East Kent with Swale Area
7th Annual Business Meeting
Held at Blean Village Hall, 2 School Lane, Blean, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 9JA
On Thursday 30th June 2016 at 7.00pm
Present: Jenny Colvin (Area Chair) Mike Pearson (Area President) Jo Cockfield (Vice Chair) Barbara Dennet (Finance Administrator) Carly Green (Area Administrator/Minutes), Joanna Minck (Former Chair of Client Services)
Sylvia Butcher, Val Alabaster, Gary Colvin, Anna Edgar-Chan, Alison Fuller, Edyta Pieniak plus guest, Olwen Thomas, Theresa Tilbury, Beryl Barnes, Laura Mellin, Marlene Purdy, Natalie Tegg and Terrie Kennor (You-Can Youth Cancer Support)
Jenny Colvin, Area Chair, opened proceedings at 7.00pm. Jenny welcomed everyone and invited the Area President, Mike Pearson to address the meeting.
- Welcome by President
Mike extended a warm welcome to all and thanked everyone for attending. This will sadly be Mike’s last attendance at the ABM as President. Mike has now taken on a new role within Cruse and is a member of the Board of Trustees. In accordance with the structure of Governance he cannot continue as our President and is officially stepping down.
There has been significant restructuring within Cruse. The Council has been replaced with a Board of Trustees, responsible for stewardship and strategy. The Trustees are the Company Directors of Cruse. The new Council is a consultative body to look at proposals produced by the Directorate Team to consider what will work for volunteers and bereaved people and to make recommendations for improving proposals.
The 5 in 5 Strategy from 2013 to 2018 will see 78 areas providing face to face bereavement support, bereavement support for Children and Young People, group support, email support and telephone support. There will be two representatives on the Council for each of the five services. The National Committees, Client Services and Training will become working groups. There will also be two service users who are joining Council, at the moment there is uncertainty in relation to the selection process of recruiting two service users from thousands of people.
The 2015/2016 figures last year show there have been 47,000 requests for information. 28,000 requests for face to face support, 5,000 requests for support for Children and Young People which has risenby up to 20% in the last 5 months. Just under 10,000 people have received telephone support.
The Queen selected us as one of the main charities at the Patron’s Lunch on the 12th June. Of the 600 charities that the Queen is Patron of there were 70 or 80 that were represented at the party in the Mall, Cruse was highlighted in the top 12. Mike was very fortunate in being selected to go and it was a lovely occasion.
The Cruse Conference was held on 24th and 25th June which was entitled Be inspired.
We will now move forward very clearly and positively with room for growth and look at how we can develop services across the areas and how we can work with other charities and public sector organisations at a national and local level.
- Apologies for Absence
Apologies were received fromEmma Daniell, Eileen Williamson, Jenny Edwards, Sue Goodrum, Jann Gilliland, Amanda Lane, Pinky Agrawal, Joan Withington, Robert Burley, Angela Hammond, Jane Pope, Sally Booton
- Minutes of the 6th Area Annual Business Meeting, 25th June 2016
Agreed as a true and accurate record.
- Matters Arising
There were no matters arising.
- Chairman’s Report
The attached report was read to the Meeting. Jenny gave a summary of her report.
Inspiration and Motivation
Cruse, East Kent with Swale was privileged to have Laura Mellin and Pauline Robinson give a moving and informative presentation at the last ABM and following on from this the Management Team were motivated to increase the number of volunteers to work withwe Children and Young People.
On the 30th June last year the Management Team held an Away Day. The purposeof the day was to consider “What we want to achieve in 2015-2016 and to decide the responsibilities of the Management Committee and the Client Services Committee. We set a goal of increasing CYP work. We needed to ensure finances were in place in order to set up a CYP project.
In August of last year we received£10,000 from Awards for All. In March to the end of May an Awareness in Children’s and Young People’s BereavementCare Course was held. The lead trainer was Phil Waite who is a trained counsellor working with young people and has worked with Cruse in many different roles. Teresa Regan supported Phil and has many years of experience of working with children and also with Cruse as a supervisor.
Finding suitable candidates was challenging. After much advertising 12 people attended the course and completed it in May. We look forward now to receiving applications and hope to launch the extended service for CYP in September.
With thanks to Sylvia Butcher for her commitment throughout the course and Awards for All for the finances and allowing us to extend the project. Awards for all have kindly allowed us to use surplus funding to supply all of our volunteers with creative materials for the bereavement care they will be providing. Awards for All have also given us a sum of money to launch the service.
In addition to the ACBC training, we will hold a CYP training course in October so that our existing volunteers, who meet the criteria, can train to work with CYP. We will work with other Areas and are planning on having a CYP group in an Area of the South East.
5 year Strategy
In September we had the opportunity of having Dr Bill Webster delivering training, he made a special trip to Kent from Canada and provided the training free of charge and helped us to understand the new paradigm of grief.
Thanks were expressed to Jane Pope and Sylvia Butcher for the highly dedicated manner in which they manage client referrals. The waiting list is efficiently managed and the average waiting time is 3 to 4 weeks.
Midge Boswell has successfully run a thriving friendship group in the Swale area for a number of years.
In Swale, bereavement care is also provided in HMP Stamford Hill and this will soon be extended to HMP Elmley and the Keyes Hostel homeless charity.
There are 3 volunteers working with children, 12 children have received care so far. Anna Edgar-Chan has been trained in e-mail support but we are still awaiting confirmation as to whether this is a service that will be provided centrally.
In the past year 369 people have received bereavement support. Thank you to all the volunteers for their commitment and helping people to see that life can be meaningful in light of loss and helping them to learn to live life by a new script.
CIS has been a challenge this year, with thanks to Sylvia Butcher and Jane Pope for their dedication in implementing CIS. We are now moving forward, and there are plans in place for all volunteers to receive training this year. Some BVs in Swale are now accepting referrals via CIS.
Acknowledgments
Thanks were expressed to Mary Jenkins for the many years of providing training Ken Scarlett for helping with CIS and JoannaMinck in her role as Chair of Client Services. Thank you to Mike Pearson for all that he has accomplished and the support he has given Jenny in her role of Chair.
Thank you to Val Alabaster and Neil Anthony, our webmaster, who have made significant changes to the website. We have received emails recently from other organisations saying how much they like our website.Our Members page has improved and the training page has been simplified. We have started using Twitter and Face Book on a regular basis.
Changes to Training Courses
One of the major concerns this year has been the key changes which will take place in the ABC Course and other courses. The Course will consist of 3 mandatory days training followed by 3 days elective days training for One to One, Group Support, and Telephone Support. More time will be given to skills practice. The new CYP course will be appropriate for both internal and external candidates to attend.
- Client Evaluations (Jo Cockfield)
There have been 70 evaluations received for the whole year, which is only a 33% return rate. The importance of receiving evaluation forms back will be addressed in the future. Jo read out a selection of very positive and moving comments from clients. We now obtain permissionfrom clients to be able to use these comments, anonymously, on our website.
- Income and Expenditure Account (Jenny Colvin)
The balance at the end of March 2016 was £20,455 included in this figure is the £10,000, Awards for All Grant for the CYP project. There has been no funding from CCGs since 2014 since the commissioning of services changed. Donations from clients have also reduced this year. Fundraising is challenging, but despite their being no fundraising co-ordinator or fundraising committee we have received some funding. Thanks are expressed to all. Volunteers who have kindly waived their expenses which gave us an extra £3790. We have received funding from Kent Community Fund, Canterbury Rotary, Canterbury Council, Lord Mayor’s Charity, Gift Aid, John Swire Trust, ICCM Thanet Crematorium, Barham Crematorium, Dr Bill Webster, Cruse Central, and Sylvia Butcher’s plant sale, for which we are most grateful.
This has been a challenging year as we have been unable to fulfil the post of Treasurer, thanks are expressed to Barbara Dennett who has successfully managed the accounts and thanks to James McCormack for preparing our accounts for audit.
- Client Services Reports (Joanna Minck)
The focus of work this year has been on communication and procedures. We have concentrated on the four main areas, revamped our induction programme, and best practices from the two branches that came together.
The new induction style featured going around different stations and obtaining information on different topics. The Bereavement Volunteer Handbook was handed out and has now been circulated amongst all staff, this will also be available on the website in the future.
The next main focus of our work is the training day in November, this will improve communications amongst the whole team on the Area Development Plan. The day also gave the opportunity to discuss the importance of funding and evaluation The local and national websites have been available for a while but they are not used infrequently.
This year has seen the introduction of the Supervisors Newsletter, this is key in recognising the pivotal role that supervisors have at encouraging dialogue at their supervision groups.
We have widened the Client Services Committee by inviting BVs to come along, it isalso seen as part of their continued professional development.
Joanna would like to thank everyone on the Client Services Committee, the diversity they bring to the committee and the range of different specialisms in different areas and their tremendous hard work.
- Presentation from Natalie and Terrie from You-Can, Youth Cancer Support
Natalie felt encouraged by Mike’s words on where our organisation wanted to be in the future. You-Can try and work on a partnership approach and it was set up in September last year to support children and young people, specifically with cancer across the South East. You-Can works with young people between the age of 10 and 30. It was decided that 10 would be the correct age to accept referrals as it can be a time of great change and preparing for secondary school. A child with cancer can potentially be out of education for up to two years whilst they receive treatment and support.
Natalie was herself diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 39 and found that whilst the medical treatment she received was fantastic there was nothing in terms of emotional support for younger people. Natalie met lots of young people in hospital when she was receiving chemotherapy and felt there was a real need for support on a local level. Natalie’s self-esteem was at an all-time low when she finished her treatment so You-Can’s support focuses on wellbeing and improving self-esteem.
You-Can supports children, young people and their families by offering counselling, complimentary therapies, and teaches young people how to look after theirwellbeing which can in turn improve self-esteem at a pivotal time. Reiki, reflexology, massage (within reason due to treatment)andself-esteem building are all offered at wellbeing workshops. Exercise and nutrition classes are offered to help aid recovery. There is a 6-8 week Kent Sport exercise programme offered. All the sports and workshops allow CYP to meet people who are in similar situations.
2,200 young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are diagnosed with cancer every year with a rise in life style cancers, such as breast cancer, ovarian and testicular cancer. 1 in 3 CYP do not get diagnosed with cancer until they are taken into A&E.
You-Can work closely with hospitals who refer patients to them.
You-Can have now purchased, thanks to the Children’s Development Trust, a property in Westgate, Kent, with 4 bedrooms and disabled access for respite by the Sea, they will also hold some team building events at the house. They recently held a wellness weekend for 8 young people in a large property in Kent. This proved to be life changing for those that attended. The property will provide group weekends, end of life breaks, and themed workshops. Quex Park have kindly donated a family pass so that families staying in the house can visit Quex Park and have a day out.
You-Can are currently trying to raise money for furniture for the first family to enter the house in August.
You-Can would love to signpost to Cruse. 85% of young people survive cancer but sadly 15% do not and they receive a number of referrals for end of life support. You-Can are fortunate to have the support from a great team of therapists we could work with, governed by a Board of Trustees,and a team of dedicated healthcare professionals.
Terri would like to set up more support groups and one at QEQM hospital. Hospitals refer directly to You-Can, lots of young people have to go to the Royal Marsden for treatment, and UCLH, this can involve a 3-hour round trip for CYP receiving chemotherapy. In South London it is mostly babies who are diagnosed with cancer. Support at the end of the treatment and therapies to aid recovery and improve wellbeing is vital for this age group.
- Meet & Greet
Jenny presented Mike and Joanna with a gift and thanked them for all their hard work over the years.
The meeting closed at 8.30pm and was followed by refreshments and social time.
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