Experiences with

Housing and Mental

Good News

Pathways Clubhouse is a certified charter member

of the Clubhouse International

2017

July 2017

GOOD NEWS PAGE 2 GOOD NEWS PAGE 2

Directors’ Report

Our Summer Student, Brittany, who is a psychology undergrad-

uate student at UBC Okanagan, is with us until the end of Au-

gust. You can mostly find her working in the Upstairs Unit.

Among other projects, she is working on a video to mark our

move from our current space into our new building. Be sure to

introduce yourself to her.

Our Annual General Meeting was held on June 20. Thank you

to all who attended. As per this meeting, a special welcome to

Patti Martin who will be joining our Board of Directors.

Cathy Sha, our Special Projects Coordinator, will be leaving

Pathways to return to her home in China. Join us on July 28 to

thank her for all she has contributed to us and to wish her all the

best.

Emma Wang, our new Executive Assistant, and Hope Li, our

new Special Projects Coordinator will both be starting their po-

sitions in July.

As construction comes to an end at our new Clubhouse on Gran-

ville Avenue, we are planning our move! We anticipate the ac-

tual move will happen at the end of August. Stay tuned for ex-

act dates. In the meantime, we have been downsizing and sort-

ing through old paperwork.

We are still selling OMG’s Milk Chocolate Graham Clusters

and Peanut Butter Pretzel Clusters. They are now reduced to $1

per bag!

GOOD NEWS PAGE 3

Food Services Report

June was the month we welcomed our new summer menu and

our new kitchen staff member, Ann Cao! We liked Ann so

much that we stole her from her Executive Assistant position

with Dave MacDonald, so if you’ve been seeing Ann in the

kitchen a lot that’s why! Not only can Ann deal with that goofy

guy, Dave MacDonald, but she can cook too! Come try out

Ann’s foods!

The new menu has been going well. It shouldn’t be a surprise

to anyone that cheese burgers are the popular item, but a sur-

prise little treat is the chai chia seed pudding with mango and

coconut on top. This little creamy wonder has only a little ma-

ple syrup to sweeten it. Coconut milk makes it creamy and

dairy free, and the chia seeds themselves are packed with pro-

tein and nutrients! If there’s something you haven’t tried on the

new menu yet, don’t be shy, try it out!

Ann jumping for joy with her kitchen co-workers!

GOOD NEWS PAGE 4 GOOD NEWS PAGE 4

Brittany came. She’s seen. And she’s conquering.

In her own words: “I love working here. Everyone is so welcom-

ing and supportive of each other. I already feel like part of the

family. It’s so nice to work in a place where everyone treats each

other equally. You wouldn’t be able to tell a manager from a

member because everyone is treated with the same amount of re-

spect. I consider myself so lucky to have been given the oppor-

tunity to be a part of Pathways.” – Brittany.

This month’s Dinner & Discussion witnessed one of the highest

turnouts. This event is becoming increasingly popular. The topic

was “Assertive Communications.” And the dinner was Fish &

Chips. An even higher turnout is expected for next month’s Din-

ner & Discussion to be held on July 13th. The topic, “Dealing

with Difficult Customers,” is a popular one, but an even bigger

draw will be the dinner – Amy’s Spring Rolls & Chow Mein.

This year’s Public Speaking class came to an exciting close with

a new feature – A graduation ceremony! It was held in the dining

room at 11:30 am, just in time for the lunch crowd. Speakers

were, in order of presentation, Gregory, Jim, Melcia, and Karim.

At the end of the speeches they were presented with certificates.

If you missed it, you can check it out on YouTube or Facebook.

Good Luck to the following members beginning new TE sites:

Bruce, Blair, Michael, Matthew. Congratulations to these mem-

bers who completed stints at TE sites: Lorena, Karen, Jennifer.

Upstairs News Report

GOOD NEWS PAGE 5

Summer is the perfect time for socials! We are taking

advantage of the great weather with multiple socials in

Steveston for Fish and Chips and of course icecream!

Other crowd pleasing socials in June were Tye Dye T-

shirts and the ever popular YAP go-karting!

Look out for some exciting socials in July– including

YAP archery on the 10th and were taking you out to the

(Canadians) ball game on the 17th. And don’t forget

the Dave Bland memorial baseball game is July 14th

and Summer Fun Day July 19th!

Welcome to new YAP members: Michael, Howard,

Ray, Lucille, Ray and Alex

COS Unit Report

GOOD NEWS PAGE 6 GOOD NEWS PAGE 6

Tell us about the best place (house, condo etc.)

you’ve ever lived in and what made it a good place

to live? Are you still living there?

Townhouse, very clean, no can’t afford that place in

Richmond. -Wendel

Tell us about the worst place you’ve ever lived in and

what made it so bad?

On Seabright Road the land was awful and I got told to

get out. -Wendel

What are some barriers that people with mental ill-

ness face when trying to find housing? When you

were looking for housing, what kind of problems did

you encounter?

Some barriers that people with mental illness face are

the symptoms of their illness and their

medications. -Wendel

Describe your dream place to live. Which country,

what kind of house or apartment?

In Las Vegas, I’d have a house parties all year long.

-Wendel

Housing and Mental Health

GOOD NEWS PAGE 7

Housing and Mental Health

My landlord is a nice landlord. She doesn’t get upset

when I’m late with the rent cheque. She’s not pushy,

bossy or nosey. -Anonymous

*********************************************

International Self Care Day

Monday July 24th 2017

Join us at Pathways for a day of self care! 11:15 am: Group Fitness Mini Workout

(Enjoy moving to some music before your lunch)

1:30pm - 2:00pm: Meditation (Listen to soothing music and relax)

Learn more about global self care initiatives at :

http://isfglobal.org/international-self-care-day/

GOOD NEWS PAGE 8 GOOD NEWS PAGE 8

Pathways will be in the Salmon Festival on July 1st! It

will be sunny and fun!! Come join us to help celebrate

our wonderful country turning 150! -Barb

I am looking forward to joining Pathways in the parade

at the Salmon Festival. It is always a good time. We

give away tea bags to the people watching the parade.

Happy 150th Birthday Canada! -Theresa

I wonder how many staff and members remember

Canada’s 100th birthday celebrations in 1967. –Jim

Canada’s 150th Birthday

GOOD NEWS PAGE 9

GOOD NEWS PAGE 10 GOOD NEWS PAGE 10

Housing and Mental Health

I was newly married and barely out of my teens when I moved

from Victoria to Vancouver with my wife and newborn kid. The

housing situation at the time was

really tight and the fact that we had a little dog did not make it

any easier finding a place to rent. The first place we moved into

was a big mistake. It was a

basement suite and the problem was that whenever you flushed

the toilet it came up in the shower drain.

Complaints to the landlord went nowhere so we called the Health

Department which turned out to be a big

mistake. We stayed just 30 days at that place and on the day we

moved out the landlord put about two pounds of sugar in our car's

gas tank. We then moved to another slum apartment on Main

Street and 6th. We arrived home one day to find the owner of the

property had let himself into our apartment to use our phone. He

was still there! So we moved into a better suite at 186 West

17th. It went fine for the first year and now there was another

mouth to feed. All went well until we got

notice in our mail that our rent was going to go up by way more

than the legal limit set by the

Government. We made the mistake of contacting the Rentals-

man's Office and they contacted our

landlord. The next thing we knew was that there was banging on

our door as the landlord tried to climb through our front win-

dow. Both of them were

screaming at us. The landlord couple continued harassing us un-

til we moved out a month later, both of them having no regard for

Canadian laws. With me going to University full time, two kids

under the age of two and all the harassment, I almost had a men-

tal breakdown. Luckily my wife found us a place in the

University married residences although we did have to get rid of

the dog. While the university home was a nice break, it did not

last long and I graduated and moved out only to encounter more

Housing and Mental Health

PAGE 11

horrible landlords until we bought out own small bungalow.

As of now, I've been renting in the same apartment for the past

twelve years thanks to Pathway's rent

subsidy. My landlord is great. He fixes things when they need

fixing, gives me my privacy and keeps the rent increases low. He

too has helped with my recovery from schizophrenia. A great

guy!

Andy B.

***************************************************************

Please join us on

Wednesday, July 5th at 1:30 in the Dining Room

to find out what programs and services are offered at the

Richmond Short Term & Assessment Treat-

ment (RSTAT) program.

(This used to be called the Outpatients program at Rich-

mond Hospital.)

Come with your questions and curiosity!

GOOD NEWS

GOOD NEWS PAGE 12 GOOD NEWS PAGE 12

My Landlord

I’ve been living in the same co-op townhouse with my

family since I was about two years old. Now, I’m 25

years old and really hoping and wishing to move out

and live on my own. But it’s difficult looking for a

place when you have a mental illness. Phoning people

is one of my anxieties and not being able to earn money

makes it difficult. Currently it’s all really difficult, but

in the future I want a dream home that would be in Eng-

land or here in the lower mainland close to the water,

because I love swimming and it’s really beautiful here

and in England. I know the clubhouse can help me out

and make it easier for me to look for my own place.

-By Caitlin

=======================================

150 Canada’s Birthday

-Canada has a beautiful nature environment;

-Canadians are kind and polite;

-Canada is a peaceful country;

-The life in Canada is calm and ease;

-the weather in Vancouver is beautiful and I enjoy liv-

ing here. -By Anonymous

Housing and Canada 150

GOOD NEWS PAGE 13

GOOD NEWS PAGE 14

LANDLORDS The best place I love is where I am right now. It is

Alexandra Court through Pathways Clubhouse.

Everybody there helps everybody that needs it. I have

more friends now than I ever had. Me and my cat

Rippley are living happily ever after.

The worst landlord I had was in Whalley, Surrey. I had

wild animals in my attic. There was a crack smoker in

my room before me and they didn’t clean the room

before I moved in. The guy held back $100.00 back off

my damage deposit.

I think a barrier with landlords is if you tell them you

have a mental illness they might take advantage of you.

My dream place to live is where I am now. I will be

there hopefully for a long time. I really love it and the

people I live with.

By Steve Badman

LANDLORDS

PAGE 15 GOOD NEWS

This landlord; my recent one; is the best landlord I’ve

had.

I was new to the city and my apartment was new also.

My landlord was nice to help me. She helped the

people on the 1st floor. She also is the landlord to the

people on the 2nd and 3rd floors. Because of this

landlord I have learned a lot about the town

Richmond and in the area of the apartment I now live .

I’m thankful for her disposition towards the rent.

Every month when they come to collect the rent

they are nice and polite.

By Juliet Money

————————————————————

My Landlord

I love talking about my landlord because they are so

kind to me. When I went to church my mom did her

hair up high. It was Becky’s birthday yesterday. Dad

likes the children. My landlord reminds me of my

mom and dad. Al and Kathy are my parents. We cele-

brated a little child, Becky’s, birthday yesterday at

church.

Stanley Coleman

GOOD NEWS PAGE 16

Once in a Lifetime Celestial Event!

GOOD NEWS PAGE 17

How many of you are aware that on Monday, August

21st, 2017 at approximately 10:00am Vancouverites

will behold a once in a lifetime celestial event? A solar

eclipse will occur on that day, month, year and time.

Not a total solar eclipse (100%) but so close to it, at

90%, that our skies will become twilight again. To

view the total solar eclipse (100%) in the west you only

need travel to the state of Oregon. Here in southern

west BC we will be treated to a sun, during the apex of

the eclipse that will appear to be a thin crescent. How-

ever we must avoid looking at the sun without proper

sun-filters, and I do not mean sunglasses. Looking di-

rectly at the sun may cause injury to your eyes. Be

careful; but enjoy this haunting experience---the birds

and the animals around you will become, let us say,

slightly confused. They may become silent. At Path-

ways we will not be but thrilled! The sun will look

slightly more obscured than the picture below:

By Jim Y.

GOOD NEWS PAGE 18

Writing: A Coping Mechanism By Ryan Gallant

from Fitzroy Centre Clubhouse

More than a hobby, but unfortunately not a viable living

(yet), writing has been an equally frustrating and rewarding

avenue of self-expression for me since I first began

pursuing the career on a serious footing. This was shortly

after high school, roughly about the time that my worst self-

destructive symptoms of anxiety and depression made

themselves manifest, as I’m sure many reading this can

sympathize. It was a confusing and painful time for me, where

the self-conscious awkwardness of a Fat Guy ™ carried over

from my non-existent social life of high school to meet the cold,

hard realities of a looming, ominous adult world that I thought

would be even crueler than that accursed bastion of cliquey

conflict.

In the beginning, writing was merely a lifeline for my

loneliness, and just happened to be an outlet in which I was

naturally adept and found therapeutic as both a creative

and emotional release, in an arena where I was a veritable god

with a measure of control over everyone else’s fictional lives,

since I felt I had none in my own. Ever since, it’s been my rock,

my one constant in a continuum of change both necessary and

scary, and in part was responsible for keeping me relatively sane

during my darkest years about a decade ago. It seems like a

lifetime to sit and reflect on that time now, but I stand

here today because I had entertaining and intriguing worlds to

retreat into when despair encroached in force like those orcs in

the second Lord of the Rings movie. You know, the one with the

giant talking trees? Just what Middle Earth needed, huh? Can’t

just have wizards and elves, gotta have aggressive broccoli too…

Good lord… Wait. What was I saying? Right. Writing. Gotcha.

Writing was my Gandalf, to finish that metaphor, which

Clubhouse Story

GOOD NEWS PAGE 19

Clubhouse Story

The point is, writing continues to be a valuable tool in

combating the worst instincts within me, when the black dog of

my depression lurks in the shadows of my subconscious, growl-

ing softly, slavering hungrily, waiting for my most vulnerable

moments to lunge from the darkness. My methods have changed

in the intervening years; no longer do I write quite as much in

terms of quantity, but instead spend more time thinking about my

stories and the problems within them, a more measured and

contemplative approach that might slow my actual writing output

to a trickle, but achieves better results in the longer run (in my

opinion, or maybe that’s just hopeful optimism on my part, heh).

I’ve attended several screenwriting workshops over the last few

years, which have additionally helped to develop my skills and

confidence as a storyteller to a point where, for the first time in

my life, I feel truly vindicated in my craft, which for many years

living at home in my isolated, broken twenties had been scoffed

at with rolled eyes and scornful incredulity.

The publishing of my first novel didn’t hurt anything, I

suppose, though its low sales keep me ever humble. Don’t wanna

get a big head, now do I? I might become president and get

trapped in a job I’m woefully ill-equipped to do, becoming a

bloated, bloviating danger to myself and others… Anyhoo! In

closing, my seeking professional help in the form of counseling,

and subsequently forming healthy relationships within the

Fitzroy Centre, has aided in my recovery process for the last six

years. Along with my revised and sharpened writing habits, these

supports have given me a renewed sense of hope, purpose and

much-needed balance in a life that, in all honesty, I hadn’t seen

possible or even felt I deserved before joining the Club. Indeed,

writing inspired me to want to survive (barely), while the Club

and the wonderful people in it inspired me to want to live. A

combination of the two? The future’s much brighter than it was

before, that much is for certain.

GOOD NEWS PAGE 20 GOOD NEWS PAGE 20

Dinner & Discussion Working with Difficult

Customers

July 13 at 4:00 pm in Dining Room

Dinner: Spring Rolls & Chow Mein

July D&D

LAST MONTH’S EMPLOYMENT

STATS TE Statistics SE Statistics

Members Working

20 Members Working

13

Hours Worked

706.50 Hours worked

723.50

Wages

Earned $7,904.85

Wages

Earned $8,465.48

GOOD NEWS PAGE 21

TEP Placements

TE Site:

Alexandra Court

Janitorial

Hours: M/W/F 9:30-11:30am

Wage: $10.85/hr

Start Date: Sept 2016

Member: Karen

TE Site:

Stacey Green Catering

Hours: M-F 11:30-2pm

Wage: $10.85/hr

Start Date: Sept 2016

Member: Jennifer

TE Site:

Mass & Co Hours: Thurs 12-4pm

Wage: $10.85/hr

Start Date: Mar 2017

Member: Bonnie R.

TE Site:

Blundell Seafoods

Hours: M-Th 11:30-3:30pm

Wage: $11.00/hr

Start Date: Oct 2016

Members: Dennis

TE Site:

McDonalds

Lobby Worker

Hours: M-F 9:00-12:00pm,

12:00-4:00pm

Wage: $10.85/hr

Start Date: April/June 2017

Member: Bruce + Lorena

TE Site:

City Hall

Hours: T/Th 9:00-1:00pm

Wage: $10.85/hr

Start Date: Oct 2016

Member: Shirley

GOOD NEWS PAGE 22 GOOD NEWS PAGE 22

TE Site:

Heatherbrae Office

Hours: M/W/F 6:30-8:30am

Wage: $10.85/hr

Start Date: Jan/April 2017

Members: Tiffany & Mary

TE Site:

Heatherbrae Shop

Hours: T/F 1:30-4:30pm

Wage: $10.85/hr

Start Date: June 2017

Member: Blair B.

TE Site:

Richmond Chinese

Community Society

Hours: M/T/W/F 6:30-8:30am

Wage: $300/month

Start Date: Jan 2017

Member: Steve B.

TE Site:

City Centre

Hours: Tues/Thurs 9:00am-

12pm

Wage: $10.85/hr

Start Date: Aug 2016

Member: Melcia D.

TEP Placements Continued

TE Site:

Foodbank Kitchen

Hours: M/W/TH/F 1:30-3pm

Tuesday: 2—4 pm

Wage: $10.85/hr

Start Date: Feb/Mar 2017

Members: Greg & Sam

TE Site:

Richmond Holdings

Hours: M/W/TH/F 1:00-3:00pm

Wage: $10.85/hr

Start Date: July 2016

Member: Terry W.

TE Site:

Mothers Choice

Hours: Fri 10:00–12:50pm

Wage: $11.00/hr

Start Date: June 2017

Member: Michael W.

TE Site:

Minoru Senior Centre

Hours: M-F 11:30–3:30pm

Wage: $10.85/hr

Start Date: April 2016

Member: Dean Z.

TE Site:

Art Centre

Hours: M-F 11:30-3:30pm

Wage: $10.85/hr

Start Date: March 2017

Member: David R.H.

GOOD NEWS PAGE 23

Supported/Independent Employment

Name Site Name Site

Chantelle Hyde Support Worker Karen Person Food Services

Matthew Abe

Doaud

Baggage Handler -

Airport Ho Mei Cha 3H Craftworks

Bruce A. Greeter Chris Noble Peer Support Worker

Jose Campillo Peer Support

RCFC& Recreational

Leader

Karen Whittaker Preschool Assistant

Debbie Christian Dishwasher Darren Hayashi Health Care Aide

Richard Hooper Janitor Maria Petruic Food Services

Gina Haines Peer Support Worker Carmen

Schneebli

Demonstrator

Peter Hunsche Lot Maintenance

&Landscaping Jeannette Vo Office Assistant

Lisa Kline Reception Tiffany Ellison Airport Greeter

Paul Christensen Fork Lift Operator Derek Young Front Desk Attendant

Kevin Kwan Cafeteria Worker Mike

Vanderhijde

Temp worker

Glenn

Cunningham

Peer Support Worker

Trevor Drake

Labourer

Jamie Cornish

Nina Lacambra

Cook

Cafeteria Worker

Julie Page

Glenn Zunicki

Office Assistant

Labourer

Nelson Bardon

Vincent Kui

Labourer

Produce Worker

Wendy Willis

Scott Woodburn

Labourer

Labourer

CJ Ellison

Mary C.

Dog Walker

Receptionist

Jane Norman

Dennis

Chamberlain

Cafeteria Worker

Labourer

GOOD NEWS PAGE 24

The Good News requests your articles about the Clubhouse, your personal story, what is

happening in the mental health community, employment and education. Submit your articles

to the Clerical Unit.

A Guaranteed Right To a place to come To meaningful work To meaningful relationships To a place to return

Thanks to everyone who helped

get the Good News out.