who were pleasantly surprised by how positively we were received.

Our next stop was directly across Jay Street, at the Concord Village apartment complex, which has its own landscaped gardens. The doorman recognized me and waved us through to the office of the building Maintenance Office Manager. As she saw us enter the office, she called out: “Be right there!” and cordially greeted me and the two members, who introduced themselves. This time both members participated in the conversation, introducing themselves to the Manager before I inquired whether anyone from the Garden Committee for the complex might be interested in coming to see us working in McLaughlin Park now that we were having Open Garden Days every Thursday from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. The manager was surprised that we hadn’t heard from the committee leader, who had seen our flyer in her building’s mailbox area even before the manager forwarded it to her attention. The manager then promised to extend our invitation to the tenants’ committee.  After we completed our visits, I debriefed both of the members, who were very proud of their ability to speak out about why they wanted to invite community residents to join the FoMP. The members commented: “They were so nice to us! I never knew I could speak up like that but when talking about the garden it was easy!”

As the goal of creating FoMP is to become a self-sustaining garden activity, all of us – The Partnership for Parks Foundation, the members of BCS Metro Club PROS, The GreenWorks Team and TCA – will continue to reach out to community resources to invite them to join.

                                                                    Photo by:  C. Malamud

As always, we at TCA invite readership comments and feedback at either the URL below, or directed to

tandcassociates@gmail.com

We will review your comments and share them when possible.

For many January 12, 2016, was just another post-holiday day.  For us at TCA, however, it was special as it was the day we visited Pioneer Clubhouse in Balgowlah (a suburb of Sydney), New South Wales, Australia.  As first-time visitors to Sydney, we discovered that many of its suburbs are islands in the Sydney Harbor, and so we enjoyed a tour or the Harbor while taking the commuter ferry to Manly Beach.  It being a beautiful summer day we walked from our Manly Beach apartment rental to Pioneer House, arriving at 10:00 am.  The clubhouse is located in a lovely residential area directly across the street from a golf course.

We walked in the nearest entrance, which as it turned out was not the main entrance but the Kitchen Unit exit.

We were greeted by Karina, one of the Kitchen Unit members, who then led us through the Dining Room into the rest of the clubhouse.

Opposite the Kitchen-Dining Room counter, we were impressed with the hanging of culinary-themed woodcuts.

We started a tour with Nicole Buckland, Operations Coordinator, and also met with Jason Kioko, the Director of Pioneer Clubhouse.  He informed us that he had been at Fountain House for Colleague Training in the 1990’s.  Following his clubhouse training, Jason worked in a clubhouse in Torrington, CT followed by a five-year stint as Director of a Clubhouse in Colorado before responding to a notice of a leadership opportunity at Pioneer Clubhouse,in 2005.

During our meeting with Jason, we learned that the site was originally an outdoor women’s bowling club.  The first priority of the program was therefore to enclose the lanes, installing air conditioning, establishing both clerical and education-employment units, and delineating office space for the director as well as a meeting room placed near the main entrance.  The building was further expanded by the addition of the kitchen-dining room with 20’ ceiling and windows, perpendicular to the Clerical and Education-Employment Unit. Board.  The results were a very attractive clubhouse setting, as seen in the photographs below:

Outside the main entrance is a beautiful garden area with many plants growths, and signs reading “Safe”, etc.

The Reception area faces out on the deck and garden areas, inviting all inside with warm greetings.

There is also a coop for Rhode Island Red chickens that lay 4 eggs a day (most of the time!), used by the Kitchen Unit for as part of the nutritious meal plans.

And a greenhouse flanked by several raised garden beds for growing herbs, tomatoes and other vegetables for the Kitchen Unit menus– all of which are the makings of a Horticulture Unit.

Nearby, a ways off from the Chicken Coop and organic gardens is a little house for clinical services, including a clinical psychologist. for ease of access and crisis prevention.

One of the diverse activities members can do any time of the day is watering the plant beds in the large Pioneer Clubhouse garden.

At the conclusion of our meeting, Jason was very pleased to share that Pioneer Clubhouse had just received a conditional 3-year certification from Clubhouse International, pending the development of an Advisory Board for which he was preparing to hold a meeting at 3:00 pm. When he learned that we had set the whole day aside for our site visit, Jason invited us to join a meeting with members on the Advisory Board and the Chair of the Advisory Board, which we immediately accepted.

We were invited to stay for lunch and spend time chatting with members and other staff.  We met several members – Brandon, Marco, and Jane (a writer who has many pieces for clubhouse publication).   Another member was quietly studying a book on Art Nouveau which he gladly described to us. Following these conversations, we had some lunch – a hearty lentil soup with fresh fruit and coffee or tea — while chatting with another member, Clinton, and Brandon joined in.  After lunch we walked and talked with members and staff some more, while relaxing under the enormous native shade tree in the courtyard, where another member was watering plants.  Shortly thereafter, an Art Group gathered, and we saw some excellent water colors, wood cuttings and lithographs depicting local flowers and birds.

Just before 3:00 pm, Jason shared with us the agenda of Advisory Board being held that afternoon in preparation for a January 20th Advisory Board workshop for the purpose of developing its Mission Statement. Then the Advisory Board meeting convened promptly, led by Jason and Doug Miller, Advisory Board Chair, with Clinton and another member Simone, and the Clubhouse Operations Coordinator Nicole Buckland actively involved.  Key to the discussion was the question of core clubhouse values. The meeting concluded with the consensus that relationships among members and staff was the most important core value.  We, TCA, then utilized the walk back to Manly Beach to debrief ourselves and impressions before going for a swim and dinner, topping off our day at Pioneer Clubhouse.

We thank the Pioneer Clubhouse members and staff for their warm hospitality and look forward to hearing more progress.

Readership comments are most cordially welcome at the URL below or by writing to

tandcassociates@gmail.com

We at TCA maintain editorial rights over feedback, discussions and comments.

 

On Thursday, October 8th, I had the good fortune to visit NorthStar, a clubhouse located in Portland, Oregon. TandC Associates, LLC had dual activities in Portland: Ciri was in Portland to attend the annual meeting of the American Horticultural Therapy Association (AHTA). Because of the AHTA meeting’s being held in Portland this year, because I had known Bill Waters, the director of the clubhouse, when he participated in the 41st Colleague Training program at Fountain House (FH), it was only natural to schedule a site visit.

What a gift it was to arrive at noon to walk into a brightly lit, very clean street-level gathering place. About 30 members and staff welcomed me. After Nancy greeted me, she told me that Bill was in a meeting with the Advisory Board Chair. When I asked Nancy how she became involved with NorthStar, she replied that after working at a couple of jobs in the community, she was seeking a new opportunity, and was totally taken with the atmosphere of NorthStar when she visited. She was hired some six months ago. Several members and staff came over and introduced themselves, including a member with a guitar who said that later he would be performing the clubhouse song. The Employment Consultant, Dennis, introduced himself as having also been a colleague trained at FH.

The main room of the program was filled with members and staff sitting and waiting to hear from me. Bill and the Advisory Board member came out of their meeting and after a big hug, Bill called for the conversation to begin. Lunch was also served (a paper bag lunch of sandwich, crackers, and chips). Bill asked me to provide an introductory statement about how the clubhouse movement began, which I am always glad to provide.

Members then asked questions and in doing so also described how NorthStar had changed their lives.

Alice described how she had been helped, and asked how new activities were developed. I described how the Research Unit at FH had been developed as a new way for interested members could get involved in the program.

Another member told about how the opportunity to participate in a Transitional Employment (TE) placement has provided him a sense of dignity. Dennis asked how Supported Employment (SE) opportunities came about at Fountain House. I described how SE easily became available as a next step for those having successfully completed a TE.

Questions were asked about the role members play in hiring staff and intake new members.

Cheryl asked about FH’s view of the GLBT issue for intakes. I replied that anyone who had a major mental illness could become a member regardless of sexual orientation.

Bill asked for me to describe some of the unusual staff at FH over the years (Esther, Bob Harvey). After about an hour and a half, the meeting ended with Steve leading the singing of “Together We Thrive”, the clubhouse motto.

Following that Cheryl gave me a tour of the program, including the soon to be completed expansion which includes a large Culinary area, a conference room and more. She also described how the program has saved her life, as she has become a peer advocate, and will soon be working full time at the program where she had a participant before NorthStar.

Susan, the Advisory Board Chair, asked my opinion as to what were the most significant core values that distinguished the clubhouse. In response, I identified the notion that individuals with mental illness are people first and are members of a unique clubhouse, to which people become eligible by virtue of their mental health recovery. The clubhouse is based on the importance of self-help through mutual help, something which is best summed up by their motto of “Together We Thrive”. In addition, the belief that hope is essential; that the clubhouse will help everyone attain their highest ambition or goal; and that no goal is beyond attainment.

In conclusion, I will say that that Portland is a must-see community. In addition to the city itself, the scenic area of the surround, and the people, for us in the clubhouse movement, I heartily recommend a visit to the genuine Clubhouse Community of NorthStar.

Readership comments are most cordially welcome at the URL below or by writing to

tandcassociates@gmail.com

We at TCA maintain editorial rights over feedback, discussions and comments.