Runecraft
UK was an experimental 'life-skill mentoring' project which
I initiated with my husband in 1992 and was my first venture
in my journey as an entrepreneur. The concept for the project
stemmed for an evident need in the community that 'real care,
life-skills training and mentoring' should be provided to
young adults with long term and protracted mental health difficulties.
As many will remember it was during the late 80's and early
1990's that the bulk of residential mental health care facilities
were closed as part of a cost cutting and ideological agenda
instigated by the Thatcher Government; which insisted that
care for these people should be provided in the community.
While I certainly didn't believe
that mass institutionalisation of these young people was right,
there was at the time, little to no infrastructure in place
for the delivery of 'Care in the Community'. The consequence
of this was having a dual impact in my local community. The
well population felt threatened by the sudden rise in people
with complex difficulties suddenly appearing in the community
and the young people themselves didn't have the basic coping
skills to be able to take care of themselves and were vulnerable
to being exploited and neglected. It was a 'no-win' situation
for all.
At this stage in my journey
and self-development I felt that I could not 'cross to the
other side of the road' and believed (I still do) that I had
a moral obligation and responsibility as a human-being to
help and make a positive difference when I can and where I
can, and so after discussing my thoughts and feelings with
my husband and my children it was decided that we would set
up a mentoring / training centre in our home for the deliver
of life-skills training to individuals, who had found themselves
lost, alone and without care.
Over the course of the 12-years
during which this experimental project ran, we were funding
in the main by voluntary contributions in cash or kind by
our clients, their families and received some limited funding
from the NHS, through External Contract Referral (ECR).
The training we provided was
very practical - our clients were taught to cook for themselves,
they were taught how to clean, do laundry, etc. We devised
and assisted our clients to established health day to day
routines based on their needs and abilities. We provided self
development training, which was founded on the ancient principles
of the Runes, as well as provided basic literacy and numeracy
classes.
What was most alarming at
the time of initiating this enterprise was that the bulk of
our clients had fallen through the Statutory Care Network
- the majority didn't have social workers or occupational
therapists, none of them received any counselling, and approximately
70% of our client cohort were not being monitored by psychiatrists.
So a big part of our work for our clients was to re-integrate
them into the fledgling care system - this was accomplished
by acting as their advocates.
Over time RuneCraft UK developed
an excellent reputation for providing individualised front
line care. A small number of consultant psychiatrists whom
out of three of London's major teaching hospitals agreed to
share the care of some of their clients with us. I attended
Community Psychiatric Assessment (CPA) meetings with our client
and produced monthly progress reports for the clients psychiatric
teams. This resulted in me being given primary responsibility
for the care and well-being of these individuals, and being
named as such on the official CPA reports. I monitored two
clinical studies and reported directly to the Professor of
Psychiatry responsible for the research, on a weekly basis
over an 18-month period.
During the development of
this enterprise I was very tempted to study Forensic Psychiatry
and Developmental Psychology, however as life would have it,
it was not my time to return to formal studies; and satisfied
my need to know and understand by reading every text-book
available within this field as part of my professional career
development.
From these early activities,
RuneCraft UK grew organically and by word of mouth throughout
the area in which I lived. The client based expanded to include
individuals from all walks of life, whom were experiencing
a crisis of one sort or another. RuneCraft-UK became a global
concerning in 1996.
While Runecraft UK no longer
exists as an enterprise venture - it was wound-up in 2004,
I continue to provide advocacy, self-development training
and life-skills mentoring support to a hand-full of clients.
I also continue to attend CPA's for this group of clients
whom in spite of the fact that I have relocated from London
continue to see me for counselling and training on a fortnightly
basis, and I maintain my professional relationship with their
Consultant Psychiatrists. I also continue to consult for a
small number of international clients, when they find themselves
in crisis on an ah-hoc basis. |
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