This blog is about another friend that I have made volunteering at the Kensington project...Collette. One of her catch phrases is “get out of that” which peppers a lot of her observations on life and is often followed by or proceeded by a short laugh that often raises me a smile. I’m not sure when she began this saying but over the two years that I have got to know her it seems to me increasingly apt. She talks enthusiastically on lots of topics, characters she has gotten to know within her daily routines, bus drivers, fellow volunteers, regular customers, cafe workers...she is a very chatty lady. She also talks about times when she was not so chatty, before she began this more positive period in her life. These included many decades in which her poor mental health prevented her from taking up an active role in society. She has been hospitalised many times, had her child taken into care as a baby, her routines and life have revolved around the support offered by mental health services, day centres, supported living hostels. The support and activity she gets through her volunteering she reckons have been massive in bringing about this change.
She was introduced to volunteering with the project by Paul, a fellow volunteer and for a while fellow housemate. I've previously blogged about Paul. She moved out of a mental health hostel where she was living about 18 months ago because she was less than impressed with the support offered and the cleanliness. She has a cat called Tinkerbell that regularly fought and won the mice populating the house. It was the violence between other residents and the inaction of the onsite staff to challenge it that was a clincher. She returned to her family home, despite its problems having been assessed as detrimental to her own mental health when her last stay in hospital was coming to an end and social workers were looking to support her.
Social services were involved more recently when her dads health problems, mainly neurological where making Collette’s day to day existence very stressful and he wouldn’t access support for himself or take much notice of anyone really including Collette. Just recently she returned home to be met by neighbours who informed her that her dad had died during the day, while cooking sausages for lunch, neighbours got wind of this following smoke coming out of the kitchen. She has been helped very much by people at the project since times, to organise a funeral mainly but also to help her liaise with other services like the housing association as well as spade loads of friendship. I’ve again been impressed with the courage she has shown over the last few weeks and her general positivity. I’ve also found out a bit more about her past and where the quirky resolve that she shows might come from. She was the only family member at the funeral so all the words eulogised were from Collette, so I now know she was the oldest of four children, her brothers were not present, one had been brought up by another family from babyhood but her sister had been contacted since her dads death but Collette was not surprised that she didn’t come to the funeral, she hadn’t attended her mums funeral ten or more years earlier. In the funeral a celebrant spoke for Collette who remembered good times with her dad growing up, his jobs, a social life for both her parents that included dancing and going out.
Collette continues to see the work she does at the project as central to her future plans. She takes her work with the project very seriously and is attentive to the need for the sales of produce, teas, cakes, bread to keep the business afloat. She is currently decorating the Projects Bread Shop, The Kensington Bread Co with Easter decorations to welcome the customers.
She is looking to move house to somewhere nearby to Kensington, building on the network of support that she has built up there in recent years. She is being proactive and has even got some-one lined up to take in Tinkerbell if a future landlord won’t let her have pets. All of this is good news to me who am also benefiting from the friendship, support and stability offered by the project. Collette is a quirky ingredient in the recipe that makes up Kensington Vision, an important one, one that together with lots of other wholesome fare offers a nourishing meal. Well I think so, and if you are in L7 and want to pop in for some quality stuff why not call at the Croissant cafe and see for yourself.
So...........“Get out of that!”
She was introduced to volunteering with the project by Paul, a fellow volunteer and for a while fellow housemate. I've previously blogged about Paul. She moved out of a mental health hostel where she was living about 18 months ago because she was less than impressed with the support offered and the cleanliness. She has a cat called Tinkerbell that regularly fought and won the mice populating the house. It was the violence between other residents and the inaction of the onsite staff to challenge it that was a clincher. She returned to her family home, despite its problems having been assessed as detrimental to her own mental health when her last stay in hospital was coming to an end and social workers were looking to support her.
Social services were involved more recently when her dads health problems, mainly neurological where making Collette’s day to day existence very stressful and he wouldn’t access support for himself or take much notice of anyone really including Collette. Just recently she returned home to be met by neighbours who informed her that her dad had died during the day, while cooking sausages for lunch, neighbours got wind of this following smoke coming out of the kitchen. She has been helped very much by people at the project since times, to organise a funeral mainly but also to help her liaise with other services like the housing association as well as spade loads of friendship. I’ve again been impressed with the courage she has shown over the last few weeks and her general positivity. I’ve also found out a bit more about her past and where the quirky resolve that she shows might come from. She was the only family member at the funeral so all the words eulogised were from Collette, so I now know she was the oldest of four children, her brothers were not present, one had been brought up by another family from babyhood but her sister had been contacted since her dads death but Collette was not surprised that she didn’t come to the funeral, she hadn’t attended her mums funeral ten or more years earlier. In the funeral a celebrant spoke for Collette who remembered good times with her dad growing up, his jobs, a social life for both her parents that included dancing and going out.
Collette continues to see the work she does at the project as central to her future plans. She takes her work with the project very seriously and is attentive to the need for the sales of produce, teas, cakes, bread to keep the business afloat. She is currently decorating the Projects Bread Shop, The Kensington Bread Co with Easter decorations to welcome the customers.
She is looking to move house to somewhere nearby to Kensington, building on the network of support that she has built up there in recent years. She is being proactive and has even got some-one lined up to take in Tinkerbell if a future landlord won’t let her have pets. All of this is good news to me who am also benefiting from the friendship, support and stability offered by the project. Collette is a quirky ingredient in the recipe that makes up Kensington Vision, an important one, one that together with lots of other wholesome fare offers a nourishing meal. Well I think so, and if you are in L7 and want to pop in for some quality stuff why not call at the Croissant cafe and see for yourself.
So...........“Get out of that!”