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Vicky Hall CEO
Cascade Care Ltd |
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The pace of the working day in mental healthcare can be fast and furious.
Two things have happened this month
to remind us of the bigger picture.
Firstly, a member of Cascade’s staff was invited by the Diversion and Inclusion unit of The London 2012 Organising Committee to join other mental healthcare providers
to visit the Olympic construction site in East London, and learn about future employment and volunteering opportunities for service-users.
Despite the half-completed structures of the stadium and other sporting venues, it was still possible to envisage what it will mean, come the summer of 2012, for service users to be part of the London Olympics, and feel included in this once-
in-a-lifetime event. If part of successful rehabilitation and recovery is about feeling valued, opportunities don’t come much bigger than this.
Over the past year Cascade has done its fair bit of campaigning to ensure that these opportunities would be available, and we welcome the London Organising Committee’s strong commitment to Diversion and Inclusion.
Something else of importance happened this month, another ‘construction plan’ which has been launched, every bit as visionary as the Olympic’s, and every bit as important for the future well-being of service-users. This was the publication (November 17th) by the DH of the National Delivery Plan of The Health and Criminal Justice Programme Board that sets out a coherent framework for implementing the main recommendations of The Bradley report.
Just as our service users will be included in the London Olympics, this report makes it clear that the private sector will be inc-luded as an integral player in the roll-out of the National Delivery Plan. Cascade welcomes this inclusion. We will play our part.
Through my staff member’s visit to the London Olympic site and the publication of the DH Report we are reminded of the bigger picture. And we like what we see. |
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 Laington House Essex
On the inside cover of Cascade’s new brochure (copies on request) there is a telling picture of a young fawn standing isolated in the depths of a large forest. The point of the photograph is driven home by a quote from Mother Teresa, who stated “Loneliness is the most terrible poverty”. The starkness of this observation speaks volumes.
Managing the inner loneliness of our service users is central to what we do at Cascade. Inner loneliness, especially for those diagnosed with depression, can seldom be entirely eradicated. But the healing effects of living in a therapeutic community like Cascade do deliver long term benefits.
Laington House, in Harold Wood, in Essex, opened in late 2008, is the largest of Cascade’s 24/7 residential units. Whereas all our other Homes are 5 or 6 bed units, Laington House accommodates up to 9 service users. But despite its slightly larger size, Laington House is very much ‘home’ to our service users, and professional visitors frequently comment on its open and friendly atmosphere.
Creation of a familial environment, as far removed as possible from the institutional settings from which so many of our service users are received on step down, is a key element in constructing their recovery pathway. But creating this is about more than bright, airy rooms and comfortable furniture. Cascade’s service-users also live as a family, deciding on where to go on their weekly outings,
and where to take their annual holidays, a fact that elicited some surprise recently from a Social Worker from a busy London CMHT who remarked “I don’t know of many other providers who involve their service users so much”.
Unlike the fawn in the forest, Cascade’s service-users are rarely alone. And certainly none of them will be allowed to feel isolated. Social inclusion can mean many things. At Cascade it means developing the confidence to take responsible decisions, to be more aware of the needs of others, to gain the life and employability skills to move on into independent living within the wider community. |
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