Talking Point Autumn 2014
50 years of Turning Point Special Anniversary Edition
Welcome Contents 2. Welcome point 3. TP People celebrate in style How you have been marking our big 50? 4-5. What Turning means to me 50 Voices: stories of people whose lives have been touched by Turning Point in one way or another 6-7. Our People Face to Face with Martin Higgs Meet ... Tameside Supported Accommodation service Learning from you... Charmaine Mlanga, Team Leader in Parkview, Watford 8. Your Turning Point TP 50 Quiz Some colleagues who share their fiftieth this year with Turning Point
Welcome point I am delighted to have been invited to be the Editor for this special 50th Anniversary edition of Talking Point. This gives me the opportunity to reflect on the important strides that we have taken in inspiring new possibilities in the lives of the hundreds and thousands of people who have been in touch with us since we started. I want to begin by saying a big thank you to those who have stuck with us through good times and bad, all of you, too many to mention, who have contributed your ideas, your energy and your willingness to go the extra mile for the good of the people we support. I also want to thank all the service users and their families who have chosen to trust us, often at the most vulnerable times in their lives, daring to believe that their life can be different and putting their faith in Turning Point to help them. Paul is an example of this. He came to us at a difficult time: “I hear voices; I want them to go away. I’ve been through the mill; it’s really run me ragged. I used to try to hang myself, hurt myself.” Today, he says that the support he’s received at our Birchwood Mental Health Service, has motivated him so much that he’s studying to be a counsellor; he’s recently taken up hiking and is using this interest to set up a Walking Group for Birchwood and, perhaps most importantly, after three years of being with Turning Point, he will soon be moving to his own home.
The journey of our service users, in many ways, reflects the journey that Turning Point has taken in the last 50 years. The journey started with Barry Richards, our Founder: he took a leap of faith when he decided to launch a small non-profit organisation called Helping Hands Plus ’How Turning Point helped (this became Turning Point in 1984) to help people with alcohol related issues. He dared to me’ believe that life could be better for those who were affected, and this bold spirit of inspiring new opportunities for people is what has motivated Turning Point ever since. This spirit has enabled us to grow into a pioneering force for change, operating around 200 services in the areas of Learning Disability, Mental Health, Substance Misuse, Primary Care, Employment, Criminal Justice and Community Engagement. It has allowed us to do things like: l Opening County wide Integrated drug services; starting with Somerset and developing into Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Kent. l Growing our Learning Disability Services, winning awards in Kent for quality, and transforming institutionalised settings from the NHS, towards supported living which is based on the fundamental belief that every person has a right to lead their own life, to determine where, how, with whom they live and who provides them with support. l Providing a full range of community-based mental health services, including the delivery of talking therapies, through the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme (IAPT), an NHS initiative approved by the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence for treating people with depression and anxiety. l Opening our first Primary Care services, including CHIP in Camden, specifically designed to support people who are, or at risk, of being homeless. This bold vision of changing things for the better and of believing that everyone has the potential to grow and learn is crucial to our work and informs our vision and values that we introduced earlier in the year. With this edition, we will be including a poster of these vision and values for you to display in your services and offices, to encourage everyone at Turning Point to find ways in which they can make these real in their settings: it is vital we challenge each other to live them every day, whenever challenges face us, whatever challenges face us. Lord Victor Adebowale, CEO We don’t usually produce a printed copy of Talking Point, but we thought it was only fitting for our 50th anniversary edition. We’ve covered the costs of this through the savings we made by taking the magazine in-house, rather than having it produced by a design agency. You’ll see some changes to the format and features in our next edition in January - a new magazine for a new year. Have you got any ideas for features or would you like to write an article? Maybe you’d like to see Talking Point printed again in future? Let us know at EmployeeEngagement@turning-point.co.uk 2
TP people celebrate in style
There have been a lot of events taking place around the country to mark our big 50. Here’s just a few inventive ways you’ve been celebrating this important milestone. Ashford gets musical “Celebrating with music” is how the team in Kent went about marking the anniversary. A band made up of service users and colleagues played in Ashford town centre.
Alfred Minto House decorates in style Service users old and new joined family, friends and TP colleagues for a buffet lunch to celebrate our 50th anniversary. Musical entertainment was provided by DJ Mighty Max and Ricardo, who performed his latest rap. Luke painted a huge version of the TP50 birthday card in the garden and service users decorated the space with bunting and photos from recent events. Special mention to Jay who baked and decorated the anniversary cakes.
Pendlebury House’s Caribbean vibe The team at Pendlebury House had a Caribbean themed event, with a buffet and entertainment from reggae/soul singer Basil. The sun was out and people were “in the mood to boogie”- now that’s a party!
Manchester and London’s great
South Kirkby barbecue with the
There were cakes galore in Standon House and The Exchange for the TP50 Bake Off earlier in September. In London, David Hoare, Deputy CEO donned a chef’s hat to judge the selection of cakes on offer. Fiona James was declared the winner for her strawberry and chocolate masterpiece. In Manchester, “Mary Berry” and “Paul Hollywood” (AKA Victor Adebowale, CEO and Andy James, Assistant CEO) made an appearance in The Exchange, where Sianne Donovan took the top spot with her Lemon Drizzle Cake.
In early September the South Kirkby team had a TP50 barbecue. They had a great turn out, with guests including Councillor Sandra Pickin, Mayor of Wakefield.
TP50 bake-off
TPCymru treats for visitors At TP’s Catalyst service in Llanelli, the team held a 50th birthday themed quiz. The team have also decorated the reception area of the service and they’re providing a constant supply of TP50 cupcakes for visitors. A delicious way to celebrate...
Birchwood service celebrate with a
quiz
Colleagues and residents had a quiz to celebrate the big day. One of the residents, Waseem, made a short speech as he cut the cake: “It has been a privilege to cut the cake on behalf of all at Birchwood, I am cutting this cake to celebrate 50 years of Turning Point and I hope all residents and staff have enjoyed the day.” Another resident, Paul, said a few words as he was getting ready to move on from the service. He thanked the team there, describing Birchwood as his “springboard to the next phase of life’s journey.”
Reevy Road’s fancy dress The team at Reevy took advantage of the good weather in August and had a barbecue (a popular choice!). Everyone got their fancy dress on and even Mr Bean made an appearance! The evening was a great success, with lots of singing and dancing.
Mayor of Wakefield
Brickfield’s barbecue and music fun Joaquim Batista sent us a great report on the celebrations held at Brickfield Cottage: “The barbecue was lit and the food and drinks started to roll. Music blasted from the speakers and the dance started to flow. The day was a huge success and that’s what Brickfield Cottage is all about, people enjoying themselves, service users, staff and visitors alike. We would like to thank all the staff that made this day a reality. As a team, the key of our success is our joint effort.”
Wiltshire Supported Living People’s For those of you who haven’t yet got around to celebrating – we will be continuing to feature some of the things you have been up to on our intranet until the end of the year.
Parliament Party
Wiltshire Supported Living service wins the prize for alliteration, with their event, “People’s Parliament Party.” Sounds like a great evening! 3
What Turning Point means to me : In the time since we opened our first service back in 1964, Turning Point has touched the lives of thousands of people: those we support, their friends and family, and of course our colleagues. Lots of people have a TP story to tell, so we thought we’d keep with the theme and bring you just 50 of these through our collection of 50 Voices, which features people whose lives have been touched by Turning Point in one way or another. Here are four to give you a flavour. Zanna Finnerty works as a Team Leader at Refocus Day Service (formerly known as Focus Point).
People at our Refocus Day Service
Adam Faulkes is a service user at Willes Road. Here Stuart Roberts, Project Worker worked with Adam to tell his story.
Adam with his mum, Shirley
What aspect of your job do you enjoy the most? In previous roles at Turning Point, my favourite part of the job was the one-to-one interaction with the people we support. That was my niche. It was rewarding to see them reach their personal goals and milestones, maintaining their skills and fulfilling their day. However, in my current role I don’t have as much time with individuals as I used to but my job is still rewarding. Now I really enjoy supporting the staff here and watching them develop. I’ve been there myself and I know what it’s like so it’s great to be able
to support them and give them the opportunities to step up and progress further and further in their own careers.
How did you come to TP? Before coming to Turning Point Adam’s Mum, Shirley, started to struggle on her own managing his behaviour. They didn’t think Adam would want to live with others, so he was initially referred for assessment with hopes of getting his own accommodation. As it turns out though Adam’s relationships with others and the staff supporting him grew. So for now it’s felt that it’s in his best interests to stay where he is, giving time to further support
Adam in becoming more independent.
What is unique about your service in the way that it supports its service users? Firstly we’re the only day service in Turning Point which makes us pretty unique! Some traditional day care for people with learning disabilities involves a set routine whilst at Turning Point’s REFOCUS we’re different. We offer pioneering day opportunities that are designed around the individual and we support
What did Turning Point enable me to do ? The team has noticed a positive change in Adam’s behaviour, he is less anxious and when he does get frustrated distraction techniques are used to calm him rather than medication in the first instance. Shirley credits the team in helping him to become calmer. Adam is able to participate more in decision making, such as choosing
the individual to access and enjoy a variety of activities from cinema trips to horse riding. If there’s an activity that someone would like to do, we try our hardest to make it possible for them. Why are you so passionate about being a part of Turning Point? This service – REFOCUS - is why I’m so passionate about being part of Turning Point. I’ve seen firsthand the work that we do here and I can proudly say that I’m placed where I want to be and where I think I’m good. I’m patient, very generous and supportive - I always try to help anyone who needs it.
his own clothes; something that has come as a result of his new found confidence and independence. What does Turning Point mean to you? For Adam, Turning Point signifies stability and consistency enabling him to live a life more content with a positive outlook for the future. On a daily basis, Adam is unlocking the potential to do more and to participate in more; ultimately, working towards making him even more independent.
Would you like to feature as one of our 50 Voices? It’s not too late to get involved - just get in touch with Rahel.Gerezgiher@turning-point.co.uk. Look out for more of our 50 Voices on our intranet; you might see someone you know! 4
What Turning Point means to me: David Hoare has been at Turning Point for 30 years. He started when “you could fit everyone from the organisation in one room”. Beginning as a volunteer, he has grown with the organisation to become Deputy Chief Executive. How did you get into health and social care? When I started with Turning Point, I suppose I was a bit clueless about what I wanted to do. I had been working for an insurance company but I found it very dull. So I involved myself in various voluntary projects in my spare time - things I was passionate about. An opportunity came up with Turning Point - a residential substance misuse service was looking for a live-in
Michael Winder previously received support from Turning Point and is now a Senior Project Worker for the Turning Point community drug team in Wakefield.
volunteer to help with the running of the service, so I applied. My experiences there really made me want to be a part of TP - they gave me all sorts of opportunities, encouraged me to develop and really threw me in at the deep end. It was tough, but it was a great place to be. Since then I’ve had various roles, but I’ve never looked back. How has the organisation changed since you joined? Thirty years ago, Turning Point was set up to do something great, to provide a service for people that the state couldn’t reach. And we still do that, we support groups of people that have been overlooked or neglected, people with complex and challenging needs. What has changed is that we’ve become more professional in what we do. We realised early on that doing ‘the right thing’ was not good enough - we needed to become an effective, accountable business. If we want to provide people with
What aspect of your job do you enjoy the most? For me the face-to-face interaction is the best part of the job. I can often deal with slightly more chaotic clients and they’re the people that the system runs away from and avoids like the plague, but not me. They can be hard work but I love the challenge. In my opinion these are the people who need the help the most. Why are you so passionate about being a part of Turning Point? If I hadn’t received the
stability and support, then we need to make sure we’re going to be around for the long term, so we needed to be financially secure. The other thing that has changed is how we are regarded by the public we’re no longer a specialist service providing support to people with substance misuse issues; we support whole people and whole communities. I think we were ahead of the game on that, we’ve provided integrated services for years, and the state is just now catching up. I’m proud of that. What do you think has stayed the same? We haven’t lost our focus - we’re still the same bold, determined organisation that wants to work where others can’t or won’t. And we’re not afraid of a challenge - when all hope is lost, we’ll give it another shot. It takes a certain kind of person to do that, and I think we still attract those people. We’re from all walks of life and from massively different backgrounds, but
excellent support from Turning Point, especially from the key worker that I had, I wouldn’t be alive today. Turning Point has a real talent of finding individuals that are good at the jobs they do and when people are good at their jobs, they should be employed to do them! What skill or quality do you have that helps you do your job to the best of your ability? I think being an ex-service user myself is definitely an added bonus in terms of understanding what the
we all share that same spirit and the same resilience. What do you like about your role? I’m in a great team between us we’ve got so much experience, but above all we get along really well and have a feeling of being really ‘roped together’. For me that makes all the difference, whatever role you’re in. What I like about Turning Point most is that we take a chance on people; we give them a chance where others might have given up on them. Thirty years ago TP took a chance on me gave me all sorts of opportunities, and we still do that every day in our services.
current service users themselves are going through. However I wouldn’t want to play on that too much. Oddly I think my ego really helps because I want to take on a challenge. I don’t want to fail the service users, I want to do the best I can for them so that they receive the best quality of service and care as possible.
5
TP people
Face to face with Martin Higgs
Martin Higgs is Turning Point’s Head of Marketing. Based in Standon House, London, Martin and his team have been working on our brand refresh over the last few months. They’re also the team behind 50 Voices, some of which are featured in this magazine. How did you come to work at Turning Point? I spent the first half of my career working in retail marketing. Don’t get me wrong, I worked in some great places and for organisations that I respected, but the bottom line was always that my role was to create profit for the shareholders. After a while I wanted to do something different, to add value in a different way. That was my main motivation to move into the 3rd sector, to come to TP. I wanted there to be a social purpose for my job existing, for it not just to be about money. It sounds corny, but that’s the only way I can think to put it. Living, breathing and now eating the brand! What inspires you on a day to day basis? I’m inspired by the motivation, the passion and commitment that comes through when colleagues talk about their work with the people we support. The same is true when service users talk about the support they have had from our services. The way I look at it, I don’t work in a service, I’m not equipped with the skills to support people directly. My skills lie in marketing, and because I am passionate about what Turning Point does, I want to let people know about the innovative work we do. That’s why we’ve really focused on telling people’s stories in our work, in our 50 Voices case studies and in the videos that we’ve been working on. I think these tell the real story about what Turning Point does.
Tell us a bit about brand refresh. For me, it’s simple - we have these great services and my job is to tell people about them. Brand is key to this, because of the environment that we operate in. Our brand refresh was about creating a strong visual identity for Turning Point, to help us expand and ultimately to bring our services to more people. Our old logo and brand didn’t do that, so we spoke with people around the organisation and came up with a fresh approach. Now our brand is warm, colourful and vibrant - exactly like our services. What are some of the things you’re working on at the minute? We’re currently working with some of our Tier 4 Substance Misuse services on a series of videos, and we’re still gathering together our 50 Voices. As well as being really inspiring stuff, I think these are a great way to find out more about the different kinds of support and services we offer across the organisation.
Learning from you... There were lots of inspiring events held across the country for the 50th anniversary, but one that caught our eye was Parkview’s ‘Make a Joyful Noise’ workshop. Charmaine Mlanga, Team Leader in Parkview, Watford, told us all about it. “Make a Joyful Noise is a musical experience for people with learning disabilities and the people that support them. For our 50th anniversary celebrations, activities included listening and dancing to the greatest hits of the 60’s: Tom Jones, The Bachelors, Percy Sledge, The Supremes and
6
TP people Fran Zuliani-Holland is Operations Manager at Tameside Supported Accommodation. The team joined Turning Point in June, so now they’ve got settled in we thought we’d catch up to see how things are going.
Meet ...
Tameside Supported Accommodation service
Can you tell us a bit about the service? At Tameside we offer support to people with severe and enduring mental health problems. Residents usually stay at the service for about 2 years and we support them towards independence and recovery. The idea is that after this time, or when they’re ready, they can move on to a more independent life. There are about 25 of us in the team, though we all work different shifts so we’re rarely all here at once.
When Turning Point took on the service, we had a few service users who had been here for quite a while. One of the things we’ve worked hard at since June is to develop a sense of energy and optimism that we can support all of the service users to change and to move forwards, even when this might be complicated. What kind of things have changed in the last few months? In the last few months we’ve been working to bring the focus back to recovery, to promote independence. Of course none of these changes have been made overnight, and some of the things we’ve been doing have been about sowing the seeds of change, but we’ve already had some success. For example, we have recently changed the use of one of our rooms. Where it had been used previously as a kind of communal lounge, like in a care home where residents would sit and do very little, we’ve encouraged them to use their own living rooms in their flats. And instead we’re using the room to hold activities – we have a music group in there now, and we held our TP50 event in there too. So we’re encouraging the residents to become more independent, and also supporting them with constructive, focused activities.
How have these changes been received by the team in Tameside? Many of my colleagues here have told me how glad they were to become a Turning Point service. They felt that Tameside needed some new energy, some oomph! Now we’re doing things that before seemed unlikely - just a few days ago one of my colleagues accompanied a service user to take the bus. That might not sound like an extraordinary achievement but for this person it was a really big deal. Successes like these encourage the whole team to keep trying, keep encouraging people to move towards recovery. Marmalade, to mention a few. People had the opportunity to try out new musical instruments, and they were also treated to homemade cakes and refreshments. Music is a universal language which reaches across all ages and social backgrounds to lift and inspire people. Sing along group work is one of the most popular and effective methods to stimulate mental functioning. People not only remember tunes from their past, but also, by association, people, places and events from their lifetimes. This provides people with opportunities for shared experiences and reminiscence, while providing people with a sense of accomplishment and self-worth.” Following on from the success of the workshop, Make a Joyful Noise will now be held on the 3rd Thursday of every month. 7
Your Turning Point
Here are some of your colleagues who share their fiftieth this year with Turning Point.
Steve Turner
Julie Bass Fiona James Mick Hill
ome to A Big welcom our newest
...colleagues fr n. Service in Croydo Substance Misuse
TP 50 Quick Quiz Here’s a quick way for you to test out some of you knowledge of TP history over the last 50 years. Perhaps it would be a fun thing for you to do at your next Team Meeting too? Q1: What was Turning Point called in 1964? Q2: In what year was the first service opened outside London? And for a bonus point, where? Q3: Who was our patron in 1984 when we first became Turning Point? Q4: In what year did we first expand our services beyond substance misuse? Q5: When did we open our first Learning Disability service? Q6: After ten years how many services did we run? And in 40 years how many? You can find the answers to all these questions on the TP 50 Timeline poster that you received a few weeks ago, but no cheating: give it a go before you peak! If you haven’t already added your own facts to our timeline poster, please feel free to add your own stickers to personalise it for your service.
How Turning Point helped me “I first came to Turning Point in Jan 2013. I needed help for a long history of alcohol abuse, which ultimately resulted in addiction and a life not worth living. After receiving and completing a detox programme, my key worker, Daljeet , told me about the many different courses they had to offer. The first I took was the beginners I.T. course which is great for anyone who’s interested, but (like me) not very knowledgeable of computers. The second was beginners photography, which was something I found intriguing. Photography is something that was very helpful to me during recovery and continues to be so now, as I have taken it up as a hobby. The course added a little structure to my life but my passion for photography itself is ongoing. I was contacted by Turning Point to see if I would be interested in making a short film about recovery that would be entered into the Recovery Street Film Festival. Although very nervous, I was happy, excited even to do so! It was an opportunity to share with people just a little of my experience but more importantly, the message of a happier life after addiction. Manus Cross, Employee Communications Officer and Laura Conn, Media and Communications Officer helped me to do this by filming and sharing that message. My plans for the future are firstly to stay abstinent. I believe that plays the key part in my happiness and freedom today. Photography is one thing I will continue to pursue. And maybe one day I will be able to help About Talking Point someone else, as Turning Point has helped me. Thank you to everyone at Turning Point!”
INFO POINT 8
If one of your clients would like to share their experience of how Turning Point helped them, contact talkingpoint@turning-point.co.uk
This edition of Talking Point has been printed on recycled paper. Find out more about Turning Point’s environmental policy by looking at the Green Heart of TP on our intranet, IRIS.
Turning Point is a registered charity, No. 234887 Standon House, 21 Mansell St, London, E1 8AA Tel: 020 7481 7600 www.turning-point.co.uk