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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Suzanne Stoute, Director of Chelton Loft Clubhouse
5:59:45
ยท
155 sec
Suzanne Stoute, Director of Chelton Loft Clubhouse, testifies on the importance of community-based clubhouses for individuals with serious mental illness and requests continued and increased funding from the city council.
- Expresses gratitude for the FY25 $2 million investment that saved smaller community-based clubhouses
- Highlights the effectiveness of clubhouses in reducing psychiatric hospitalizations by 40% and shortening hospital stays by 30%
- Requests not only continued funding through the mental health clubhouse initiative but also an increase for FY26 and consideration of baselining the initiative
Suzanne Stoute
5:59:45
Good afternoon, chair Lee and committee members.
5:59:50
My name is Suzanne Stout, and I am the director of Shelton Loft Clubhouse, which is in East Harlem.
5:59:57
First, we are extremely grateful for the city council's f y twenty five two million investment to save our clubhouses.
6:00:04
This critical funding ensured that smaller community based clubhouses across the city continued to offer intimate supportive environments where our members could thrive.
6:00:15
These spaces are especially vital for individuals who would have found it challenging to engage in larger city founded clubhouses.
6:00:24
While no single model or program can fully support individuals with serious mental illness, community based clubhouses serve as a uniquely effective complement to critical therapeutic interventions.
6:00:36
They significantly enhance outcomes when integrated into a sustained psychiatric rehabilitation framework.
6:00:44
By fostering social connection, skill building, and personal empowerment, clubhouses provide a structured yet flexible support system that reinforces clinical treatments.
6:00:55
Aligned with a comprehensive mental health infrastructure, these spaces help individuals deepen their understanding of mental illness, develop skills for the independent living, and receive encouragement and assistance in pursuing their individual self determined goals.
6:01:12
The impact of our clubhouses is clear.
6:01:15
Programs where peers take on leadership roles reduce psychiatric hospitalizations by forty percent compared to those without such support.
6:01:24
Hospital stays when needed are 30% shorter for individuals engaged in community based recovery programs.
6:01:32
The cost of a psychiatric hospitalization in New York City is approximately $4,000 per day, while smaller psychosocial clubhouses provide long term stability at a fraction of the cost.
6:01:46
I wanna stress how important it is for the council to continue providing funding through the mental health clubhouse initiative.
6:01:54
And to wrap this up, we respectfully ask that the council not only continue the initiative but increase the funding so that our programs will receive the necessary resources to operate for the entirety of f y twenty six.
6:02:07
Six.
6:02:08
We further ask that the council consider baselining this important initiative to ensure that our members don't have to live with the fear every spring that their program may lose its funding.
6:02:19
Thank you.
Lynn Schulman
6:02:20
Thank you.