CHAPTER AGM 2011

You are invited to attend the CHAPTER AGM on Tuesday 11th October 2011 at Riverside (Old County Hall), Chester.

Please contact us by the 4th October, 2011 if you wish to attend.

AGENDA

1. Introduction.

2. Apologies for absence.

3. Minutes of A.G.M. held on 11th October 2010

4. Matters arising.

5. Annual Report: (CHAPTER 2010-11 Annual Report and Accounts pdf )
Chairman’s Introduction
Trustees’ Report
Treasurer’s Report and Accounts for 2010/2011
Manager’s Report

6. Election of Management Committee.

7. Election of Officers.

8. Appointment of Auditors.

9. Any Other Business

10. Presentation of OCN Awards.

11. Display & Talk about the Transitions Young Adults Project

12. “Reflections on My Career In Mental Health Services”
by Colin Jones, ex Modern Matron at Bowmere Hospital.

Celebrating the First 20 Years

Welcome to our AGM, and celebration of CHAPTER’s first 20 years of operation. I hope you will enjoy this potted history and information on some of the things we believe make CHAPTER a very special and unique organisation that has stood the tests of time, being responsive to the changing world in which we operate, and the needs of our service users. Our service has grown over the years, but throughout we have remained true to our original mission statement. As a staff team and a board of trustees, we are very proud of all that the organisation has achieved, and also extremely proud of all the achievements that have been made over the years by our clients.

How It All Began

In 1991 a group of enthusiastic professionals from a range of agencies came together with the belief that there was a significant service gap for people with mental health needs in the Chester/ Ellesmere Port area. The identified gap was a lack of service to support people who wanted to achieve meaningful work, and might need support to attain this.

The professionals involved were:

Sue Harris (Community CPN Team Leader)
Di Dunkerley (Social Services Team Manager for Training and Development)
Mair Martinez (Team Manager, Occupational Health NHS)
Rita Ashton (Manager, Brookdale Centre)

In order to test out the idea, the first step was to get together all interested parties in order to canvas opinion and ‘brainstorm’ for ideas and solutions. A date was set, and a day arranged, with 60-70 interested people invited, including other professionals, managers, service users, psychiatrists and others.

The day was held at the Brookdale Centre, and was buzzing with excitement. By the end there was a clear consensus on the service gap and both the need, and the opportunity to do something to address it.

From the start, service users were a key part of both planning and implementation, and all were clear that what we did not want was a ‘one size fits all’ service. At that time, there was a workshop located at the Hospital, and many were clear that this was not for them, that something different was needed.

A small committee was formed that included all of those named above, to do further work. A small amount of money was available from Social Services, and this was used to fund a short-term piece of research with local service users, to map needs and wishes of service users. This piece of work included interviews with 30-40 people. What emerged clearly was that people had differing aspirations and needs, and that any scheme had to be able to meet those needs. It also needed to include work preparation and training, as well as employment placements.

The Committee was subsequently extended, to include Tim Hardisty from the Brookdale Centre and John Clare from West Cheshire College. The name for the organisation was selected by the Committee. We now had a clear idea, an evidence base to support it, a small organisational structure (the committee), but no funds!

In 1991 Central Government announced the Mental Illness Specific Grant (MISG), a ring-fenced fund to assist people with mental health needs in community settings, and the funding came via Local Authorities. The timing was perfect, CHAPTER successfully bid for funding, and approximately £10,000 was allocated.

With funds available, the next task was to appoint a staff member, and in 1991 the first Project Co-coordinator, Sandra Duncan, was appointed with a limited brief to provide a service to twelve people in the first year, and put in place the relevant services necessary to support this.

Early on, the need for a ‘placement finder’ was identified. The task was to approach employers, to arrange work placements, and to support such placements. This was the next paid post, working with the project coordinator, and this enabled the number of people assisted to increase. Service user involvement with planning, recruitment of staff, and feedback was always a fundamental principle to the way CHAPTER functioned.

Becoming a Charity

Many dedicated workers and volunteers gave their time and commitment over the years, and the service grew to become a highly respected local organisation. By 1996, CHAPTER was a growing organisation, and a decision was taken to register with Companies House as a Company Limited by Guarantee.

By 1998, CHAPTER was so successful it became a Registered Charity. Roy Johnson, who retired as our Company Secretary in 2011, was heavily involved with these developments, and ensured that CHAPTER remained compliant with all the regulations and legal reporting requirements right up to April 2011. The annual expenditure, for the year CHAPTER became a charity, was £33,000, allowing many more service users to be helped.

As the growth continued, over the next 13 years many more projects were taken on, in response to client need, and funding streams grew along with the number of service users utilising our service.

The gardening project, which began in 2000 operating two days a week with a lawn cutting service, now operates an equivalent of 40 hours per week. We have two allotments, plus the use of two polytunnels. We provide a lawn maintenance service to 125 elderly and disabled customers. 11 service users receive permitted earnings through this project. Another 17 are enjoying projects on the allotments and polytunnels.

Mental Health and Well Being

This began in 2008, and aimed to add to the service CHAPTER provided by including more information and advice on health and wellbeing, encouraging more active lifestyles and healthy eating, whilst still aiming to improve mental health. Whilst the funding for this project targeted the Ellesmere Port area, the benefits of this work to our service users were apparent and we began to include this healthy living ethos into all our projects.

Volunteers as Mentors

This was another successful development, allowing CHAPTER to train mentors to work with our service users, to allow added value to the support we provide. Trained Mentors have been used to support clients in gaining confidence in using public transport, feeling confident in public places, attending voluntary work placements, literacy skills, and helping out in group work, all under the supervision of paid staff and providing services that are outside of our remit but essential for client progress. Funding for this project has now ended, but given how successful it was, and the added benefit our service users received from it, we have kept it going on a small scale while we seek out additional funding.

Wood ‘n’ Gardens

This began in 2010 with a small workshop with several clients wanting to produce garden furniture from recycled wood as a social enterprise. The project, like all CHAPTER initiatives, is service user led. A small steering group, supported by the Project worker Jon Sharps and a Trustee Colin Jones, meet regularly to review progress and decide direction. This is a very popular project with our clients, which currently operates on three days a week. Most excitingly, the project has recently moved to much larger premises, and we have aspirations of having a small retail outlet on site. This will not only help sell on the products made by service users, but will provide other role opportunities for our client group, including admin and retail roles in a supported environment.

The Transitions Project

This also started in 2010 with a remit to provide services to 16-19 year olds in response, again, to an identified need. The idea was to provide additional support and opportunities to these young adults, who may often be facing the first onset of illness during these formative years, helping to ensure that the developments young adults usually undergo, during this period of their lives, can still be achieved by these younger adults, such as going to college or work, making new friends, and developing social circles.

Chester is fortunate in having a specialist Mental Health unit for younger adults, which covers a catchment area much wider than CHAPTER’s. As a result of this, CHAPTER needed to develop ways of providing a service to these younger clients who would not normally fall within our catchment area. Regular groups are now held at Maple Ward, and are open to all the young on the ward, regardless of their home address.

The Future

As you can see we have travelled a long way. Our remit and mission statement is the same today as it was in 1991. We have not suffered from mission drift, as we recognised and responded to changes in client needs. From a initial grant of a few thousand pounds in 1991, and an expectation of working with 12 people a year, the last twenty years have seen us grow to become a highly respected organisation with an income of over £220,000 in the previous financial year.

From one initial member, Sandra Duncan, to a team of 11 dedicated staff.

From two trustees; to a board of 15, including client representatives and co-opted members.

But most importantly - from 12 clients a year, to providing a service to 223 registered clients, and a further 26 young adults currently on Maple Ward.

We are all extremely proud of CHAPTER, and believe strongly in the need for our services. It would not be possible to cover everything in such a short newsletter, but hopefully it provides a synopsis of the developments over our first 20 years.

To all involved, from the very beginning to our 20th birthday - a huge thank you! I very much look forward to the next twenty years.

Our outgoing Chairman:

Anne Piercy (Chief Officer) and the Team at CHAPTER.

The Staff team - minus Sue, our Placement Officer, who was busy getting married at the time...