An interesting analysis David, As I remember it , although I was
not involved in any way at that time, the transformation to becoming
a contemporary service provider was your idea, this as you say enabled
Phoenix House to survive. For that to you deserve great credit.
I am not sure what treatment model/s are practiced in today's
Phoenix Houses in GB.
What information I have is that in each house still retains a few of
the better 'bits' of the 'old' model, but has developed in a
different way partly to suit the part of the country it is in, and
the 'mix' of staff its members. If there are any current staff on
this list I would be grateful for an update.
I like the words 'transitional community' for TC's it's very
fitting ! There is one point however in which you may are in danger
of over generalisation. My understanding is, what was the original
the 'Concept' model, has now been developed and evolved a very,
very, long way since it's original 'conception ' excuse the pun ! and
much has been learnt from the mistakes of the past.
I believe there are some other examples in this country and it has
certainly happened world
wide,Arial Phoenix Haga is a
very good example.
Arial
My own view is that one always has to be
very careful with all developments
as there is a danger at times of 'throwing the baby out with the bath
water'
Warmest wishes
Dave
On 17 Nov 2005, at 17:05, David Tomlinson wrote:
Dear all
Putting Culverlands and Cul-de-Sac together was to a large extent a
play on words and not a comment on its closure, in effect it was ahead
of its time (at least in this country) in dealing with anti social
behaviour in clients who presented with problems other than substance
misuse and worked with them in a TC setting. There was however a
serious point I was making, in that, at that time the TC (and I prefer
transitional community) had come to a dead end (geddit); was unloved
by the drugs field at large, was largely ineffective in delivering
treatment outcomes (at least in the way they were self presented) and
not given sufficient gravitas by funders. In this environment its
survival as a treatment provider was in question, and avoiding the
cul-de-sac was one of Phoenix House's achievements in the late
seventies, it did this primarily by becoming client focused,
encouraging a feminist agenda (and appointing staff able ! to nurture
it) and later an agenda on race and culture. It networked with other
agencies, and gained critical mass through opening the new projects,
which not only put it on a sound financial footing but widened the
pool of creative talent in the staff teams. It became a registered
housing association, which brought financial disciplines and a
regulatory environment. On the basis of turnover it got into the UK's
top 100 charities, and as such a 'modern' charity. However, regarding
the transformation from 'classical' TC model to contemporary service
provider, however, the reforms probably did not go far enough and it
was left to my successors as Chief Executive to develop the model
further. Now, you may wonder what has brought on this sudden
outpouring of angst, well it is the desire to see entrepreneurship,
governance and quality standards seen as sides of the same coin.
Memory lane is all very well but rathe! r like people referring to
'this movement', by the time it is being said it probably doesn't
exist anymore.
David
Anthony Slater
<<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
David,
I thought you were lurking out there somewhere.......the past is also
in
some regards a foriegn country to me also. However, I think you may be
mistaken regarding Cui -De-Sac House, it didn't really close, simply
moved
location to "What goes around, comes around lane". Its a modified
therapeutic community for pensioners.
Anthony
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(UK) Ltd - the race and drugs
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