Hi to all
members, staff and directors around the world!
We are the members of Club House Tirana in Albania. We are writing this email
because WE NEED HELP, we are in economical crisis, our center have to be closed.
For this reason we are writing to you all over the world, who can’t not help us
directly please write to a friend of yours or to any organization that maybe can
help us, it will be a big help for us.
To learn more about our home- clubhouse, us, and the situation in Albania we
are writing a little description. For more information don’t hesitate to contact
us at 003554360374.
From one assessment that is done for Albanian Mental Health System by the Human
Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley (2000), has gone out that:
¨ Services for people with mental illness, including children, are rudimentary,
poorly organized, and too focused on hospital care without follow up care in
community.
¨ Community resources are rarely used.
¨ The concept of health promotion and disease prevention, along with early
intervention have not been applied in area of mental health
¨ In Albanian society there is widespread societal suspicion and lack of
understanding of mental illness with consequent stigmatization and rejection of
those who are mentally disabled.
¨ The families of the people with mental disability have no voice in the system
and its policies nor do the non-governmental organizations
The situation in the mental health field is similar to that of European
countries 20-25 years ago: hospital based, rudimentary developed community
system, no respect for the dignity and basic rights of patients. A Mental Health
Law has been approved since 1996 but not applied in practice, mainly because if
applied the government has to find a solution for about 50% of psychiatric
hospitals population who are kept within hospitals violating the law
requirements.
Clubhouse Tirana is a Center of psychiatric care in community. Clubhouse Tirana
is a place of work and social engagement, that function up to the American model
of the clubhouses, and that is developed since 1948 and is stretch in a lot of
place of the world. Clubhouse Tirana is one of 24 members of "International
Center for Club House Development" on the world.
It is founded on 01.05.1998, and it aims the rehabilitation of patients with
mental health problems through a special program of training. During these
years around 189 mentally ill persons are members of Clubhouse Tirana and 30 –
40 are active members, they work together with a staff which is made by 8 very
qualified specialists, 4 of them are full time and 4 others part time.
There are 5 main activities organized in the center are:
Rehabilitation
Transitional selective employment
Oriented education
Social Program
Follow up that direct them toward finding a full time job of the members of the
clubhouse.
The rehabilitation is the most important program of the Clubhouse Tirana. The
daily program begins every day from 9.00-17.00 and is constructed in base of
different work-units that are the most necessities activities of a clubhouse.
Unit of the kitchen; they do shopping, they cook, they serve by themselves,
Unit of the garden, they clean the garden, and plant flowers
Office unit, they can stay on the reception and responding to the phone
Workshop unit: they make different handcraft jobs like sowing, painting etc
Clubhouse Tirana has 30-40 active members chronically disabled mentally ill
persons from 18-65 years old, that are following every day the rehabilitation
program, 150 other are registered on the center and can profit by the social
activities organized by center once a month, 370 family of patient members and
also the center has around 15 volunteers that are specialist of mental health,
students of Social Sciences Faculty and family members.
The Clubhouse Tirana is showing special care to the institutional development of
the organization; it has a clear hierarchy on the direction of the activities of
the center, a well functioning reporting and managing system.
Up to now the center has implemented projects supported by the Danish European
House since 1997.
The biggest problem of the mentally disabled persons in Albania is the
socialization and coming out from the closed environment of the family. Some of
them are hunting a part-time job, some other (13.8%) want a full-time employment
–part of them have already succeeded in finding a job.
Generally they have a good educational level, more than them having finished the
studies at the middle general school. Their respective parents do have almost
the same educational level, with mothers seeming more advantaged.
The mentally disabled person in Albania performs regular medical check-ups and
the preferred institution is the ambulatory.
At the other hand, our data reflects the fact that the persons that came in the
Clubhouse Tirana daily have a higher socializing capability. That means that a
center that helps them in overcoming the biggest problem (lack of socialization)
will give them a chance to use and enhance their skills, till a complete
integration inside the society through a long-term employment will take place.
Although for a long time in Albania the services for the most vulnerable group
of the population very unlikely will be supported from the government, so the
dependence from the foreign donations it is the issue still.
Kindly regards from all the members, family members and the staff of Clubhouse
Tirana.
Fountain House Tirana
Email:
clubhousetirana@yahoo.com
Tel: 003554360374
FAX: 003554360374
