THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
28 | CHERRY ORCHARDS COMMUNITY
Health is, above all, the possibility to
rise above challenges and limitations,
to negotiate crises so that momentum
arises for the future. This means that
another very valuable contribution we
can make is to allow people to leave in
a celebratory way when they are ready
to move on. We want them to feel joy
and anticipation instead of fear for the
adventure of life.
Initially, on joining the community,
residents’ work involves establishing
rhythm and building trust, managing
symptoms and exploring new options
for action. The next phase is about
making better or different mistakes,
rather than hoping to make none at
all. This enables learning and increases
the capacity to embrace the challenge
of choice. We have often found that
after about nine months there is a
crisis which is not about being ill, but
about the fear of getting better. Here
too the consistency and the grounded
routine of the community supports
people to have trust in life itself, and
find ways to create a life in which they
are able to maintain their health.
Cultivating a brighter future
As we support both residents and
co-workers to be active in healthy
development, the whole community
must continue to develop. We
are currently engaged in a major
reappraisal of how we can meet the
growing and changing needs that
society faces. We are responding
by offering a wider and more
diverse range of activities. As well as
continuing to provide high-quality
residential and day care, we are
devoting beds to “respite”.
This means that individuals can
access regular and planned support,
preventing expensive and distressing
relapses, and securing better outcomes
for those trying to live independently.
It also provides diverse streams of
income, improving our financial
sustainability. Sessional activities also
allow recipients of social prescribing
and the Personal Independence
Payment to access our services.
Our modest achievements live on in
the lives we may have touched, and
our ethos can be expressed succinctly
in the verse below:
“ The healthy social life is found
When in the mirror of each
human soul
The whole community finds its
reflection
And when in the community
The virtue and strength of each
individual is effective.“
Rudolf Steiner
We support
both residents
and co-
workers to be
active in
healthy
development
“
“
»OUR INSPIRATION
“Only the help from individual to
individual, the encounter of Ego
with Ego, the becoming aware
of the other one’s individuality
without enquiring into their
creed or political affiliation,
but simply the meeting I to I,
creates that Social Therapy,
which counters in a healing
way the threat to our innermost
humanity.”
Dr Karl Koenig
Our community-
nurtured garden
Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett
Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles
