(Research and writing contributed by Robby Berman))
Large donations from Mackenzie Scott are lifting up a unique organization in New York, so they can change the lives of many more people struggling with mental health issues.
The ex-wife of Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos presented Fountain House with a $12 million grant as part of her pledge to hand over a large portion of her wealth after divorce 25 years later.
This donation allows us to broaden its impact at a time when mental health is an urgent concern, based on the philosophy that mental diagnosis is not the sum of who the patient is.
By not focusing solely on illness, we can deepen the patient’s activities, social interactions and quality of life.
Fountain House Story
In the late 1940s, psychiatric patients at Rockland State Hospital in Orangeburg, New York established a self-help club to provide mutual support. Once released from Rockland, they sought the same kind of support system, so club members decided to set up a new group outside.
They called their club “We’re not alone” or “wanna.” Steps at the New York Public Library in New York City served as the site of Wanna’s first encounter, but in 1948, charity women donated funds to buy a permanent home with the National Council for Jewish Women.
They chose the red brick building on West 47th Avenue in New York City. The building was baptized into a “fountain house” for a fountain in the courtyard.
meanwhile Fountain house It provided a welcoming venue for many former patients, and eventually began losing focus until he hired the first mental health professional in 1955, with John Beard as executive director, leading to a powerful intersection of psychiatric philosophy.
Beard expanded the facility’s time and began to draw the skills and enthusiasm of its members into running it. He invited them to hire staff, maintain facilities, assisting in administrative operations, and preparing and serving food for members of the “clubhouse.”
As new needs emerged, club members were consulted and involved in the solution.
The result was a greater involvement of everyone and intimate friendship between the members and staff. It had a transformational effect on both the self-image of all involved individuals and the organization itself.
Today, Fountain House has around 1,400 active members. It also runs the second location in the Bronx in New York and has around 200 members. (Around a third of Fountain House members were homeless at some point in their lives.) Fountain House and its philosophy also serve as a model for the Modern Clubhouse movement, where over 300 facilities operate around the world.
Something like this:
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In fact, according to Harvard Public Health Magazine, the Fountain House clubhouse model is used by more than 60,000 people suffering from serious mental illnesses in the United States.
William Hilburn, the current chairman of the board, was amazed and delighted by the $12 million gift from Mr. Scott.
“We are thrilled to have her recognized by Mackenzie Scott and have her as part of the foundation’s network and a network of individuals who recognize the urgent need to change how serious mental illness and the people most affected by Fountain House’s life-changing work.”
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