Camphill Village Trust (CVT) is a national charity supporting adults with learning disabilities, mental health problems and other special needs. CVT support people in their home life, work, social and cultural activities through 9 urban and rural communities in England.
In January a group of tenants attended a retreat to explore the things that are important to them in their communities and to formulate a series of questions to create their on-line survey. The next stage has been a series of training events for co-workers and employees who have expressed an interest in being Community Link Facilitators. These Facilitators are now supporting ‘This is Our Community’ planning days, as well as the formation and support of project teams. Everyone will be involved in establishing a Learn to Lead office in every community.
Phil Gibson, senior practitioner of the Operational Support Team for CVT says:
“Learn to Lead will enable us to encourage every person to have a greater voice, ownership and involvement in the life and development of their communities. It will also ensure that this is not ‘tokenistic’ involvement, but rather an approach that safeguards our commitment to real engagement for the people we support.”