Background Information on Claremont
General History
Claremont has been around since 1907 and pioneered many important
developments in social care and development. These included programmes
in the 1920's and 30's which became models for the Welfare State,
one of the first child care services for working women, and even
free acting classes as a route out of poverty.
The building was originally built as a Christian mission attached
to the rear of the main church building (which is now The Crafts
Council building on Pentonville Road).
The Claremont United Reformed Church (URC), who own the freehold
of the Claremont building, continues to meet weekly in one of the
halls but passed the baton of charitable work, and responsibility
for the entire building in a generous lease, over to the charity
in 1998 (Reg. Charity No.1070611).
The charity's constitution is secular and the charity is independent
of the church. There is however provision for two church representatives
to sit on the board and the charity's activities must remain congruent
with the general Christian values of the URC.
Current Vision
Claremont's current vision came into being in response and reaction
to institutionalized services and day centres. Who would want to
go to a day
centre, we asked, and what kinds of things would they feel about
themselves if they did?
We wanted to be a place that we would want to visit as customers/clients
and to which we would like to invite others. We wanted to be different
from places where staff members, in unequal relationships, create
neediness, anxiety and dependence on the part of their clients by
being the rescuer or "concerned sympathetic ear". Equally
we didn't want to be a place defined by rules and regulations and
the unwritten dogma of small established cliques.
We believed that people, especially those feeling themselves to
be in real need, were often both profoundly under-served and also
sometimes ready
to let themselves be defined as being "ill" or "marginal".
We wanted to help change that and develop a place where individual
personal expression, exploration, responsibility and change were
central and would help forge real relationships and real communities.
Central to that, for us, was the general notion of creativity.
One of the first Claremont examples of the enormous positive impact
that being creative can have came about in a puppet making group
(the
participant's name has been changed to preserve privacy):
Henry, aged in his late seventies, had always been very withdrawn,
rarely saying anything to anybody. A widower, he had no friends
and no remaining family. Henry was encouraged to take part in a
drama and puppet workshop. I will never forget walking past their
group one morning and hearing him cry out with all his might, ´I
love you!´ Henry
was speaking through a puppet he had made. It was as though a dam
had burst for him - he started talking passionately about so many
of the things he had been bottling up. Since then, Henry has found
a new voice, has made several friends at the centre and takes an
active role in social activities. There
is no doubt in my mind that that class and follow up sessions have
facilitated radical improvements in Henry's enjoyment of and involvement
in living.
Being creative, striving for and inventing meaning, even in the
face of meaninglessness, is something that gives us a special sense
of our humanity. It is a reaching beyond ourselves, a cry, and a
celebration of being alive. It is a process that is open to all,
regardless of age, language, cultural background, skill, class,
wealth or physical ability and without it we are diminished as human
beings. Although deeply personal, it is also an activity that can
be profoundly social, engendering social cohesion, inclusion and
development.
Life is rich with possibility and choices. Life also faces us
with our own limitations. Sometimes we can have debilitating difficulty
with these possibilities, choices and limitations. At other times
we may perhaps move artfully through crises. How we respond defines
who we are, who we can become. Claremont is about people exploring
and discovering their personal, social and spiritual worlds and
through such exploration, discovering or recovering their sense
of personal meaning and agency as well as their connectedness with
others.
Other Thoughts...
We are interested in creativity as a response to being alive.
We are interested in exploring relationships between creativity
and physical, emotional and spiritual well being.
We are interested in facilitating ways for people to find personal
well being and social connectedness through creativity.
We are interested in understanding people and other animals and
we desire to avoid ways of working where we might impose our assumptions,
theories or
ideas on those for whom we work.
We are interested in working with people in a number of different
ways.
These include helping people to:
- explore, express, and clarify their experiences of being alive
- explore ways of sharing these experiences with others
- increase and widen their perspectives on themselves, their
choices and their relationships
- confront and come to terms with universal limitations and 'problems
in living'
- be more truthful with themselves
- find the courage and will to create themselves and a sense
of personal value and meaning
We want Claremont to be a place where people come to explore and/or
to challenge themselves and others. We also want it to be a gentle
haven for
those needing respite.
We will remain vigilant to the undesirable possibility that we
might become institutionalized while recognizing a need for organization,
structure, safety and a shared purpose and interest.
Our focus is on human being and the individuals, families and groups
who come to Claremont to explore life as creativity.
|
