Fountain House: Portraits of Lives Reclaimed from Mental Illness [Paperback]

Mark Glickman (Author), Mary Flannery (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1996

Severe mental illness affects 5.5 million people in the U.S. usually striking between the ages of 15 and 24. Family members are often overwhelmed as they try to cope with their love one's illness and treatment.

Fountain House has helped tens of thousands of people since its inception in 1948 in New York City. Their highly successful treatment program, which combines a psycho-social approach to rehabilitation, has generated a network of 250 other similar groups around the world.

In Fountain House: Portraits of Lives Reclaimed, twelve Fountain House members and staffers share their personal stories of struggling with the pain and confusion of their illness. Each of these stories highlights the personal challenges faced by people with severe mental illness as well as the successful models they've discovered for living with their illness.

Product Details

• Paperback: 225 pages
• Publisher: Hazelden (October 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156838128X
• ISBN-13: 978-1568381282
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,367,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Give people with mental illness a chance to live, April 6, 2000

By 

mario pinot - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fountain House: Portraits of Lives Reclaimed from Mental Illness (Paperback)

The purpose of the club is that there is no purpose. What? Yes, there are places, 250 clubs throughout the world, where persons with a mental illness can go where "we" can change from professional patients to human beings. Thats a tall order. I want to go somewhere where I do not have to suffer someones good intentions for me. So caretakers should not have good intentions? God forbid. In the clubhouses the members (ex-mental patients) do not need to be tinkered with. We need to be given a chance to experience choice. I work in the club and when I feel ready to work for pay, the club offers the oppurtunity. I can work outside for the same wage as my normal co-workers. These jobs are four hours a day for six months. With several of these I will have a resume and now the chance to work on my own becomes real. I do not attend work readiness classes, nor budgeting classes but I am immersed right on the job. I learn from my experiences. These are different from being on the expensive back wards of a mental institution.

5.0 out of 5 stars Fountain House a must read for clubhouse enthusiasts, March 8, 2011

By 

LC - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fountain House: Portraits of Lives Reclaimed from Mental Illness (Paperback)

A great book to learn about clubhouses, how they run, and the type of people (members and staff) who make up these mental health communities. Our local clubhouse is currently struggling because they have lost focus of their purpose, and fail to value and help the members. I wanted to see whether their policies were the way clubhouses normally operate by learning about the original one, and I found my answers. Combines story, history and how key standards are carried out.