My name is Moumita Dam. I am a freshmen student at Antioch College. I have finished my first two quarters and now I am on my first co-op. I have been very excited for my first co-op. I wanted to be in California and wanted to do a co-op that somehow related to medicine or healthcare.
I am doing my co-op at Integrity House in Santa Ana. Integrity House exists “To foster a community where people with disabilities fulfill their potential as responsible co-workers, neighbors, and friends.” This place serves a unique population. The Fountain House model was originally developed to serve adults with mental health disabilities. Alliance of Abilities, while following the Clubhouse model, serves adults with a variety of cognitive disabilities, including intellectual, traumatic brain injuries, and mental health.
Clubhouse members work in one of four areas within Integrity House including, Creative Design where the members do crafting activities, Culinary Arts where members help to cook meals, Media Productions where members do online activities and social networking, and lastly Maintenance, which involves cleaning the whole place. Each area serves a unique purpose and is essential to running the Clubhouse. According to the International Standards, “members have the opportunity to participate in all work of the clubhouse, including administration, research, enrollment, and orientation, reach out, hiring, training and evaluation of staff, public relations, advocacy and evaluation of Clubhouse effectiveness”
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I am assigned to the Media area but I also work one-on-one with a member diagnosed with the most severe syndrome of all the members at the Clubhouse. I also have worked in the human resource area and also in the records. Lately, I have been updating the ILS (Independent Living Skills) training book which requires a lot of research on each topic and for me to filter out all the unnecessary information and add new information.
I like working in this place. I am a member’s personal aid but I also work with other members of the Integrity House. I like this job and I like to help people!
