Personal Profile
I am from a Radical Social Work background and have worked as a Community Worker,
Social Worker, Residential Services Manager, Care Manager, Therapeutic Community
Organiser, Counsellor, Group Worker, Therapist and Volunteer Coordinator. I have worked within Social Services, Health
Services Trust and the Voluntary Sector, within truly multidisciplinary teams, particularly
involving Social Work,
Nursing, Housing, Police, Voluntary Services Professionals and Volunteers.
I have been involved in and supported very effective,
Therapeutic Communities, Therapeutic Networks, and Service User
Groups; involving people with a range and mixture of problems and personal /
social issues. We have been able to demonstrate, in these various situations,
the effectiveness of these person
centred approaches, as alternatives, or as supplements to 'specialist' clinical
approaches.
I have been involved in Campaigns for the improvement of services to various
groups over the last 35 years. Initially in improving the services and resources
to people with learning difficulties and subsequently for those with physical
disabilities, those with Mental Health, Alcohol & Drug problems and,
more recently, for those with Older Adult issues. People differentially
adapt and thrive from overcoming these difficulties. Social learning and
collective action empowers and enables.
I have Campaigned at National level initially but have
mainly focused at the local level, supporting Self Help groups with minimal financial requirements
and minimal professional input. This has been working as a 'test bed' for
seeing how these kind of support systems can work. I, and these service users,
are now interested in taking the campaign to a National level and developing a
new, radical, interactive, web based service.
Organizational Profile
It is our objective to promote and advance the understanding between various
professional groups and the 'service users' that they are organised to support.
For me, this work began in the 1970's with involvement with other professionals and
media workers, in campaigning to promote the development of
Community Care services for people with learning difficulties, in the UK. We did
not do this alone. Others have also independently taken these radical steps
through out the UK and other parts of the world.
Since then; myself, co-workers and service users (in various teams), have tested and extended the basic principles of Community Care
and 'Person Centred' working, with people who experience; Alcohol and
Drug problems, Mental Health difficulties, Relationship Abuse, Work Place Abuse,
Physical Disability, Dementia Care, Homelessness and Unemployment. This has culminated in
Local User Support Groups
& Networks. The current initiative is to develop an integrated Internet Support Services
& an expanded Therapeutic Network, through this and other 'interactive' sites.
We don't do this alone either. There are other people centred, therapeutic
groups out in the big wide world, struggling to get recognition and support.
Some have been worn down, some have done their job for now and dissolved and
others have been replaced by 'new initiatives'. Some have grown, some have been
swallowed up by bigger organisations and others have just lost their way. It is
in the nature of these groups and organisations that 'change' happens and not
always for the best. Sometimes we must step back and get back to the basic
principles. This is what we are seeking to assist with.
We are a 'Person Centred' Service and
Resource, (Having a Service User, Client, Patient focus). We start from the premise that
'any' mental or emotional distress, however expressed, or whatever severity, is
substantially aggravated by social and cultural influences. Similarly, the
recovery from, or amelioration of mental and emotional distress, is
significantly affected by the social context and social forces, negative and
positive, constructive and destructive. This is not to say that clinical
interventions are not valuable but that medications and therapies are not enough
in themselves. Change and adaptation is essential.
We also extend this principle to other areas of mental
and emotional functioning. The personal impact and consequences of learning difficulties,
of stokes and of dementia, although they have clearly identified
physical causations, are still substantially influences by the reacting
communities and the cultures within which a person resides. The effects of
Bullying, Prejudice, Discrimination and other Physical, Sexual,
Psychological & Emotional Abuse, all have their cumulative effect. We do not
live in a vacuum. The individual and collective effects have substantial impact
on the well-being of self & others.
Experience has shown that disabilities have potential
compensatory mechanisms, which come from
within ourselves and can also arise from within our cultures. The effectiveness of these compensations (and the
social impact) change with time and suffer the effects of the increased
complexity of society, the
reduction of personal autonomy and the resulting 'disempowerment' of the
individual. This disability initiative is an example of 'social' compensation,
along with many other voluntary and statutory initiatives. Evidence of the
effective 'personal' adaptations are also seen within these social initiatives.
We seek to identify and formulate these natural forces;
personal, cultural, communal and social influences and the inherent compensatory mechanisms
that individuals and societies have. We also
look at the situation from a truly 'holistic' perspective, taking account of
physical, emotional, psychological, social, moral and spiritual aspects of the
person and the social context in which they live. This necessarily includes the
political, religious and other institutional influences. Experiential
learning is part of the adaptive mechanism that makes all this possible.
See: The Theory
|
Radical:
Why Radical? My own definition stems from a very clear definition of the term, as
used in science. Free radicals are 'open' [shell], highly reactive and keen to
bond with other radicals & reactive entities,
while retaining their own special character. Thus, this concept of Radical
is associated with the potential to be open to change: responsive and reactive
to knowledge, experience, ideas and other perspectives. While being thus, they
also remain true to their own character and expanding knowledge & experience.
Organisation:
Many of my views & ideas, about the character of organisations, stem from my
own extensive experience at the receiving end & working within them. This has
also been reinforced by the varied experiences that my clients' have described
to me & that I have observed in advocating for them.
My interest in organisations is not limited to statutory and
voluntary bodies. I have worked with large, multinational IT Companies &
smaller businesses, including being self employed & operating within
the leisure and entertainment industries.
Social Analysis:
I was, for a while, an Associate Researcher at BIOSS;
Brunel Institute for Organisation and Social Studies (Brunel University).
Professor Elliott Jacques & his colleagues were researching the relationship
between people & organisations. It was essentially a Psychoanalytic (Melanie
Klein) approach.
This was very influential in my thinking. Although I am not
particularly persuaded by classic psychoanalytic theory; the 'folklore' like
character of psychoanalysis does interest me. Folklore is an extension of the way that
cultures collectively express their understanding of the nature of mankind, the
kinds of relationships formed & its forms of institutions.
I have adapted this Social Analytic approach to suit my own
perspective on the nature of human thinking, behaviour & the forms of
organisation. For myself, communities, institutions, nations & methods of
communication, are natural manifestations of human needs, thinking &
aspirations.
By their nature, they have the same basic character & style
of development, that individual humans are seen to have. They evolve, thrive,
stagnate, corrupt and die in much the same way.
The psychology of the individual is therefore manifested in the
relationships & forms of social order that we can observe. It is the psychology
of these relationships and the general character of human beings, that we
study when we seek a scientific understanding of human psychology.
Individual psychologies remain relatively private and capable of stepping
outside the psycho-social box.
Communication & Understanding:
The technologies that these social institutions
develop are extensions of our senses & the methods of communication. The
collective knowledge & conceptualisations evolve as a consequence of our need to
procreate, establish inter-dependent social communities, extend the boundaries
of our domain & harness nature to our mutual benefit (or demise).
Human evolution is a very sophisticated form of evolution &
adaptation. One in which we, individually and collectively determine not only
our blood line, but also the kind of environment & forms of social order that
our offspring grow up in. Further more, we can override many of our own
endowed limitations & help others to overcome theirs; to their own & their
societies benefit (or even mutual disadvantage).
The kinds of institutions that we set up are therefore
critical and more important for the future, than for the individual greed & self
interest they are often turned to serve. |
