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HERO House NW promotes mental health recovery through employment, housing, and community. May 19-23, 2025 Along with other USA Clubhouses, HERO House NW will open our doors to elected officials, community leaders, and the media to highlight how our model transforms lives and strengthens communities, and explain the need for policies and funding to support psychosocial rehabilitation. Our Vision We envision a world where people living with serious mental illness thrive in communities of hope and opportunity. We know that people thrive when they are in caring communities. We call those communities Clubhouses! About Us Locations HERO House Bellevue HERO House Seattle HERO House Everett Skagit Clubhouse Contact Us 12838 SE 40th Pl., Bellevue, WA 98006, USA info@herohousenw.org (425) 614-1282

The Clubhouse Model What is a Clubhouse? A clubhouse is a community-based location designed to support the recovery of people living with serious mental illness (SMI). Each clubhouse provides a restorative environment for people whose lives have been severely disrupted because of their mental illness. The concept of a clubhouse — which was pioneered by Fountain House in the 1940s — starts with the idea that “community is therapy.” In each clubhouse, an intentional community is created, where members and staff work together, side-by-side, to carry out all daily operations of the clubhouse. Members are also given access to crisis intervention services when needed and are connected with resources to support their basic needs, including support with employment, relationship building, education, housing, and daily meals. Learn More Clubhouse International Standards Each of our Accredited Clubhouses operate on 37 proven Standards which have been developed by Clubhouse International over three decades and are utilized in over 370 Clubhouses worldwide. Learn More

< Back HERO House 5K on September 10, 2022 Jun 15, 2022 Register Today! Register now for the 3rd Annual HERO House 5K ! Get your early bird tickets now through Aug. 3rd at https://runsignup.com/Race/WA/Redmond/HEROHouse5K. Previous Next

< Back Thank you to our event partner Colburn Law! Jul 15, 2022 Our 5K Event Partner With much appreciation, we express gratitude to our 5K event partners Coburn Law! Previous Next

< Back 2022 HERO House NW 5K Event Sponsorship Opportunities HERO House NW Communications Mar 8, 2022 Event Sponsorship Opportunities Now Available For more information please see our 5K Sponsorship packet or complete the online sponsorship form . If you'd like to register for the 5K event, please go to our registration page . Previous Next

< Back 5K Event Partner Twyford Law Firm! Jun 10, 2022 Thank you for your support! Thank you to Twyford Law Office for generously partnering with us for our HERO House 5K! Register now at: https://runsignup.com/Race/WA/Redmond/HEROHouse5K Previous Next

< Back Opinion: Behavioral health professionals are key to addressing crisis Kailey Fiedler-Gohlke and Kim Rettig – Contributing writers Apr 10, 2021 View Article: Opinion: Behavioral health professionals are key to addressing crisis In the wake of too many tragedies nationwide, Seattle and many other cities are re-examining how they respond to mental health emergencies. It’s clear that we must respond to these crises with trained caregivers and not law enforcement officers who have a different charge. As a person living with serious mental illness and as the director of a mental health clubhouse working with people to successfully chart their lives after such a diagnosis, we know all too well what it can mean to have a mental health emergency. Imagine what it is like to feel highly anxious, to be paranoid about situations that feel normal to others, even to hear voices, only to confront someone in a police uniform. We have observed the often deadly outcomes of police encounters with individuals in mental health crises. At least one of every four people killed in an interaction with law enforcement has a serious mental health diagnosis, according to a 2015 report from the Treatment Advocacy Center. Black and Indigenous people and other communities of color continue to be disproportionately impacted by these instances, further exacerbating the racial inequities in our system. When in crisis, people experiencing intense amounts of anxiety and stress act out of fear or misinterpret situations, inadvertently jeopardizing the safety of themselves, or those nearby. These situations can escalate into violence, and too often are the front door to misguided incarceration. For the best outcome, mental health crises should be treated for what they are: health emergencies, not crimes. The status quo is not a paradigm that works for anyone. Police recognize that they are being asked to do jobs they were never intended to do: responding to people who have mental health needs or who are homeless. Many in the law enforcement community acknowledge that their training is not always best suited to addressing many of these situations. The solution is to develop health-focused models and personnel for responding to these situations — what we call care responders. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and the Seattle City Council took a step in the right direction on this issue at the end of 2020 by expanding Seattle’s Health One program, which uses teams of two firefighters and one case manager to provide specialized outreach, transport and referrals to callers experiencing behavioral health crises, as well as non-emergency medical complaints and those with social service needs. Gov. Jay Inslee and both chambers of the Legislature further demonstrated the state’s commitment to mental health care by proposing investments in mobile crisis response enhancements for the upcoming fiscal year that align with our care response principles. Legislative leaders are working with stakeholders to implement a coordinated “988” crisis hotline center and crisis services system that will save lives by improving access to behavioral health crisis services. Seattle leaders should be applauded for expanding this promising, vital program. And Inslee and the Legislature deserve praise for prioritizing the care response model with critical funding in the budget. But with the stakes this high, we can’t can’t stop there. Health One is a promising approach that can, and should, be built upon in collaboration with city and county leaders across the state. The state Legislature has an opportunity to support and expand care responders programs in communities across our state. Innovation and adequate resources at all levels of government are crucial to expanding this work successfully. Also necessary is working closely with peers — those with lived experience. We must listen to those who are most affected by our flawed emergency response system, hear their stories and engage them in finding solutions. Ideally, we can go beyond this, as some communities have done, by successfully engaging trained peers as part of care-response teams. Working together, decision-makers, stakeholders and those most affected can build new, better response models that lead with care and focus on the best outcomes for all. https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2021/04/09/opinion-behavioral-mental-health-crises-police.html?b=1618006923%5E21874254 Previous Next

< Back Thank you to our 5K Silver Sponsors Electronic Business Machines! Aug 15, 2022 Locally Owned & Operated, Electronic Business Machines has been the leader in customer service and office equipment since 1980. Electronic Business Machines specializes in helping customers in the Greater Puget Sound Region find solutions to their document workflow. Whether your company is printing, copying, scanning, faxing or in need of a document workflow solution, Electronic Business Machines can help! Call: 866-707-9111 Email: Info@ebmco.com Previous Next

Donations Make a Donation Your generous donation can help members find jobs and live on their own, reducing their need for social services. Donate Today! View or download our one-pager View or download our full brochure Every Dollar Has Meaning! A donation of just $10/month can help with transportation costs for our half of our clubhouse membership who attend school, volunteer, or work locally. A donation of $15/week can help provide supported employment for 5 members. No amount is too small—even a donation of $25 can help with costs such as résumé writing, interview support, and on-the-job training for those with mental illness. Donate Today! More ways to give! To donate by check, please send checks made out to HERO House NW to: HERO House NW 12838 SE 40th Place Bellevue, WA 98006 Donate Today! Planned Giving Working Towards a Brighter Future HERO House has an endowment fund dedicated to providing services enabling us to continue moving qualified individuals to self-supporting employment. But we need your help to keep up with our growing need. You can help bridge this transition by contributing to the current HERO House campaign. With expanded capacity, we can increase our efforts and our impact. A variety of giving methods offer you ways of making that “perfect and lasting” gift. Please contact us to find out more about Planned Giving.

Careers Working Towards a Better Tomorrow We are always looking to connect with passionate individuals dedicated to mental health recovery! To view our current openings, please click HERE If you feel so inclined; please email your resume to: michaelb@herohousenw.org

< Back ‘Stop criminalizing mental health crises,’ says Hero House NW CEO DAVE ROSS BY KIRO NEWSRADIO STAFF Dec 27, 2021 VIEW ARTICLE: ‘Stop criminalizing mental health crises,’ says Hero House NW CEO Jails have become de facto mental health institutions, but the question is, what do we do about it? Is there a way to handle somebody having a mental breakdown without calling the police, and is there a way to get that person healthy? A KIRO Radio listener who has an adult son living with mental illness says they’ve learned that the police are not a good way to handle cases like this, and recommended that Dave Ross speak with Kailey Fiedler-Gohlke, chief executive officer of an institution called Hero House NW . “Hero House NW is comprised of three clubhouses,” Fiedler-Gohlke explained. “We follow a psychiatric model of rehabilitation. So we’re really kind of that next step after clinical treatment, when people get to see their psychiatrists and their doctors. We really kind of add that community, that social community that’s often lacking with people diagnosed and living with mental illness.” “As we know, isolation is a huge key factor, it’s a big symptom of mental illness,” she added. “So we’ve created some really well-rounded communities for people to attend on a day to day basis to really get connected with others and to not be alone in the community.” The clubhouses are not places where people live. Members participate “at their own whim,” and get to decide how they use the clubhouse, Fiedler-Gholke said. “Often, in a clinical treatment, you have the patient versus the doctor, the provider. And oftentimes people don’t have ownership of their own recovery, and the clubhouse offers that,” she described. “Members pick and choose how they utilize the clubhouse, with which staff they work.” The clubhouse model does not differentiate based on people’s level of functioning or diagnosis, Fiedler-Gholke noted. The only requirement to enter and become a member is that you have a history of a diagnosed mental illness. “That being said, we do have what we like to call our one rule within our community is to not disrupt or impact the recovery of another, meaning we don’t want to have people in the community that are having violent behaviors or that they’re unsafe to themselves or others,” she said. Fiedler-Gholke says there have been hundreds of research articles written about Hero House NW and the clubhouse model. Outcomes have shown a reduced hospitalization rate of members versus non-members, reduced incarceration rates, and higher job placement rates. “We even have higher rates of people returning to school and graduating,” she said. Alternative to a police response Over the past year and a half, Hero House NW has been focusing more attention on alternative ways to handle a mental health crisis, instead of calling 911. “We’ve noticed that a lot of our members have had really traumatic interactions with police, and it resulted in incarceration or being basically tossed in a county jail,” Fiedler-Gholke told Seattle’s Morning News. “And it was all because they were having a mental health crisis. So I think when we approach something like this, we need — of course, it’s a very big question, and it’s not a simple answer to solve this — I think we need to have a care response model.” She explains that while police are needed in the community, there also needs to be a care response model that is comprised of peers and people trained to handle these crises. “We know next summer there’s going to be a new phone number coming out called 988 ,” she added. “It’s going to be a mental health crisis number. Instead of calling 911, people can call 988.” Over the past year and a half, Hero House NW has been focusing more attention on alternative ways to handle a mental health crisis, instead of calling 911. “We’ve noticed that a lot of our members have had really traumatic interactions with police, and it resulted in incarceration or being basically tossed in a county jail,” Fiedler-Gholke told Seattle’s Morning News. “And it was all because they were having a mental health crisis. So I think when we approach something like this, we need — of course, it’s a very big question, and it’s not a simple answer to solve this — I think we need to have a care response model.” She explains that while police are needed in the community, there also needs to be a care response model that is comprised of peers and people trained to handle these crises. “We know next summer there’s going to be a new phone number coming out called 988 ,” she added. “It’s going to be a mental health crisis number. Instead of calling 911, people can call 988.” But there has also been discussion around how to respond to mental health crises in the first place. “They’re trying out many different pilots , but one proven method that’s actually been going on for 40 years is called the CAHOOTS model down in Eugene, Oregon,” Fiedler-Gholke said. “A lot of us are trying to get that model up here in Washington because the biggest thing is we don’t want people to have to go to jail. We should stop criminalizing mental health crises.” The idea of a program like CAHOOTS is that if someone is acting out or having a tough time, as Fiedler-Gholke explains, a team that’s familiar with how to de-escalate similar situations should be the ones to respond. Hero House NW has three clubhouses in Bellevue, Seattle, and Everett, and has plans to expand to nine more clubhouses across Washington state. “They won’t be under us, but they will be part of the clubhouse community,” Fiedler-Gholke said. “I think we need a clubhouse in every single community and we need those to be there for people. Because when you don’t have the appropriate services and you have the bare minimum, then that’s where that cycle starts because they can’t access the proper treatment and they don’t have anything pre- and post-hospitalization, if it gets to that point.” Previous Next

< Back New Bipartisan Research: Mental Health Emerging as Top-Priority Issue for Voters Fountain House May 3, 2023 The findings reinforce the immense potential of this moment and marks the launch of the new Healings Minds, Powering Communities campaign to reframe serious mental illness and support community-based solutions. New York, NY — New bipartisan messaging research released by Fountain House as part of its Healing Minds, Powering Communities campaign shows that an overwhelming majority of voters across partisan lines support increasing funding for programs that address serious mental illness (SMI). The national survey, focus groups, and stakeholder interviews — conducted by Lake Research Partners, Black Raspberry Consumer Insights, and Chesapeake Beach Consulting — sought to gauge what Americans think about mental health care and its electoral impact. Findings show that voters across partisan lines are not only concerned about the stigma associated with mental illness and the persistent lack of affordable and accessible treatment, but that mental health is emerging as a top-priority issue that influences their vote. Among our key findings: Voters are looking to elected officials to address serious mental illness — and will reward them when they do. If an elected official increases funding for programs and interventions directed towards mental illness, 76% of voters say they’d be more likely to support them, including 46% who said they’d be much more likely to support them. This holds true across partisan lines, even if it would increase voters’ taxes . While rising costs and inflation remain a dominant concern for a majority of voters, more than seven in 10 (72%) say they would be more likely to vote for an elected official who supports increased funding for serious mental illness interventions and programs. When thinking about healthcare today, 75% of voters say the U.S. spends too little on mental health services . Similarly, 73% say the U.S. spends too little on services for serious mental illness. Many support increased funding for community-based mental health programs (83% support, 59% strongly support) and show even stronger intense support for community-based programs that treat serious mental illness (85% support, 64% strongly support), including clubhouses . Almost half of all voters (47%) have a personal connection to someone with a mental illness — either themselves, a family member, or a close friend. Bolstered by these findings, the new Healing Minds, Powering Communities campaign aims to leverage this unique moment when elected officials and the general public alike are seeking compassionate, well-resourced public policy to address mental illness — and are primed and ready to fund evidence-based approaches for change. The multi-year, collaborative effort brings together a wide tent of stakeholders and partners, including people with lived experience, to advocate for community-based approaches to addressing serious mental illness; expand access to proven interventions and preventative measures; and grow and sustain a movement that reduces stigma and discrimination for people living with SMI. “What makes this campaign different is that it’s for and by people living with serious mental illness and represents, for the first time, a dedicated investment and commitment to restoring our dignity and autonomy,” said Arvind Sooknanan, a member of Fountain House Bronx who also serves on Fountain House’s Board of Directors . “Advancing a true community-based system of care is not only a means to recovery and thriving but can reset the narrative around mental illness from stigma to acceptance.” “We urgently need new paradigms of public investment to make recovery and thriving the center of our policies and practices involving people with serious mental health challenges,” said Ken Zimmerman, CEO of Fountain House . “ Healing Minds, Powering Communities emphasizes that we live in an age of solutions — when they are appropriately supported and resourced — and that prioritizing the voices of people with lived experience is central to combating problematic stereotypes.” Among the partners for the campaign: Clubhouse International and more than 65 local clubhouses spanning 24 states across the country, 1 Million Madly Motivated Moms (1M4), America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the American Public Health Association, Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, Canopy Roots, Center for Justice Innovation, Families USA, ForLikeMinds, Mental Health America of West Central Indiana, the Mental Health Coalition, the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS), the Steinberg Institute, the Technical Assistance Collaborative, Vera Institute of Justice, and VOCAL-NY. From May 24-31, 2023, Healing Minds, Powering Communities will host a Community Mental Health Week of Action where clubhouses will be trained and encouraged to open their doors to elected officials, local media, and other stakeholders so they can witness the power of community-based care and its impact on addressing serious mental illness. Other partners will also be promoting the benefits of this proven approach to their networks as a scalable, cost-effective, and more humane way to improve public safety, reduce mental health crises, while minimizing criminal justice involvement and its disparate impact on communities of color. “Clubhouse International is committed to continuing to lead in the effort of providing accessible recovery opportunities to anyone with lived experience of a mental illness by integrating the Clubhouse approach into health systems around the world,” said Joel D. Corcoran, Executive Director and CEO of Clubhouse International . “We are proud to partner in bringing the Healing Minds, Powering Communities advocacy campaign to the U.S.-based Clubhouses to effect policy change that prioritizes person-centered mental health care, and to increase funding for mental health services, such as the Clubhouse Model. This campaign will be instrumental in helping Clubhouses to advocate for their programs. The recent bipartisan research is an important validation for the Clubhouse network and supports what we see every day, that communities benefit from having a Clubhouse. Our vision is that one day there is a Clubhouse in every community.” “As a member-led collective supporting initiatives, programs, and solutions that decriminalize mental illness and reduce interactions between law enforcement and Black community members, we believe those closest to an issue are the individuals with the most insight into the solutions,” said Tansy McNulty, Founder and CEO of 1 Million Madly Motivated Moms (1M4) . “ Healing Minds, Powering Communities advances the evidence-based, person-centered approaches to mental health that we know can make a difference and is importantly led by those with mental illness themselves. We’re proud to stand with and support this effort.” “This new study underscores the high level of public support that exists for the expansion of community-based rehabilitation services and recovery supports that advance the dignity, agency, and connection to community of people with major mental health related challenges, especially for low income individuals and people of color,” said Harvey Rosenthal, CEO of the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS) . “NYAPRS will be a very active member of the campaign’s focus on public, policymaker, and media education: the need is urgent and requires their strong support to take immediate action.” For more information on Fountain House and how we’re supporting people living with serious mental illness through direct services, practice innovation, advocacy, and policy change, visit FountainHouse.org . Fountain House Fountain House is a national mental health nonprofit fighting to improve health, increase opportunity, and end social and economic isolation for people living with serious mental illness. Founded in 1948 in New York City, Fountain House originated the clubhouse model of community mental health that has been replicated more than 300 times in nearly 40 U.S. states and in 30 countries around the world. Previous Next