View report page

79
Hostel at Work
One of the aims of a hostel is the provision of a "home"
but this must be seen by staff and residents as a starting point
to complete community involvement as the hostel is part of the
total community care service. Residents are neither encouraged
nor allowed to spend all their time in the hostel. If they are not
working for any reason other than sickness, they are encouraged
to attend our Stembridge Hall Day Rehabilitation Centre on a
daily basis, with a view to establishing a daily work pattern
enabling them to progress from the Centre back into open
employment or to proceed to an industrial rehabilitation unit for
further assessment and training or to employment at Remploy
factories. Residents are also encouraged to participate in leisure
activities outside the hostel. Social care as part of total community
care is an important aim of hostel provision. Although
medical treatment is important it is not an essential part of the
hostel service. Medical care is provided in the same way that it
is for any person discharged from hospital, i.e. from General
Practitioners and Out-patient departments.
The two main aims of hostel care are therefore, firstly, the
establishment of a temporary substitute to the home environment,
which is geared to individual needs. Secondly, to reduce the
disadvantages of a substitute home to a minimum. This can best be
achieved by integrating the hostel and its residents into the local
community. It is only when we have total community caring
that the concept of community care will have been achieved.
Obviously social work is very relevant to these two aims, bringing
together residential social work, case work and community
work. It is, therefore, essential that social work knowledge, values
and skills be available, not as an extra, but as a rightful part of
the service to facilitate the aims of hostel care. In this respect
there must be close liaison between the mental health social
workers, the social worker with special responsibility for the
hostel and the hostel staff and residents, to preserve close lines
of communication and for each to be aware of every step in the
residents' treatment plan. Apart from regular individual discussions
with residents regarding their future and the difficulties they
experience, fortnightly group meetings in the hostel have a sound
therapeutic value.
Conclusion
It has now become evident that although Rydal Mount short
stay hostel is fulfilling a most useful function, there is a need for
a variety of care, long term as well as short term, together with
Group Homes and Boarding Out facilities. The latter two schemes
have been commenced and it is hoped that they will be substantially
developed. Attached below is a statistical breakdown of