The walls of Club Access ETC's new clubhouse facility at 156 William Street are creamy white. There are long stretches soon to be painted with vibrant murals by club members on the Creative Arts Committee. Many of the inside walls do not touch the ceiling. Instead, they are "terraced" in four, five, and six-foot high ledges that await plants to be selected and cared for by members of the horticulture unit, now in formation. With the plants in place, the air inside Club Access ETC will seem as fresh as outdoors and the atmosphere will be a veritable garden.
At this writing, the first spider plants and blooming white, crimson, and violet tulips are lined up in huge terra cotta pots along the windowsill in the dining area and art galleria space. The windows reach to the ceiling, bathing the entire first floor in daylight. On sunny days, the light spills past the ground floor reception area, past the membership/intake workspace, and down the central staircase to the front part of the recreation area below. The stairs are lined in navy vinyl; the handrails and the overhead pipes are painted bright purple. The first office at the foot of the stairs belongs to the Program Director, Jonathan Morris.
To the left, occupying the center of the lower level is the 475 square foot Computer Lab. Seventeen state-of-the-art computers are planned for this unit. Currently, there are seven computers hooked up with DSL Internet access, Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, etc), typing tutorials and other software. To sign-up for classes, first take the Computer Lab orientation and speak to computer instructor Joy Rallon.
Across from the Computer Lab is the Advocacy Department workspace. Next on the right is a small laundry/shower room, the men's and women's restrooms, and a fire exit. Around the corner to the left is a long stretch of wall with six easels displaying paintings by club members. Opposite the art, on the right, is the member lounge furnished with three bistro tables. There is a telephone, a sink, a small refrigerator and a microwave oven. The door in the middle of the back wall opens into the smoking lounge. The air inside is filtered to prevent smoke from spilling out of the room.
Past the lounges, on the right, is a large work area for the Employment Department. Here is where Mitchell Patterson, the new Director of Career Services and Joanna Murphy, Job Developer, sit. For vocational assessment tests, help preparing a resume or finding a job when you're ready, or for information about the Career Club or to work on the Employment Unit, this is where to go.
Next on our tour, to the right, is a 400 sq. ft. Art Room #2, equipped with art supplies, a large work table and a sink for cleaning brushes. Class days are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but the room is available by permission for members with art projects every day. Mary Schiffer, Susan Mayer and Andrew Castrucci are the volunteer art instructors.
Conference Room 2, on the right, has one of those half walls with a ledge for plants outside the door. The largest open work space on the lower level is the Administrative Unit, led by Administrative Coordinator Carol Daley-Murray. This is where members can go to learn office skills while they help the clubhouse fulfill its duties. This department oversees the operation of a digital photocopy machine and data entry for club records.
Another Conference Room (#3) leads to the Audio-Visual Room, which is next on the right. Inside, there are three Imacs and a MAC G-4, all to be used by specially trained members and staff. The Club plans to produce an Internet or cable TV show in the future. The G4 will be used to help edit the show. The Audio-Visual room is also the hub for the quarterly clubhouse newsletter. Members can submit articles, poems, recipes, photos or art, and can learn how to format the pages of the publication, or help collate the issues by signing up for the newsletter unit.
The next work area is the Education Unit. It encloses the desks of Brian Dickerson, Director of Educational Services, Martha Strom, writing instructor, Christina Christensen, an Intern from Denmark (here to learn about mental health services in the U.S.) and Kirby Wooten, the Recreation Coordinator and Substance Abuse Counselor. Kirby is also in charge of the Operations Unit that keeps the clubhouse clean with the help of members who want to contribute to the club and learn maintenance skills.
A bank of lockers for members' belongings, followed by a large coat closet on the left wall, lead to a 300+ sq. ft. library/meeting room. The shelves for the books and videos are not up yet, but they will be. The Club will need dedicated book and movie lovers to work as librarians. The 500 sq.ft. Recreation Area, next to the back door, will soon be furnished with a regulation-sized pool table, as well as the board game tables in place now. The back door gives wheelchair access from the lobby elevators and is a fire exit via stairs to the street. The door also leads to more Club offices and an Exercise Room in the East Wing.
As we turn around and look up, we are back at the foot of the stairs where we started the circular tour. The new facilities are grand -- a clubhouse heaven for members and staff. The ETC in Club Access ETC is short for Education and Employment Training Center. And it is that combination of a traditional mental health social clubhouse with a training center that creates a unique clubhouse culture differing slightly from the usual clubhouse model.
In anticipation of the joint move to the new William Street location, members and staff of Club Access and Cooper Employment Training Center, two clubhouses in the Community Access, Inc., non-profit organization, met separately and together to design their ideal clubhouse. Their expectations included work and play mixed with a healthy dose of mutual respect between members and staff. Everyone has brought those membership ideals with them to the new combined Club Access ETC clubhouse and they are striving to fulfill them.
To arrange a tour of the clubhouse, consumers and service providers can call (646) 536-7704.