Hi all,
I'm still sitting on this, waiting for some time to miraculously emerge from
nowhere so that I can reply!
So I thought I should probably just send a brief reply, rather than keep on
waiting.
The short answers to Carl's particular questions are like this:
I was working with an asylum seeker living in the local area to start
thinking about where to begin with making sense of the lack of access to our
services for refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers (based on the very
low rates of referral, in spite of reportedly growing numbers in the
community). I'd contacted him through the one (at that time) community based
independent sector organisation that was focusing on offering support to
those groups. I attended their evening drop-ins, talked to people etc. NIMHE
(National Institute of Mental Health in England) was advertising a course
(Trailblazers) for pairs of people working across primary and secondary
health care services to apply to work together on project development.
Though it wasn't quite what they were offering, I asked them if they would
take a secondary mental health worker and community member as a pair to work
on health promotion, and they said yes. We went on 3, 2-day residential
courses together, and talked a lot about the issues, problems, etc, along
with about 16 other professional-professional pairings. We were beginning
to realise that it seemed like too big a job to squeeze a project (with any
hope of effectively changing anything) into my already busy work-load and
his uncertain status in the country, just when my very supportive,
community-psychology-minded manager let me know that she'd heard about a
call for submissions to the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund. So we scrambled
together a bid to employ an assistant psychologist to conduct some research
and subsequent community development. And we got it...
What made it possible? Having something ready to submit - just when a
suitable pot of money appears; having done some work already in building
some relationships with community members - though not being sure where it
was heading; and also the good fortune of being able to choose to come and
work somewhere that needs this kind of thing (thus is eligible for NRF
funding as one of the most deprived boroughs in England), and that also has
a manager who shares these values and ideas. Rare combination, I suspect?
Also, with the recent David Bennett Enquiry (regarding the death of a young
black man in a forensic/psychiatric unit), and Delivering Race Equality
coming out from the Department of Health, it wasn't hard to convince our
senior managers that this was a good idea (especially in the absence of any
other relatively bottom-up initiatives).
So the short answer is that I think I was in the right place at the right
time... trying to do some stuff that was moving in this direction, when some
funding came up. There's other stuff I'd like to do that doesn't fall into
place quite so easily.
The others involved in the project and I have struggled with many of the
dilemmas that are being talked about on the list at the moment, in relation
to how to work with people from different communities, and people who don't
feel like they're part of any community, and people in our own communities
(the many that each of us are in, including professionals, White people, and
immigrants to this country), and of course I'm aware that there's a lot we
could have done differently, and would do differently now. Just 2 years in,
it still feels like early days, and the extra money has run out (though I
still have my relatively permanent job), and we are trying to find ways to
keep some things going. For example, we are helping some community members
to bid for funding to develop training skills and a training package on
working with diverse groups to sell to organisations like the Trust I work
for. We've been able to help a couple of small community groups to form and
begin to develop an identity and links with other independent sector
organisations. We've supported a group to get funding for a community arts
project. So small things, imperfect things, but hopefully things that can be
meaningful and sustainable within the community.
Best wishes,
Wendy
-----Original Message-----
From: Harris Carl (R3) BCH [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 25 May 2006 15:00
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] working in the NHS
Hello Wendy
In case you hadn't noticed, I'm glad you started this discussion off. We
probably have a fair bit to share between all of us.
Sounds to me like you could help us by telling us a bit more about the
"small projects" you are starting off. I have had the privilege of
working in a community regeneration programme for the last 4 and a half
years but if I had to go out and find funding for a new project I
wouldn't know where to start. How have you done it? Where did you look
for funding? How did you find the partners? What did you offer as your
part of the deal? How did you justify the time spent setting the project
up to your line managers?
Any answers you have got to those questions would be very helpful.
Cheers
Carl
-----Original Message-----
From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Franks, Wendy -
Clinical Psychologist
Sent: 25 May 2006 14:32
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] working in the NHS
Hello again,
Although I think the ideas and rationale may be obvious to many here on
the
list, it is far from obvious to me how different people find ways of
making
it happen in the NHS. Although we are starting off some small projects
here
in Great Yarmouth (mainly with funding from outside the NHS), I am
always
keen to hear about what works in other places and to learn from
colleagues
with more experience.
Best wishes,
Wendy
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