A place of all round support

This was the first presentation back in 2013 in its simplest form. We have lots of academic reports which are long this is the original vision. its taken a while to get the right people to listen and gather momentum but on our way now. Time for action!!!

Join the Dots A presentation .......Creative Holistic Support Centre.

For people in need of support Fear, anxiety, homelessness, unemployment, Isolation, poverty and loneliness

Are just some of the emotional issues facing people leaving care, or psychiatric hospital or prison and entering into a sometimes very hostile community.

A Creative holistic approach

The method of engaging with people leaving prison and other institutions at the moment has limited success; it doesn’t make it easy for people to access the support on offer. 

We now have lots of supporting evidence of Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE’s) this gives us a deeper understanding and does so much to explain behaviour and toxic stress. If we do not take this on board then we have no chance of engaging in a beneficial way with these ACE’s adults. 

To change things we must understand the problems people face and try to resolve the issues that stop people engaging with services. 

These men and women know they are vulnerable to offending and reoffending. They know the odds are stacked against them and they admit without support to help them to cope with challenges and change their way of dealing with issues, which they state is usually drink, drugs or self-harm they have a good chance of entering the justice system.

Housing and benefits is really important for people but only half the battle. The questions we really should be asking ourselves are:

• What they are going to do with their time? 
• Will sitting in a run down bedsit or homeless unit with nothing to do help them to reintegrate into the community? 
• Will it help their mental health and well being? Will it help them to stay off drink and drugs? Or, 
• Will social isolation and loneliness push them back to old haunts or criminal activities,

A Creative Holistic Support Centre aims would be to change behaviour through putting the person at the heart of the centre and drawing on their talents and skills. Through the creative arts they would gain confidence, and self-esteem and be supported to use all their talents and skills in a positive productive way. 

Discussions with many support agencies have taken place and these have been very positive.

The idea behind the Theatre and holistic approach is to establish this as a place of real support that is there for people, to bring them in to be part of the solution, this creative engagement is a way of keeping people involved, it is a pathway to education for those who have dropped out in the past, it’s a different way of socialising and a way of keeping people interested and engaged rather than being lost and isolated again

Working side by side in the same building and in harmony with all the support services on hand, such as

• Drug and alcohol counselling. 
• Mental health teams, 
• Housing advice 
• Support with form filling 
• Education classes, 
• Employability agencies
• Mentoring
• Advocacy service.
• Parenting skills
• Talking therapies 

When leaving said institutions people can find their lives very chaotic and different people respond to different types of support. This Holistic Centre would offer a mix of both structured and informal support within a building fit for purpose where people would be treated with respect. This holistic approach combined with opportunities to gain skills and qualifications, opportunities that will grow their social sustainability This will have the potential to create a fairer equal society

As for Prisons: We know that locking up these already disadvantaged and vulnerable people does not stop crime, and yet for all the millions of pounds we as a society spend trying to reduce crime we still send people out of prison with no home, no job, no family and no prospects, knowing that they will most likely return to crime. We have the opportunity to change this trend, a chance to change peoples’ expectations through the development of a Creative Holistic Support Centre that will enable people to use and develop their talents and in turn support emotional well-being, confidence, employment opportunities and sustainable lifestyles. 

Within prisons men are learning skills plumbing, painting, gardening, computer, cooking and many more skills and qualifications, people with the skills could be employed to help build or refurbish a building, this would give them ownership it has to be their space we have to listen to what they need in way of support.  

This proposal is built of the belief that most of the men, women and youth caught up in these institutions do not want the lives of poverty they are living, most of them tied to addictions and crime.  “They want a better life” 

If we have money to build new prisons then surly we can build a truly forward thinking centre, which could be an alternative to prison as we consider what to do with people that would normally get a short sentence this would also reduce prison overcrowding

Interested then come Join us.

On board.. Community Justice Glasgow, Families outside, Theatre Nemo, Wise Group, Simon community, Jobs&business.

Isabel McCue [email protected] 

0757 0797 146