Inspiring Good

Francis Disori on community-driven mental health support

• Community Foundation of Elkhart County • Episode 10

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Ever wondered how an inclusive environment can profoundly impact mental health support? Francis Disori, the executive director of Lexington House, joins us to discuss the transformative clubhouse model and its origins with the WANA group in 1970s New York City. Discover how this model fosters a supportive community in Elkhart County, where staff and members collaborate as equals, promoting mutual respect and engagement. Francis highlights the courage of individuals reclaiming their confidence and the community's rich tradition of generosity, painting a vivid picture of human-centered support at Lexington House.

We also shed light on the indispensable role of community organizations like Oaklawn and Faith Mission of Michiana in supporting mental wellness. Reflecting on professional experiences with high-acuity mental health cases, we delve into proactive wellness practices and the structured "work order day" of the clubhouse model. Hear a heartwarming story of helping a clubhouse member secure their first job and vehicle, illustrating the transformative power of community support. Lastly, we discuss the importance of partnerships and integrity in building successful nonprofits, offering valuable advice for new executive directors and insights on the future focus on fulfillment and social impact.

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This show is a production of the Community Foundation of Elkhart County. It is powered by equipment from Sweetwater and recorded in The Riverbend building in Elkhart's River District. Editing is done by the award-winning communication students at Goshen College, home of one of the best college radio stations in the nation. Listen to Globe Radio at 91.1 FM. Learn more about the Community Foundation of Elkhart County at inspiringgood.org You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Music is provided by Sensational Sounds. Thanks for listening. We hope you are inspired and inspire good and your community.

Marshall King:

Welcome to the Inspiring Good podcast. This podcast is brought to you by the Community Foundation of Elkhart County, which serves a vibrant community in northern Indiana known for its generosity and strong network of nonprofit organizations. I'm Marshall King, your co-host with Kevin Deary, a veteran nonprofit CEO who now coaches others. Today, our guest is Francis Dasori, who became the executive director of Lexington House as it reopened in 2020. Lexington House provides support for those with mental health challenges. It has roots in the 1970s and Francis is a leader who has been a social worker for more than 35 years and lived in Elkhart more than 30 of those. Welcome, Francis.

Francis Disori:

Well, thank you for having me. Good stuff.

Kevin Deary:

Good to have you here, Francis. I had the privilege of going to the Lexington House just a few weeks ago and you gave me a tour and the first thing it just happened when I happened to come yeah, I think you probably maybe arranged that that I would pop in on a Clubhouse meeting, and it was so good for me to see that, to really understand your mission and to see how happy the club members are and how engaged and plugged they are into the mission of Lexington House and how much your guiding hand really sets back and allows them to run the house. I was so impressed with that. So I just wanted to thank you for that. You've been part of our CEO roundtables and you always bring joy and you always bring clarity to other leaders around you. So I just really respect you and I'm really glad that you could be with us today. Tell us a little bit about the history of the Lexington House and how it came about.

Francis Disori:

Sure Lexington House of Elkhart first of all has its roots, as mentioned earlier, to the early 70s, mentioned earlier to the early 70s and I credit the visionary of people out of oaklawn who said we have a need for people to feel needed and they can contribute. We look at strengths and every day meet up cup of coffee. We got support rather than staying at home and isolating. Well, in the 1970s Clubhouse model as we know it today was still taking pretty deep root. It has its origin to New York City into the 47-48, where a group of individuals who recently got discharged from the state hospital or hospital setting were sitting on the steps of the New York Public Library and saying, hey, they don't get us, we need to find housing, we need some money, we need mostly each other. So they created something called the WANA we Are Not Alone group. From there generosity spoke. They ended up finding a place in 4748th Street down in Hill's Kitchen called Fountain House, because a big fountain in the back. All right, it's a space and there's a group. From there it took deep roots and during the 50s they added some staff to give some balance, because in the Clubhouse model it is not top down. We are all colleagues there, members and staff work side by side. So it is one of the unique places and I really value this because it lines up with my own who I am can be doing the bathroom side by side with somebody cleaning the toilets. At the same time I could be working on finances and switch out to doing a podcast, all in the same day but not too far away from what my day looked like. That is Clubhouse model. We are all human beings, connected and support. So the Clubhouse model grew, really transformed in the late 70s, got some teeth, got accreditation, got an international Clubhouse and from there it took off. There's over 330 of them around the world. So it's just not in Elkhart County and Elkhart has two Clubhouse. There was Elkhart County Clubhouse Rich Meyer, now since retired and still part of our community, and one of my teachers value Rich greatly. He is definitely an asset to this community. He said until we get one at Elkhart we'll stay the county, but once we get one in Elkhart City then we will move to Coradale House. And they've taken off. They've been around I think 11 or 12 years. So we're blessed to have two in Elkhart County, but I don't think that's by coincidence.

Francis Disori:

I have shared and you were at the gathering, at our Monarch Gala, which is our big fundraiser, and the lead off is and I believe this in my heart Elkhart is a very rich is and I believe this in my heart Elkhart is a very rich county, one of 92, but it's not just about finance, gold and silver. It is really about our humanity here that we are rich and I see that every day, the wealth of the nonprofits that serve this community. We, among the 92 counties, we're in the top three. My opinion because I've had the privilege of travel around the state with other businesses and other parts of my career. And Elkhart County, yes, we are rich. Our humanity, kindness is the language here. I hope that was helpful.

Francis Disori:

Clubhouse how it works, very simple. It is not a place like my wife goes. When we first started Clubhouse she said what do you do there? I mean, what do you do? I said a lot and it's about not getting in the way. It is about restoring confidence that I can get out of my home or wherever I call my dwelling and I can gather with other human beings and I can interact with other people. Oh, my goodness, I'm doing it again.

Francis Disori:

And isolation and loneliness gets trumped by what goes on at a Clubhouse. That's the win of the day. Do you know how much courage it takes, if you've ever had a history of mental illness and I've got to be frank, I have and it's a very scary place to be at times, so to make it out of that place to come and be with others and then all of a sudden realize, hey, there's some task, I can answer a phone again and I can work a computer and, by the way, I'm doing this and I'm doing that. This is fun. Color comes back in. That's what club does, and you saw some of that. It wasn't me. The less you see the staff, the more the club is healthy, because it's the members running the club.

Kevin Deary:

I love what you just said. It's not black and white, it's color. I mean, they bring color back to their life. Amen. They feel it, they own it, they think it. They have a chance to give back. They have a chance to work as a team. You can almost feel like they breathe in there comfortably. They're moving along to an order to the day, but yet they work together, they communicate well and they feel so at home in their place, and that level of ownership comes from the model that you're talking about.

Francis Disori:

T hat's right. The Clubhouse model has been around now um, really from 48 the core but we have celebrated, it's been shaped and what I can tell you and I visit other Clubhouse around the country when people come back and they thought that they had no more hope and people don't get you and you don't have the confidence. The upside about mental health challenges or condition is that it doesn't discriminate. So we have individuals, have very rich backgrounds, from people who have gone through high academia to people with great education, to people who have come from all different parts of social economics but the golden thread that goes through them is that they do understand the indignities and the disruption that mental illness can cause. So when you come to a Clubhouse, there's very little judgment. Everybody gets you.

Kevin Deary:

Could you dive a little deeper into specific diagnosis and mental? That's such a broad term but there is a lot of different types of diagnosis that are in the Clubhouse and could you delve a little deeper into that.

Francis Disori:

I can. I'm going to choose not to, but I'll give you a broad strip the DSM-5, which is the medical diagnostic manual. There's like 280 different diagnoses and then that breaks down a little further. At the end of the day, we are human beings. We are not our conditions or our mental health conditions or illness. Is there a range, absolutely?

Francis Disori:

To be a member at Clubhouse, there's 37 standard steps part of the accreditation process of Clubhouse International. Number one is, like you know, if you have a history of mental illness, history of mental illness, you're 18 and over, you're in the club. Now there's some other qualifiers but at the end of the day, that's the only two bars that you have to meet to be part of Lexington House. We choose that. That's what comes in. We don't dive in. What we do very well is that we link to providers, like in oakland, like a hard city, that provide mental health treatment. So if someone is in need, then we link, we help connect, we'll take you over. That's what we do. But when people come in the door we don't ask diagnosis. We say what's your name, do you like coffee or water? Because that's first drinks on us.

Kevin Deary:

I love how you talked about. I was very impressed with the advocacy, the ambassadorship, but also how you help them work through government disabilities. You help them with transportation to any medical needs they have and the impact on the families, how much that they have been working with their son or daughter and how much they can't wait to get to the Lexington House. They have a place where they belong. And how the parents and the grandparents feel about the Lexington House has been and you saw that at your gala just all those families that just unite around the Lexington House. Can you talk a little bit about working with the families?

Francis Disori:

I can. There's this myth out there that people who belong to a Clubhouse aren't connected. They are. Some no longer connect it.

Francis Disori:

We highlighted that recently at our gala. We had some members and their families step up and talk about the impact, of how a mental illness can impact the whole. It's like a ripple effect and I get that from my own experience of being mentally ill, how it impacted my two kids at that time. They were in high school, one in college and my wife Like wow, this is not dad, right. So it impacts the whole ripple of this family systems. So when people come to club, it's voluntary, we don't supervise which immediately empowers the person, right. But what also helps is that when, let's say, a loved one says hey, they're going to Clubhouse, we know where they're at. They're not in bed sleeping. I got to tell you that gets old for the family members. Well, we don't know where they're at or what they're doing. That's again, we're adults. The Clubhouse are designed for adults, not under 18. So that's something to think about. But it is a peace of mind for people.

Marshall King:

Francis, you mentioned that we're a rich county and we are caring for those around us. Tell us I mean give us some sense of how you feel Elkhart County is doing in its approach to mental illness, providing resources for those and treatment and also the stigma that still hangs over mental illness for some, though obviously we've come a long way in battling that. But I'm curious what your thoughts are about kind of the state of things on that front.

Francis Disori:

I'll take the first part, kind of the state of things on that front. I'll take the first part. So, Elkhart County if you take out off like Monopoly board, take out Oaklawn, take out Fade Mission, right, just take those two out, how do you think the tapestry would look? Here I'm going to pause because some counties have been impacted that way. They lost their community mental health center or their homeless shelter closed and the reason I bring in homeless shelter is that they're high percentage. Right, I'm not saying all, I'm saying percentage. If you look at the dynamics here in Elkhart County, I got to be straight up with you. I've worked for both those wonderful organizations because it was a choice but also a gravity to people who are trendsetters in their head. They have the vision. Oaklawn has the vision. I mean, at the end of the day, if we didn't have Oaklawn there'd be a problem. It'd be a little different tapestry out there. If we didn't have Faith Mission of Michiana, it'd be really different out there. Right, we work together and plus there is this great network. I didn't realize this until I moved here and really I'm still discovering in our county, in our community, in our city, in particular, the vast pantries that our churches offer and the connection. It is awesome and the real strength of Clubhouse is the members. They know how it all works and so I take notes so they may come in with knowledge from prior employment like quickbooks working on. But I'm more intrigued about how they know where the housing is and the meals and the planning and where you can get this and how do you get that taken care of and how do you navigate the benefits. Elkhart County is leading my opinion for what it's worth.

Francis Disori:

Backside of the stigma, obviously you're picking up that I'm a big champion of mental wellness. It's a term that many people don't kind of lean into. I lean into it. Well, I do have some mental health or brain health, because technically it's brain health condition. I've been a student of brain health a long time because of my own personal reasons to go really way back and I'm like, wow, I can lead by example to my kids and my grandkids and how to stay in the wellness part of my condition. How do I do that? Well, there are ways, but if you don't know what those ways are, it's really hard to practice them. And now you're playing catch up and it becomes choices. So I'm a big advocate of brain health and proactive.

Francis Disori:

I have worked in my professional career in the range and particularly the high acuity that means the high end of the indignities or the trauma associated State hospital gatekeepers. I work with medical teams around the five state hospitals in the state. I worked with the ERs. I worked first responders, homeless, and I was on the front end of a lot of triage and stabilizing and, as we all know, not all the time it goes well. So I spend this part of my career on the rehabilitation part and getting back in the game, getting the color back when you didn't think you would be color again. I love the Wizard of Oz. I think it's a great piece that when you go from that black and white to that color piece, that's how a lot of people re-energize and they didn't know that it was in them. By the way, their family didn't know it either and it's like, oh, it's just different, it's shaped different, it's actually somewhat better.

Kevin Deary:

I was so impressed when I came into your Clubhouse and you have a giant whiteboard in the living room. You have this giant whiteboard in the living room. You have this giant whiteboard and it is the chart of works, it is the order of the day and it is so well organized and to watch your members go through that board and assign duties. Can you talk a little bit about how important that whiteboard is to the order of the day?

Francis Disori:

Yeah, Rich Meyer, who I dropped his name earlier, which is just what a blessing. He has great stories. I hope you'll have opportunity to interview Rich. You'll learn much.

Francis Disori:

White boards are part of the Clubhouse model and it's part of our tapestry. We do something called the work order day. People say what do you do in the Clubhouse? Well, we do the work order day. Work order day there's two meetings a morning meeting at 915 at our club and there's one at 115. And they are the task of the unit. Who's going to do what? So there may be 50 tasks. They're not chores, they're tasks, and people work side by side doing that. So the person facilitating, or the two people facilitating meetings, say who wants to do what? And it's amazing that people want to do something rather than be on. You don't get told what to do. You don't have to. That's the work order day. It gives structure to the day. People can learn by shadowing, observing, then doing, building confidence. If I can do this, I can do that Right. And then the backside of that is that we have a very large board as soon as you walk in the main entrance.

Francis Disori:

I thought that's where we were going. Is that we have, just like any other business, a calendar Very big. Here's what your club is doing today and where are you. We celebrate anniversaries how long you've been part of the club. Every year we celebrate your name is up there and birthdays. That's the human connection of Clubhouse.

Francis Disori:

Why would you not want to come? It's kind, revalues, reshapes your image of wow, I'm important. Right, there is a need for you to be needed here. Come, help be part of this, because there are people coming in in their own steps of their journey who can benefit from you being here. Oh, I didn't realize that. Oh, wow, I'm here and it works forward and I've seen that beauty.

Francis Disori:

I'll give you an example. I had the great privilege and I call it a privilege of going with an individual to a job interview, getting the job, going to the first day orientation and being part of a first-time job for somebody who's late 20s, early 30s, then driving, getting his first vehicle, who now is still employed, still driving. I was just with him before I came here today and it's moving to see joy from somebody who was told joy wasn't part of that spectrum anymore. Right, I've had other experiences. That's not about me, though I don't live vicariously through. I have the privilege to be part of that spectrum anymore. Right, I've had other experiences. That's not about me, though I don't live vicariously through I have the privilege to be part of.

Francis Disori:

It is their Clubhouse, I'm part of their Clubhouse. It is not my Clubhouse. The power of club lies in the members, the IQ of the club, the energy of the club. It's a moving tapestry. You don't know who's going to be in there every day and it's a play and it goes on and then we move it forward. Why would you not want to be part of that? Right, I do, because I've worked the other side and I mean that's not in me anymore. That's all out. I don't got any more to give. I enjoy this part, and not that I enjoy that. It was a different phase.

Kevin Deary:

I would encourage anyone who has not seen the Lexington House to come in and see this model at work, to watch the members take such great pride in it, move the tasks of the day along and find and make their own color and joy, color and joy. And as we were walking around, I had many of your members come up and just introduce themselves to me, comfortably, confidently. I just thought that was so impressive. And do you need anything? You want a coffee? You want a water? Kindness, kindness. That's right, pure kindness and acceptance.

Francis Disori:

I see myself where I am. My own journey and we're going to talk maybe a little later, but because it's not about me, but it's where I'm part of their tapestry of the club is being better in kindness is a good thing, right, that's where I want to spend the time I have, remaining on this game with being kind the only other time I see it I shouldn't say the only other time but I run the city in the morning and I do. I love running and I run the Riverwalk in peace early and I run into people there and you know this is Elkhart. I've been running there a long time and when I hear good morning and I say good morning to everyone, I greet and I get a good morning back. You can't get more genuine than that and to me that's my blessing of the day. I mean I go, we've been around three of us, right. I mean you get people say, hey, how you doing that's great. When I get there in the morning, that's as raw as you can be. Good morning, how are you?

Francis Disori:

I'm all right man, it's good, good day, have a good one.

Marshall King:

That's very cool and I don't want to squelch this lovely flow of kindness and goodness. But I also, like you, mentioned the Wizard of Oz, and there's this point in the Wizard of Oz where everything you know goes from black and white to color. In order for Lexington House to be a place in which this kindness can sprout and this color can blossom, there have to be people helping you out, like donors, board members, staff members, who are some of the people around you, this collection of people who help make Lexington House a place that people can come to every day.

Francis Disori:

That's a good question, right? Yes, good question, right. So we started off in lexington house in the middle of a pandemic, september 3rd 2020. We opened a non-profit. Why would I have a conversation with? Person from international Clubhouse said why would you be open in a non-profit Clubhouse? You don't even have your non-profit status, corporation ink dry.

Francis Disori:

And I remember what I said to him this is Elkhart, indiana. It's fertile ground here. I know that from my prior history of the people and companies that I've entwined with. They don't give it away here. Tough vetting. First rule is get vetted by the Community Foundation of Elkhart County. You get through their screen. We may talk to you.

Francis Disori:

Well, we did and, to our surprise, our being Rich and I put together a grant, a challenge grant, best kind of grants. You got to put some skin in the game. Raise $100 to get $100,000. Okay, we have $4,000. We don't have a place of our own. We want to grow a nonprofit during a pandemic? Okay, line up, give us money.

Francis Disori:

When everybody was pulling back, within nine months, we raised $100,000. That didn't happen by chance. So, to answer your question, fertile grounds, elkhart County. But I come from a community where it used to be fertile ground and they didn't take care of it. They went from a company, not a company, a city of around 65,000, very promising to now it's less than 4,000. So I've seen the erosion. I'm you know it's like upside down economics. Their main export were quality individuals leaving. Their main export were quality individuals leaving.

Francis Disori:

I remember listening to Levon Johnson from the Greater Chamber a few years back and talking about how do we retain? And I'm like right, how do you retain and build not just people but companies. And Elkhart is fertile ground for that. And back to my original piece. This county has two Clubhouse, not one. We start off with Community Foundation of Elkhart, county faith mission and at that time, river of Life Church. When they did for us. I, you know we have board. I have worked with a great board. We can talk about our board in a minute. But River of Life Church brought us in and I mean they basically we had like 4,300 square foot and what they were charging us. I was like we don't have any money and they said we'll figure it out as we go. And they did, and we did and we grew with them. That's the power of Elkhart in our community.

Francis Disori:

So partnerships is the key commodity. We follow a business model. Good to great. Jim Collins, I'm sure you're all familiar with it we don't chase the capital. Capital will come if you do. The right people at the right times with the right partnerships. We build partnerships. But you don't just get partnerships. People got to believe in that integrity and the mission and we have some deep connections, starting with Community Foundation of Elkhart County. United Way I want to go on to Oaklawn has joined that group. And I do want to do a quick shout out To one of our businesses, karen and Jeff Cripe Of Label Logic. They've been with us since the beginning and they're a homegrown company here in Elkhart County. I don't know if you know them but I got to tell you we're blessed to have them but they very good business people. They started their business in a garage. They connected to us. I hope that answers your question. It does.

Marshall King:

It does, thank you.

Kevin Deary:

Let's talk a little bit about you. You've been kind of weaving yourself in and out. When we first met I was very taken with you because as a former CEO for 30 years, I've come across a lot of people that are kind of coming through leadership, coming and going, but your passion and your clarity, your advocacy was like crystal clear and in this podcast it still rings crystal clear, which is why I've been so impressed with you. If there was a new executive director that was coming in to start a nonprofit any nonprofit what advice would you give that new executive director?

Francis Disori:

be open to learning and applying. Surround yourself with people of integrity, hardworking but smart people as well, and you don't have to be the smartest one in the room. These are all early lessons and I've been blessed going all the way back to the beginning of Francis to have some really wonderful people that have pulled me aside and have given me life lessons and, although painful, most of the time merited great life lessons later. So find a mentor to, or a group of people. I love what you all offer and I'm part of Going in once a month to the round table with other CEOs.

Francis Disori:

We're all different, as you know, but we have a common thread, or it is again. We have the same challenges and we're alone, but in that room we're not alone. We are together, we're human beings and a part of our journey and we get to be human beings. We're not CEOs, executive directors, whatever title you want to give us. At the end of the day, we're laughing, we're crying, we're upset, but we are together and there's energy coming into us, because most of our day we're spending our energy out. How's that?

Kevin Deary:

That is beautiful. We often look to be fueling stations for others. And the roundtables, the retreats, some of the things that we do. There are fuels. We get fuel from each other because you're not alone. That can happen even with CEOs, executive directors feeling isolated, feeling like you have to move everybody, fuel everybody, and then what's left? Who's fueling you? And so I really appreciated you sharing that, because that's how just about all the CEOs feel when they get together.

Kevin Deary:

Over 100 of them, including Kosciuszko County, now gather because they're not alone and they get to learn best practices, and I thank you for sharing that.

Marshall King:

So, Francis, thank you for being here today and thank you for the work that you do. I want to wrap this up today by asking what gives you hope?

Francis Disori:

I want to wrap this up today by asking what gives you hope, the generation that's coming up? I've had the privilege and I do currently be fulfilled more by the connection of what they do, whether it is in social work or economics. Fulfillment is a higher priority to them, priority to them, and that will only make things move forward, saying okay, fulfillment, I feel good about this. This feels right in me. I want to this nonprofit over here. This rings some bells for me. I want to be part of it. Okay, rather than doesn't line up with them. No, this is me. So they're seeking out fulfillment more. I really enjoy the energy of the new generation coming up.

Francis Disori:

The other part of that, really quick. We are in the 21st century. We have access to Google, da-da-da, but we also have information about neuroscience that 10 years ago, 30 years ago, they would never have thought about, and the knowledge that comes with the neuroscience. I mean, if you've watched neuroscience as a hot topic for kids and individuals going to universities, there's a reason for that. The study of the human brain is really on the cusp Clubhouse.

Francis Disori:

Really quick is also we're figuring out what the magic is. It's not about magic. We can do the neuroscience to show you that how this is working. I get very excited about that because for the non, I don't want to say nonbelievers, but it's about the math and the science and we live on the planet at our time, in our journey, we can put them together and I hope I live long enough to not talk about the stigma of mental illness, but the brain health and how to be proactive with it and what are the blessings that may come of that, rather than, oh my God, what are we going to do? So there you go.

Marshall King:

That's beautiful. Thanks for being with us today and thanks for reminding us about the magic and the beauty that can Elkhart County. It is powered by equipment from Sweetwater and recorded in the Viaggio studio at we Impact in Elkhart's River District. Music is provided by Sensational Sounds. Editing is done by the award-winning communication students at Goshen College, home of one of the best college radio stations in the nation. Listen to Globe Radio at 91.1 FM or online. Learn more about the Community Foundation of Elkhart County at inspiringgoodorg. You can follow us on Facebook, instagram and LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We hope you're inspired and inspire good in your community.