The origin and evolution of social clubs in Catalonia
Summary
The social club is a service specialized in community mental health, aimed at people with mental health problems from the age of 18... Or is it something more? Adaptive, flexible and dynamic, it has evolved by acting as a reflection of the community, the people and the life that surrounds it, offering a broad and unique look and perspective on mental health.
The social club is a specialized social service aimed at people who, due to having a mental disorder, have difficulties in their social and community inclusion. This service aims to promote the maintenance of emotional bonds and relationships with the environment, and generate spaces that enable the acquisition of personal skills and competencies through the meaningful use of free time [...]. In this way, Order BSF/186/2015, of June 5, defines the social club service for people with social problems derived from a mental health problem (although in the order it is expressed as mental illness).
In Catalonia, it was not until the 1980s that a whole set of experiences similar to those of the social club experienced in England during the 1970s began to develop, through associations of relatives of people with mental health problems and by entities of mental health professionals.
Understood as specialized services within the field of mental health, in our territory they find their origin in the need detected by organizations to find spaces where people with mental health problems linked to the associative fabric could interact with others, enjoy their leisure time and establish social relationships with their local community.
All this, at a time when the network of community mental health services was limited, scarce and very difficult to access.
Therefore, we are talking about an era where, thanks to the associative organization, volunteerism and drive of families and professionals, spaces are generated where something key occurs: socialization, recognition and daily life.
The recovery model, a paradigm shift in the approach to mental health
In our territory, in 1982 and 1983, respectively, the first social club experiences appeared: the Social Club linked to AREP was launched, and later the Social Club l'Oreneta, linked to the CPB Day Hospital, an entity that would also deploy 3 more social clubs in the territory of Barcelona.
At the beginning of the 1990s, family associations and professional entities such as La Llum (Mollet del Vallès), Tu Tries (Mataró), El Turó (Vilafranca del Penedès), Joia (Barcelona), Tres Turons (Barcelona), Mental Hygiene Center (Barcelona), among others, were promoters of experiences similar to the social club model.
However, it was not until 2002 that the territorial implementation of the service was promoted by the public sector, and it was not until 2015 that order BSF/186/2015, which currently regulates it, was drawn up and published.
Who can access social clubs?
According to this order, the access requirements that people who wish to access the service must demonstrate are the following:
- Meet criteria for a mental disorder certified by a report from a mental health professional.
- Be over 18 years old.
- Have residence in a municipality in Catalonia and, for foreigners, meet the requirements established by current regulations on immigration and the reception and integration of immigrants.
- Be in a period of clinical stability of their illness and maintain sufficient motivation and autonomy to carry out the activities of the service, which must be proven by a report signed by the professional who coordinates the service.
Improve socialization
In this order, the objective and purpose of the social club must be to "promote an increase in socialization and, therefore, personal autonomy and quality of life". And the functions to be fulfilled in order to achieve this are:
- Remaining as an effective alternative for social support.
- Promote and encourage the autonomous use of the leisure and cultural resources that the community offers to citizens.
- Promote participation in activities associated with well-being and personal satisfaction.
- Promote the creation of emotional bonds, friendship and mutual aid between the people being cared for.
- Stimulate interest and motivation in carrying out activities, with the aim of overcoming the tendency towards isolation and passivity.
- Develop socially significant roles and occupations.
- Collaborate in the comprehensive care process for the person being treated, including, where appropriate, linking to a service or a mental health professional and treatment.
- Raise awareness in the immediate community environment to encourage the active participation of social club users in community activities and resources.
- Promote values of coexistence, inclusion and socialization of the population in general, and promote the social club as an active service within the municipality.
Personal autonomy, well-being and bonds stand out among these functions as tools and at the same time objectives of the social club. However, the 2015 order responds to part of the reality of social clubs today, but the truth is that the great particularity and value proposition of the service is that it evolves and develops according to the current reality of each moment, according to the needs of people according to the global social, cultural and economic context but also of their immediate community, and this directly affects the work methodology, the profile of people served and the future perspective of the club.
Angel Gonzalez Martin
All this, based on the community perspective, the person as the central axis of all action and the vision of mental health in a broad way, not restricted to a diagnosis or a specific area of action.
Currently, as we have been advocating from Salut Mental Catalunya, and as expressed by the Clubs Socials En Acció (a group of 23 social clubs from all over Catalonia with a self-managed operation), the social club is also "a community space for meeting, for creating bonds where we can develop on a personal, human, relationship level, in and as a society. In which all the participants, professionals, neighbors, entities from the territory and socio-cultural environment are active agents, building a network of accompaniment and mutual support among all. [...] we do not understand ourselves as an isolated service but as another part of the network that makes up a vital project, valuing the expression of uniqueness in and as another part of the community".
An element of social gearing in the community
Bearing these two definitions in mind, the value we find is that the social club service currently transcends the scope of severe mental disorder, its intervention goes beyond socialization and increasing personal autonomy and breaks the idea of being solely a service within the community mental health network to identify itself as a social mechanism in the community, which welcomes diverse perspectives, realities and experiences; without forgetting its origin and its reason for being.
To achieve this, it continues to work through a fundamental tool for intervention, the Individualized Intervention Plan (PII) , which establishes the objectives and actions proposed, agreed and consensual with the beneficiary. It continues, as defined by the order, establishing internal activities carried out in the physical space of the club, external activities, within the community, and self-organized and self-managed activities by the beneficiaries of the service.
The evolution of the club as a community mechanism has meant a change in perspective. Traditionally, it was seen, by the service network, by the community and even by the managing entities themselves, as a space where activities and interventions are carried out and where people are invited to participate: from within, they are invited to enter.
Current events show us that the social club also has the capacity and sufficient presence to participate and involve the community, to establish itself in spaces where daily life takes place, where day-to-day relationships are established, and in this way its impact of intervention, prevention and awareness-raising in mental health increases exponentially, both for people linked to the service and for citizens in general.
This means that, indirectly, it also provides a general public service, offering a response to the needs of the group of people with mental health problems, but also providing alternative spaces for relationships and social participation to the entities in its territory , to neighbors, schools, senior and youth centers, volunteer organizations and all the associations and groups of people who live together in community.
Therefore, it also transfers the order in its care capacity determined based on two care modules (Module A – from 15 to 30 beneficiaries per week; Module B – from 31 to 70 beneficiaries per week), directly or indirectly serving a wider, diverse and heterogeneous sector of the population.
Thus, we find a service and a unique model of care, changing, adaptive and flexible to the reality that surrounds it. With a simple regulatory framework that leaves the doors open to creativity, ingenuity and collective construction. It represents itself as the mirror of the territory to which it belongs, captures its essence and participates in it by offering alternatives and opportunities.
A clear example of how singularity has an impact on the community.
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