The Social Affairs Bureau of the Taipei City Government commissioned the Eden Foundation to organize the Taipei City Blessed Clubhouse, which recently held an exhibition of its 12th anniversary achievements under the theme of “Seeing My Good Place.” Through the display of snapshots of this year's activities, employment achievements, and work-ordered day videos, the exhibition allowed friends and family members to learn about how Blessed Clubhouse has provided support, and to witness together how its members have participated. In addition, there was a “Tree of Growing Together” exhibition area, where members and their friends and family members could work together to write down what they want to be in the future on post-it notes, as well as how their friends and family members support them, to understand each other's views on recovery, so as to see the real needs of the members, and to become partners on the road to recovery together.
Eden Blessed Clubhouse has set the theme of this year's exhibition as “Seeing My Good Place”.
Eden Blessed Clubhouse 's Chief of Section, Ms. Chiu-Huei Chen, said that the theme of this year's exhibition was “Seeing My Good Place” because members had suggested that they would like to let their invited friends and family members see themselves through the eyes of others, so that they could get to know each other better. Therefore, each computer at the venue had a few short videos from members, then viewers could see the feedback given by staff or other members, as the result, members could know how they look at themselves in the eyes of others, and also let their friends and family members see their strengths and qualities. Finally, the members talked about their expectations for the future in the video “Seeing My Good Place”. Unlike previous exhibitions, Chiu-Huei pointed out that this year's video allowed participants to have their own understanding and then go to the “Tree of Growing Together” exhibition area to write down their support for members, Eden Blessed Clubhouse, or the community of people with psycho-social disabilities; members were also able to learn about participants' thoughts through the indirect feedback of the messages.
Through the video clip of members in computer, viewers can see the feedback they have received from staff and other members.
“I believe that this period will pass, and I believe that it will get better and better. I hope that she can go back to the society, and Eden Blessed Clubhouse has really helped her a lot,” he said. Member Chia-Ching's father shared his heartfelt words with the participants. Chia-Ching is currently a member of Eden Blessed Clubhouse's Education and Health Unit. She was one thesis away from receiving her master's degree when she was in graduate school, but due to hallucinations, she was unable to complete her studies. In the video “Seeing My Good Place,” she says, “Before I got sick, I practiced ballet, modern dance, jazz dance, street dance, and so on. Now that I've recovered from my illness, I hope that my family members, friends, staff and members of Eden Blessed Clubhouse will support me in my dance career.” In the future, she hopes to become a singer and dancer, as well as a Pastor who brings joy to people.
Tzu-Yi, a member of Eden Blessed Clubhouse, hopes to have a job, good health and self-confidence.
In addition, the event also featured the release of a new book, “Fountain House: Creating Community in Mental Health Practice”. Unlike the first book published by the New York Fountain House, “We are not alone: Fountain House and the development of clubhouse culture”, which explained the concepts and values of the book, this book is a sharing of practical experiences and operations, hoping to bring more insights to the workers. Mr. Chun-Wei Liu, Director of Eden Fountain Clubhouse, said that the original book was published in the U.S. 11 years ago, and Eden Fountain Clubhouse has been studying the book, then inviting members of Eden Blessed Clubhouse to translate it together in 2017, refining the manuscript in 2018, also inviting five clubhouses in Taipei City and New Taipei City to set up a book club to learn together. The book was finally published, thanks to the strong support from the Social Affairs Bureau of the Taipei City Government, as well as the help of experts and scholars, making the wish of publishing the book in Chinese finally come true.
Chun-Wei Liu (left), Director of Eden Fountain Clubhouse, and Shang-Yan (right), one of the translators, presenting the new book.
Looking back at Eden Blessed Clubhouse's key achievements this year, Chiu-Huei indicated that the year 2024 was marked by many significant events, such as the international accreditation in March, for which Eden Blessed Clubhouse is the only continuously accredited clubhouse in Taiwan, and this is the second time it has been accredited; a group of staff and members went to Hong Kong for training in August, so that they could go to the international training base of the clubhouse to receive training and continue to improve; and the team helped to provide training for other collaborative sites. Each of these tasks, though full of challenges and occasional setbacks, are the nourishment for Eden Blessed Clubhouse's continued growth and progress.
Members' Invited friends and family members took a closer look at the photos of every work-ordered day in Eden Blessed Clubhouse.
Looking ahead, Eden Blessed Clubhouse will reorganize its internal units in the hope that it can continue to update and promote more new knowledge about international clubhouses and learn together with local collaborating sites and clubhouses. In addition, we have recently developed the “Play Reading” performance, which allows members to write down their own stories and have them performed by those who want to perform, in the hope that through the theater format, more people will be able to understand the stories of those survivors of psychiatry. For more information on the topic of the experience of psychiatry, check out Facebook: popularcrazy.
