New support team in England & Wales.
FOUR SOCIAL workers have been appointed by Camphill England & Wales as social work advisers to support Camphill communities, residents, students and their parents and families.
The new team will all take up their posts by September, and will assist individuals and communities to negotiate the complex regulatory framework under which Camphill communities now work. They will be available to provide professional advice and training in matters such as admissions, placement funding, assessments, moving from schools to colleges and from colleges to adult life or from one area of the country to another, quality assurance training and internal reviews. They will also help to ensure Camphill keeps up to date with local and national developments and meets standards and good practice requirements.
There was enormous interest in the new posts and of 150 applicants, 18 were short-listed. These candidates were interviewed by panels that included both Camphill co-workers and community members with special needs.
Natalie Denison, Helen Ferguson and Phillip Gibson were selected to join Jacquie Spencer who previously worked with the Camphill advocacy project.
"This is an exciting new project which we feel can support families through the bureaucratic quagmire and be of significant benefit in enabling Camphill to remain proactive in an increasingly challenging and complex environment," says Andy Paton, the national project director. "Members of the new team will work with communities, community members and their families across England & Wales, which we have divided into three regions - the north, the south east and the south west."
In the north, Helen Ferguson will be working with Larchfield, Botton, the Croft and Pennine communities with a total of around 220 students and residents. Natalie Denison is to cover the south east region which includes the Camphill East Anglia, Milton Keynes, St Albans, Delrow and The Mount. They have a total of around 165 students and residents. The south west includes as many people as the north and the south east combined, so will be covered by two people - Jacquie Spencer and Phillip Gibson. Their area stretches from Stourbridge in the Midlands to the Lantern Community in the south, and across to Camphill Devon and Glasallt Fawr in the west - a total of 15 Camphill centres.
"Camphill has changed enormously, and in England and Wales there are now 25 centres with almost 800 students and community members with special needs," says Andy. "In addition, there are hundreds of co-workers, their children and increasing numbers of employees. This is very different from the early years of Camphill, 65 years ago. Today, professional help and guidance in the fields of education and social care are as necessary as from lawyers and accountants.
"Those with disabilities have changing expectations and the regulatory framework in which we exist has become more complex. There is emphasis on independence, choice, inclusion and civil rights, even if the aspirational rhetoric becomes mired in the reality of funding constraints. In Camphill we sometimes wonder how we can do justice to the many new requirements placed upon us and yet stay true to ideals of the integration of community and individual freedom. In addition there is new impetus to the debate around the need for and appropriateness of special schools.
"Our team of social workers in this advisory project will help guide us in many of these issues."
This new project has its roots in what began as the Camphill advocacy project. Some six years ago, Camphill Families & Friends, through the foresight of Ian Dollery, obtained lottery funding to employ two social workers - Jacquie Spencer and Richard Woolrych. When the funding period was completed, Camphill England & Wales wished to continue the relationship with Jacquie and Richard who became employed by the Swindon Centre Development Practice and managed by Kate Burger. The project name changed to Advocacy Consultancy and Training (ACT).
It has become clear that two people could not deal with the amount of work, so Camphill has now moved into a new third phase of this initiative. Each of the three regions in England & Wales has nominated a representative to supervise and co-ordinate the work of the social work advisers. In the south east this role has been taken up by Nick Shinn of Camphill St Albans; in the south west by Phillip Curwen of Gannicox Camphill Community; and in the north by Andy Paton, of The Croft Community, who is also national project director.
If you have any questions or feel that the training and development advisers might be able to help or advise you, please call Andy Paton on 01653 694197 for further information.