Preventing Suicide and Deliberate Self Harm
Laying the Foundations: Identifying Practice Examples
Project Report
7. Grass roots community work, Church of Scotland, Edinburgh
Target Group
The initiative is targeted primarily at people who are, or have been, on the 'club scene' in Edinburgh.
Issues
People are getting tired and too old for the rave scene, particularly people in the city's housing estates. People are often now in their 30s, are feeling a bit desperate, lonely, angry, and isolated. They want to do something inspiring, rather than feel like 'damaged goods'. People are often lacking the support structures that they need to get them where they want to be in life.
Services/approach
The project is a grass roots collection of people and groups - not an organisation. It doesn't have a name. They have recently acquired a flat in the city centre as a base, with room for a music studio, arts studio and a quiet space. The idea is to get a diverse range of people together for the betterment of the city - a wide range of people to inspire each other to change the atmosphere of the city.
The project began when the Church of Scotland asked the current part-time worker to go round night clubs and make contact with people, to try and understand how people feel about themselves - asking some questions - what is your passion, your dream, what makes you rage? What is your main concern in life? Recommendations were then made to the Church on how it is perceived, with a view to re-appraising the parish system - to make it mobile and culturally focused, as well as geographically based.
The initial idea was to develop a service based in a club - a kind of chaplaincy. People would be there to be generally supportive. Instead, they decided to start a grass roots project, a communal thing, rather than a service in just one club. The idea was to get people to help who are clubbers themselves.
A local church initially funded a part-time worker to develop this idea. He got everyone together for a Dream Day - asking people - what do you want to do to change the city? The day generated a lot of ideas.
One group of people decided to start up a night club - tried to make it different, collective, non-elitist - a space for different musicians to play. In Edinburgh it is very difficult for musicians and artists as there are few outlets. This venture is dependant on getting premises.
The worker helps people who are not wanting to go clubbing any more to look for fresh things to do, ways of putting something back into the city.
Like any culture, the club scene has bad areas, good stuff and a lot of bland in-between. There has been a negative image of clubs, the idea that there are a lot of people on drugs, etc. People involved with the club scene feel that in terms of organising clubs, what they have done for society hasn't been recognised, in terms of bringing people together.
The idea is that the Church can help support the good bits about the club scene and help challenge the bad stuff. The worker's role is to show the Church all the good things that can be supported. A lot of people have great expectations, but the support structures that are needed in order to help people get to where they want to be in life are small, and there is a huge gap of pain and anger. The Church can help keep people going, give them hope, give them ideas on how to make relationships long-term and helpful. And can help people obtain a support structure to help them get what they want out of life.
The aim is to develop multi-coloured forms of community - a diverse range of people coming together in networks across the country - people from a lot of different paths/directions, such as artists, musicians, activists, social leaders, and people who undertake pastoral work. No one group can solve the loss of identity and disappointment that many young people feel. The aim is that the most vulnerable young people (for example, those at risk of becoming involved with cults/sects) can find a 'healthy' community - resourceful friends and healthy structures. In order for this to happen, many different groups of people need to find common ground in order to give young people hope about a common future.
The aim is also to help people gain confidence in order to get out of places, for example, to make a 'corridor' between housing estates and city centre projects - to help people get unstuck from a 'present' which can seem overwhelming and hopeless. The aim is to support people in this, because when people manage to change their life, they can easily discover that the new life is not what they expected it to be. People need to not be alone, and need to have hope.
In clubs there is a strong feeling of community - people caring about each other. Club culture has been a very positive thing - without it a lot of people would have struggled, and suicide and self-harm levels would have been a lot higher. The idea is to help people maintain this.
Plans for the future include a ten-year nation-wide programme for supporting/funding inspirational adult role models, as well as a 'dream day' for the whole of Scotland, for people to think - 'what do you dream for Scotland to become?'
Key features
For further information, contact:
Paul Thomson, Community Worker
E-mail: dm011c2890@blueyonder.co.uk