The first clubhouse was Fountain House, which was opened in New York in 1948. It was founded on the belief that, regardless of mental illness, clubhouse “members” could work productively and have socially satisfying lives. The rest of the mental health establishment did not believe that people with mental illness could benefit by a program based on rehabilitation, community, and mutually reciprocal relationships with staff. They continued to base mental health treatment on the medical model, which was focused on the fixing the "patient" and his or her "illness."

Fountain House was the only program of its kind until 1977, when it received a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to establish a Clubhouse Model training program. By 1987 when the grant ended, there were more than 220 clubhouses in the United States alone. Officials at NIMH said that, in terms of successful replication, this had been the most successful grant they had ever funded.

Over the next eight years, the clubhouse movement grew, and worked to develop standards, expand and improve clubhouse training, provide ongoing consultation and support to new clubhouses, and craft some sort of clubhouse certification process.

By 1994, the clubhouse movement had grown to the point where it became necessary to create a separate organization to manage new clubhouse development, training, consultation and certification. This led to the creation of the International Center for Clubhouse Development (ICCD), which is still the certifying body for clubhouses worldwide.

For a more detailed history, visit the ICCD website's history section.