02/05/2022
There are 5 individual but related elements to the Compassionate Community projects in Frome and now in Whitby.
They are in summary:
- The people who live, work, play, shop, mix and generally "do" in the day-to-day of a community. The community may not be only the general community at large but might be a community of interest or support like a parents and tots group, a club or even these days an online group (which rapidly developed during the pandemic).
- The individuals like you and me who have a role in the community as shop keepers and customers, doctors and patients, teachers and students, givers and takers. The latter category may sound a little insulting to takers, but the reality is that most of us during most of our life are both givers and takers. It is what makes the world go round and provides positive purpose for people.
It is when individual people at any age become disconnected from others that loneliness takes over and small things get on top of us. Thank goodness then for givers when we need to take.
- Places to mix are an important part of a community in times past (the village pump!); now places to shop, borrow books, have a gathering, have a chat; in the future virtual media will increasingly have a place (as it does now in families that are spread across the globe!).
The places (real and virtual) must be about people and orchestrated by real people who care about others.
- Compassion is the driver and all of us has it (maybe well hidden in some but able to be retrieved!).
We can feel sympathy for someone, feel empathy with someone (been there and got the T shirt) or can have compassion for someone which has the ingredient of trying to do something to actually help someone. Compassion involves the giving of a little time.
What happened over time in Frome was culture change really, as people began to do a small action of their own accord.
It made a difference across the community, up and down it and from side to side. The social climate changed as people and organisations got involved.
- Roles is the next element. Roles that are a little like midwives who help others to give birth! Catalysts to community.
There are professional roles around people care physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually (GPs, nurses, support workers, faith leaders, social prescribers, activity organisers) BUT there are roles and behaviours for you and me too simply as members of our community.
It is this latter category that a Compassionate Community seeks to foster and activate. This is the role of Community Connectors in this project. They are the engine and energy that represents givers of help in small but very effective ways.
- Knowledge is a key commodity in such a project as this. Knowledge at the fingertips of Community Connectors on the front line when they happen to be.
There are times when we ourselves might be solution to someone else's problem. At least we might think we are and we know the answers. This projects seeks to equip "signposts" who simply point towards someone else that is recognised openly to be "properly qualified" to help.
It could be said that Whitby Compassionate Community projects makes Signposts not Solutions.
A Community Connector may well have some knowledge of organisations towards which people (for instance who are isolated or lonely) can be pointed. That knowledge may not cover the whole of the district and certainly not all needs/concerns/anxieties etc. likely to arise.
What is needed is a Directory of help available to Community Connectors that they can look up to provide as reliable a signposting service as they can.
Useful if it is handily available and able to be consulted on the spot using a smart phone. A Handy Directory.
More about that shortly.
More about the content of the directory too shortly and ways you can help help with that by being a signpost!
