CLEVELAND — The Magnolia Clubhouse, a psychiatric mental rehabilitation center, is set up as a working community, where both members living with mental illness and administrative employees help operate the clubhouse. 

What You Need To Know

  • To be a member at Magnolia Clubhouse, the only requirement is that you have a mental illness

  • D’Angelo said Magnolia Clubhouse serves 84 people a day on average, and they only have space for 100

  • They’re working to expand the clubhouse to increase capacity to 150, so they can serve more people

“It is a normalizing, very positive, very respectful environment,” Lori D’Angelo, executive director of Magnolia Clubhouse, said. “And everybody works to engage each other and to work in partnership.”

To be a member at Magnolia Clubhouse, the only requirement is that you have a mental illness.

Members can decide to come to the clubhouse whenever they like; it costs $1 for a day’s entry.

They then choose a unit to work with for the day: communications, membership, administration or hospitality. 

“There’s a research base that shows members of clubhouses have higher rates of employment, a better quality of life, lower rates of incarceration and hospitalization,” D’Angelo said.

Member Jeremiah Rice was placed in a full-time job through the clubhouse’s transitional employment program.

He sometimes spends his days off here with the communications unit, making newscasts for the members.

“This is like 90% to 100% a nonjudgmental place,” Rice said. “Like no one cares about how you look or your demeanor you carry, we just all want to build each other up and succeed at the highest level we can and achieve greatness.” 

Demand for mental and behavioral health care services has been growing statewide since before the pandemic, according to a 2022 report from the Ohio Council of Behavioral Health & Family Services Providers.

A shortage of workers continues to cause increased wait times and frustration. 

Last week, Gov. Mike DeWine announced a $90 million commitment to strengthening the state government’s mental health and addiction resources.

D’Angelo said Magnolia Clubhouse serves 84 people a day on average, and they only have space for 100. 

They’re working to expand the clubhouse to increase capacity to 150, so they can serve more people.

“We’re expanding so we can reach the most people possible in this organization and then we’re hoping to develop more clubhouses in our community, across our state,” she said.

There are currently clubhouses in Cleveland, Dayton and Columbus, but seven more start-ups are underway in other parts of Ohio.