Dedication to Denise Hast (Through the Eyes of Pauline Nicholls

The first issue of the ROAR Journal we dedicate to a clubhouse activist, the late Denise Hast. Denise was at first, a member of the Genesis Clubhouse in Worcester, MA, and later, a member of New York’s Fountain House. She also worked, for a time, at Clubhouse International.

The title of our Journal, ROAR, is inspired by a group of members that Denise had been organizing before her untimely death. The group was created to increase member attendance at clubhouses and to strengthen member voices in the clubhouse world.

I interviewed Denise’s best friend inside and outside the clubhouse world, Pauline Nicholls, in order to compose this dedication. Pauline is the wife of outgoing FH President Kenn Dudek and a clubhouse leader in her own right. She is currently a Nonprofit Management Consultant, but she has also served as a clubhouse director. Through CI, during a clubhouse accreditation, she first met Denise Hast. The two “fire-souls”, as FH enthusiasts might call them, quickly became friends and remained so until Denise succumbed to cancer in 2016.

Denise, according to Pauline, was a loving mother and grandmother, and a loyal friend. She was intelligent (“smart, but not showy”), yet often misunderstood, reliable, but unafraid to speak up. She possessed tremendous empathy for her fellow human beings and had the unique ability to disagree with people, yet not alienate them.

Though Pauline and Denise could have surrendered to the traditional, hierarchical dynamic of recovery program staff (Pauline) and member (Denise), Pauline emphasizes that she and Denise were first and foremost friends, engaged in the type of “meaningful relationship” that clubhouses promote. Denise even had her own room in Kenn and Pauline’s house. The two “BFF’s” explored New York restaurants, put together furniture, traveled the world together and even climbed a Peruvian mountain.

“Denise,” Pauline says, “embodied everything clubhouses promote: she led a recovered life, worked fulltime at CI, where she managed clubhouse accreditations, assisted FH Colleague Training Director, Alan Doyle in recruiting clubhouses for

colleague training, was a guide and mentor to many clubhouse members and staff and she was a respected activist in the clubhouse movement.”

I tossed Pauline an easy question about Denise:

“Did Denise engage in social practice?”

Fighting back tears, Pauline said, “All the time! She worked in the units, wrote for the newsletter, gave clubhouse tours, and was an ambassador for the movement.”

We hope that Denise, wherever she is, enjoys this first issue of ROAR. If she were alive today, she would undoubtedly be a member of our staff.

Craig R. Bayer, 6/13/19