I have a few very good friends, and a big family, but ever since I got my disability pension, I am lacking something, a goal, new impulses, or just to meet other people.
I always thought such clubs were for really sick and lost people, and maybe now I am so sick and lost that it’s time to join a social club. 
I would like to hear if you have experiences with such clubs.
The mi social club “clubhouse” where I attended for a couple of times was full of very low functioning people.
It wasn’t for me.
That’s what frightens me, but i saw a video and some artists from the place, and they seemed pretty high functioning and the artwork was talented.
Well, i can give it a go, and if it’s nothing for me i can walk away again. Nothing to loose.
Yes not all clubhouses are the same.
Best of luck to you @bluebutterfly
Thanks, the place is run and controlled by mental patients not nurses or social workers so they can’t be that low functioning.
Yeah the one I went to was run by patients also but overseen by social workers
I’ve not had luck with these, but my circumstances are somewhat … different … than most. You may find it helpful. It certainly won’t hurt. I have had much success belonging to AA and also participating in clubs with people who share my interests, especially photography.
I’m already having second thoughts. I think it might be better to get a voluntary job. My circumstances are somewhat different too. 
I like the International Clubhoude for the severely mentally ill. It’s easy to make friends there. Staff is really nice. It’s a community. See if there’s one near you.
I go to a clubhouse where both low- and high-functioning people go. It’s a non-profit, member-driven and member-run club where there’s breakfast and lunch served, Internet, TV, and arts and crafts. When I first joined I was one of the low-functioning members, where I would just go and sit in the corner. Eventually, I started interacting a little, began asking people their names, and finally would join groups at some of the tables. Five years later, my best friends are at the clubhouse and I was voted this year to become one of the board members. I am considered on of the high-functioning members now. I help every year with NAMIs local CIT (crisis intervention training) for first responders and work the display table for our clubhouse at social events.
I STILL have some difficulty with socializing around strangers, but going to the clubhouse has made me a better person and given me things I didn’t have when I first started, a bit of confidence and friends …
Now I’m in doubt about my doubt @LilyoftheValley , it sounds like you have found a good club. There is no international club, and of course i can accept if some members are low functioning. (i just saw there is in fact an international club in Denmark, but i think i will visit the other club closer to my home)
Thanks @WhiteRaven that sounds like the club I’m considering visiting. I like the idea that it’s a member-run club, and I think I would be considered high functioning and I would like to help others who are not so lucky, like you do. There are several ways to do voluntary work, you don’t have to work in a charity shop or soup kitchen.
It gets you out of the house and meet people, i think you should try.
I might do it @Yellowdiamond - when i have got the time next month. Im curious
I found it in my early 30’s. loved the one I found. it was clubhouse model. no social workers though. loved smoking cigarettes out back with folks. served coffee to people. was actually elected to the board for a while. went as a delegate to the international conference. now it’s closed down. moved home to start a new one but lost interest and motivation. i’m going to the new one again after several years away. i don’t know. the people are nice but i don’t spend much time there. maybe sstop in for a lunch. going to living on my own again so maybe i’ll go more often.
i don’t know. it has it’s plus and minus’s.
Sounds like a good club
There is no social workers or nurses in the club im interested in. Only people with MI. The reason im interested (apart from meeting other people, and hmmmn women) is that they have had some quite talented artists there, and i want to be better to paint and draw.
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