When Amber Mackay announced she was stepping down as executive director of the mental health nonprofit Summit County Clubhouse to take on a bigger role with its umbrella organization Clubhouse International, the local board of directors found the perfect person to serve in the interim — Melissa Flores.
“When the board chair called me, there was no hesitation, because I know what Summit County Clubhouse means to this community,” Flores said. “Once you have Clubhouse in your blood, that’s all she wrote. You understand the impact that it has for those members and the family members, and the community that Clubhouse serves.”
The Clubhouse model, which is the basic philosophy of a global organization of 330 facilities in the world to eliminate the stigma of mental illness, trains members to explore education and employment opportunities, share talents and skills, volunteer and socialize, said Flores, a former Summit County Clubhouse board member.
As interim executive director, Flores plans to increase the awareness and visibility of Summit County Clubhouse.
“First and foremost, we want to work closely with several of the superb nonprofits in this community who also work with those with mental-health diagnosis,” she said. “We want to get the organization into the community and build true community partnerships so those adults with a mental-health diagnosis can have a place to thrive.”
Flores will also work on recruiting new members who could benefit from the Summit County Clubhouse programs.
“I’ve watched members walk through the door with zero eye contact, not speaking and sitting in a chair day after day and then start seeing them start to talk in a daily meeting about what they liked to eat,” she said. “I have seen them start going grocery shopping and preparing meals with other Clubhouse members to getting transitional employment with a cafe and ending up working full time at a restaurant.”
Flores believes the time is ripe for Summit County Clubhouse to move toward that goal, after Mackay helped establish the nonprofit in 2019 and secure a permanent home in 2021.
“Right now there is an ongoing discussion about mental health and breaking down the stigma of having a mental health diagnosis,” she said. “The only way to do that is to stay in front of the awareness of what a mental-health diagnosis means, and, more importantly, what it doesn’t mean.”
Flores has a long-standing relationship with Clubhouse International.
“My very first job right after graduating college was at a Clubhouse that was a start-up in Long beach, California,” she said. “That was where I got to learn firsthand about the Clubhouse model.”
Unlike other mental health resources and nonprofits, the Clubhouse is psychosocially based, Flores said.
“It’s not about being clients, and it’s not being patients,” she said. “It’s about being a member, working side-by-side with the staff so they can get involved with society. I was able to experience that as a staff member and director for three or four years, a very long time ago.”
Flores, who earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, remembers seeing a Clubhouse ad that boasted a “unique, non-clinical model.”
“I started doing all my research, and it was so fascinating to me that there was all of this success in a nonclinical model,” she said. “When I went to interview and learned more, they had not even opened their doors yet. So it was really being part of that foundational team to build and grow something that could be fantastic.”
Since then, Flores’s career has taken her to other executive roles such as the vice president of States and Partnerships for Western Governors University, and as the division president for Corinthian Colleges, Inc., where she took responsibility for 29 schools, 15,000 students,1,800 employees and more than $300 million in revenue.
She also served as executive board member for Utah Women’s Higher Education Network and has been a volunteer and committee member for the National Ability Center, a nonprofit that empowers individuals of all abilities by building self-esteem, confidence and lifetime skills through sport, recreation and educational programs.
She got involved with the Summit County Clubhouse in 2020, after living in Park City for nearly 20 years.
“When I retired, I knew I wanted to give something back to the community, so I contacted the Park City Community Foundation to see what options I had,” she said.
Flores met with the foundation’s then-community impact director, Ollie Wilder, for lunch.
“I told him about my skill sets and what I wanted to do, and I told him that I wanted to be part of more of a start-up nonprofit than one that has been established,” she said.
Wilder pulled out a list of nonprofits and began reading the names, Flores said.
“He went down, boom, boom, boom, and then stopped and said, ‘There is something really new called the Summit County Clubhouse,'” she said. “And I said, ‘Clubhouse, clubhouse?’ and he looked at me and asked. ‘Do you know Clubhouse?'”
Flores smiled and gave Wilder the history of Clubhouse international and ended with, “That was my first job out of college.”
“We both looked at each other, and I said, ‘I think we’re done,'” she said. “It was truly my time to serve and give back to the community, and this was the perfect way to do it.”
Flores worked as a consultant for the nonprofit from January to April 2020.
“I facilitated their strategic planning sessions, and after that time-frame I was asked to serve on the board,” she said. “I retired from the board in September 2022.”
Flores has embraced her interim executive director role, but plans to give it up once the Summit County Clubhouse board of directors finds someone qualified to fill the position.
“They are actively recruiting, and I will do everything I know within Clubhouse standards and operations to take Summit County Clubhouse to the next level during my time,” she said. “It’s about the members, expanding memberships and partnerships and being part of this fantastic community we call home.”
Mackay knows she is leaving Summit County Clubhouse in more than capable hands with Flores.
“Melissa isn’t afraid to work, and I’m thrilled the board got creative with their succession planning in grabbing her,” she said.