I often feel very fortunate that my first influences in the world of helping people in distress were formed in Southill Outreach which I mentioned already. I spent a few years working in the children’s charity, Barnardos, where I learned loads too. A substantial amount of flesh was added to the bones of those influences by working in Bedford Row Family Project.
For some reason I’ve always been interested in design and the first day that I arrived in Bedford Row I noticed that the Project contained many unique design features.
For example:
1. I sensed that the Project was as much a way of being as a traditional family support project.
2. The sense of autonomy and self-efficacy was tangible. Allied to this was a strong sense of determination to do it for ourselves because no-one else is going to do it for us. What I mean by this is that there seemed to be an intuitive acceptance that while outside assistance was always going to be very welcome – the spark to do anything creative or innovative was going to come from within.
3. I noticed a healthy scepticism towards Government type grand plans and/or new initiatives, such as the quick-fixes that I will be mentioning in later Chapters – and a willingness to say it like it is!
(And, I believe, most important of all)…….
4. While a fair amount of formal support work was going on (e.g. therapy groups, counselling, personal development classes etc.) the non-formal work that was done was as highly esteemed as the formal work.
Through all the above what struck me most was the embracing of imperfection!
There were some characteristics of the Project that might be more at home within a family situation than a working environment. While, of course, there were (and still are) very good and rigorous policies, procedures etc. there were also norms and routines factored in when decisions were made that were a little different to those that would prevail in a mainstream family support project.
In this, I observed that, without really naming it, the Project utilised phenomena that are part of the natural world, (there’s that term again) and applied them to the age old problems of crime and imprisonment. (Some of these phenomena I refer to as root foundations in a later Sub-Chapter).
The unpacking [1] (though not, I hope the reducing) of them will be an important part of this website. They manifest in characteristics (for example warmth, genuineness, idealism, consistency, immediacy, patience etc.) which the casual visitor often perceives and indeed frequently comments on.
However the maintenance of such characteristics cannot be taken for granted and requires deep reflection not to mention attendance to many essentials on an ongoing, day by day, basis.
[1]. Unpacking means identifying the elements that have influence and significance in the overall entity. It is different to reductionism which I will be describing in the Chapter on Cause and Effect and Nurture in Section Two.