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Thrive Wins $96K Hillsgrove Clubhouse Grant

[CREDIT: Thrive Behavioral Services] Hillsgrove Clubhouse located at 70 Minnesota Ave., Warwick, RI 02888.

[CREDIT: Thrive Behavioral Services] Hillsgrove Clubhouse located at 70 Minnesota Ave., Warwick, RI 02888.
[CREDIT: Thrive Behavioral Services] Hillsgrove Clubhouse located at 70 Minnesota Ave., Warwick, RI 02888.
WARWICK, RI Thrive Behavioral Health has been awarded $96,838 by The Champlin Foundation for improvements to its Hillsgrove Clubhouse, 70 Minnesota Ave., Warwick, RI.

The funding will be used for new flooring and lighting, to repave the parking lot, repair the roof and update the HVAC unit. Thrive has owned the building since 1991.

“These renovations will have a substantial impact upon this facility and will ensure that our Clubhouse Members will continue to receive the highest quality recovery-oriented and trauma-informed services in a setting which we can all be proud of,” said Dan Kubas-Meyer, President and CEO of Thrive Behavioral Health.

Furthermore, Mark Maragnano, Clubhouse Director, said, “We are grateful to The Champlin Foundation for supporting these critical upgrades to the Clubhouse building. Our program revolves around its Members and staff working side by side to complete all aspects of daily Clubhouse operation including a kitchen unit, maintenance unit, employment and supported educations unit, café and gardening units.  Therefore, these capital improvements are critical to maintaining a safe work environment for our Hillsgrove Clubhouse Members and staff.”

A program of Thrive Behavioral Health, Hillsgrove Clubhouse is a dynamic, collaborative, recovery-oriented community for people living with mental illness that offers Members the opportunity to achieve social, educational and vocational goals. Established in Warwick in 1991, Hillsgrove is Rhode Island’s first Clubhouse accredited by Clubhouse International.

Clubhouses like Hillsgrove Clubhouse provide a vital and culturally sensitive community for a vulnerable population and are based upon the philosophy that recovery from serious mental illness must involve the whole person. The program offers people living with mental illness opportunities for friendship, employment, housing, education and access to psycho-social and psychiatric services in a single caring and safe environment. This social and economic inclusion reverses the alarming trends of higher suicide, hospitalization and incarceration rates associated with mental illness.

A clubhouse community offers respect, hope, mutuality and unlimited opportunity for people living with severe mental illness. It promotes the concept of membership and encourages empowerment and self-determination among its members. It is based upon the clubhouse model that originated in New York City in 1948 with the founding of Fountain House. Clubhouses are recognized as evidence-based practices by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the National Institute of Mental Health.

Hillsgrove Clubhouse is licensed by BHDDH, the Rhode Island Department of Health, and the Rhode Island Department of Education. It is a qualified vendor of the Rhode Island Office of Rehabilitation Services. Hillsgrove is accredited by Clubhouse International. Through the clubhouse environment, individuals achieve or regain the confidence and skills they require to lead vocationally productive and socially satisfying lives. Hillsgrove guarantees its members a place to belong, a right to return, the potential to develop meaningful relationships, and the opportunity for meaningful work. Each member’s strengths are recognized, and members are empowered to become successful and confident community members. At Hillsgrove, members gain new skills, grow their confidence and develop social abilities so they can function independently.

Rob Borkowski
Author: Rob Borkowski

Rob has worked as reporter and editor for several publications, including The Kent County Daily Times and Coventry Courier, before working for Gatehouse in MA then moving home with Patch Media. Now he's publisher and editor of WarwickPost.com. Contact him at [email protected] with tips, press releases, advertising inquiries, and concerns.

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