Interview with Bryce Alcock
[Interview conducted by member Amie J for our January 2020 newsletter. Bryce is former Coordinator of Toowoomba Clubhouse]
Q: What was the process of getting funding to establish Toowoomba Clubhouse?
A: “The process of getting first funding we had this marvellous arrangement so many people wanted input. There were two people here in the submission stage myself and a health information professional and we’d write and work on the submission every day and at the end of each day other prospective members and carers and other professionals would come in and tear apart what we’d written and produce something much better. At the same time everybody was having fun I think because people were so dedicated to the idea."
Q: When you were in that early development stage did you ever think that Clubhouse would ever be so successful or last so long?
A: “I guess we were just so focused on getting it established we didn’t think that far into the future… and we were hoping for the funding so we could establish, once we got that we thought were on the way. We weren’t thinking about 2020 we were just thinking about the next step. Queensland Health gave us enough…. and we had people providing donations of ten thousand dollars. As we went on we developed more sources of funding we were able to provide day to day living program. We started off with very minimal staff and then by the time I left in 2008 we had quite a few.”
Q: How many years were you the coordinator for?
A: “Twelve years 1996 to 2008 although I did come back for a short period and filled in.”
Q: Do you think that all the work you went through seeing the end result would you say it was worth it?
A: “Absolutely yes, just seeing and being a part of it on a daily basis. One of our early members was a guy who had spent ten years or more in a housing unit never going out and just listening to music. A caseworker bought him here he decided he liked it. He worked in the kitchen, made scones and regularly cleaning up, he was really good at cleaning so we got him a job eight hours a week cleaning professional offices. Then we got him a job as a baker. He met another Clubhouse member and got married in the Clubhouse garden and that sort of thing is just one example of the types of things that we had. For me to see that was very worthwhile.”