People Come First ‐ The Swan Centre for Women
| Published date | 01 March 2002 |
| Pages | 15-18 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200200004 |
| Date | 01 March 2002 |
| Author | Mary Weston |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
People Come First – The Swan Centre for Women
Mary Weston
Project Co-ordinator
Swan Centre
Case study
he Swan Centre for Women is a small
independent project based in Bootle, north Liverpool.
It is special, not because of the way it is structured nor
even for the services it offers, but because of the
personalities and values of the women who make it
happen, the staff, volunteers and users. And although
individual personalities cannot usefully be held up as
models of good practice, values can be communicated
and shared. Our ideals are more than a mission state-
ment laminated and stuck on the wall somewhere – in
fact, I’m not sure we ever got round to writing that
mission statement – they’ve shaped the Centre as it
has grown. We branch out into new areas as demand
and talent come together; policies tend to be forged in
response to events and decisions evolve culminating
in consensus. It’s an organic kind of growth, often
haphazard, but it does mean that our structures and
services are us, so that the whole of the organisation is
a kind of role model of authenticity and acceptance.
Maybe that’s the way we would define mental health
(if we ever got around to defining it): accepting
yourself, and feeling free to be yourself.
Values
The long, low, brick building of the King George VI
Centre isn’t particularly enticing from the outside;
inside, the long, cold corridor and PVC windows foggy
with age might put you off, despite the efforts we’ve
made to cheer it up with bulletin boards, flowers, and
the products of the arts and crafts classes. ‘Friendly
and informal’ are the words people use to describe us
but it’s a little more complicated. The volunteer
receptionist’s sympathetic manner isn’t the result of
communication training, it springs from her own
experience of mental illness; the extravert lady who
came over to answer your question is Ann, the project
co-ordinator, dropping everything to respond to a
human need. If there is one overarching principle at
TSwan, it’s that people come first, and this is what it looks
like in action.
Clients coming first is something of a cliché, as I’m
sure it’s the case in all well-intentioned organisations,
and that there’s no need to spell out the courtesies and
attitudes that go with it. What’s perhaps a little more
unusual at Swan is the extent to which the principle
applies to the project workers, paid and voluntary. A
simple example would be the way that we are encour-
aged to make use of the services Swan offers, like
complementary therapies or courses. More subtle is
the way that career development is conceptualised,
not as rising through hierarchical ranks but as a process
of shaping and re-shaping one’s role in the organisa-
tion. In my own case I was originally hired as a part-
time counsellor. After a review in which I identified
other skills I had that were not being used in my job,
it was negotiated that I would co-ordinate the Staying
Out Project which we were then setting up. This shift
into new challenges benefited me. I hope the organi-
sation gained as well.
This fluidity of role is even more dramatic in the
cases of women who come first as clients and go on to
be volunteers, and volunteers who go on to take up
paid employment, like Barbara, our outreach worker.
She now also runs support groups and the Staying Out
Project. Flexibility can bring problems, of course.
Boundary issues may arise as roles change; a user who
becomes a volunteer may still have social relationships
with other users, for example. But overall, this
approach is important in establishing the value of
equality. Swan is highly valued for being ‘non-stigma-
tising’, a quality recognised by users and outside
professionals. For staff members this is something that
comes from within, a recognition that we are no differ-
ent from the people we help, an empathy that comes
from awareness of our own vulnerability. Because we
feel supported and valued in our workplace, it is easier
to pass caring and acceptance onto our clients.
A third core value is holism. The provision of
complementary therapies is the most obvious
example, but it is apparent in the range of our services.
The Mental Health Review Volume 7 Issue 1 March 2002 ©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 2002 15
To continue reading
Request your trial