Sunday 3rd May. I write an email to Larry Schutz, the director of the mentoring programme in Florida that I've penciled in for a May visit. I ask him whenabouts would be good, now that I'm here in Virginia. In his reply he tells me his programme has 'collapsed' and that he's moving to California to take up another job. He says something about a 'bankrupt state treasury', some problems with the University that was hosting the programme. It sounds bad. I feel disappointed. I'd been looking forward to meeting Larry. He'd been enthusiastic in earlier emails. He says he'd be happy to set me up with other TBI folks in Florida. I don't know who these might be. Would it be interesting to see the fall-out from the collapsed programme, meet the people who were on it? I don't know. I already start thinking about canceling this leg of the trip. Leigh had said on Friday the reason Virginia has so many programmes (including Clubhouses but also others) is that the sate funding stream is healthy. Do I want to see functioning programmes or failing ones? Perhaps not going to Florida would free up some time for other things - a visit to the West Side Health Authority in Chicago?
if its collapsed, how are you going to link up with the people that were there - are they going somewhere else? maybe you should follow Larry to CA! What's in Chicago?
ReplyDeleteThis is the thing - I'm not totally clear what's collapsed. Larry referred to two programmes in his emails - Giveback (the one I knew about) and another one at the University. I did think about going over to CA, but he preempted that in his email, saying he wouldn't be able to host me there - he's moving during June and won't really have things figured out in time for me. As it happens my cousin James and his fiance are moving to San Francisco in June, after they're married. I looked at some programmes over there (http://www.janetpomeroy.org/programs_tbi.php) but it's hard to tell too much about them. The Westside Health Authority is, I'm told, a health service set up and run entirely by community members, commissioning their own services and raising funds and providing peer support in the absence of decent state provisions (and with insurance out of reach). I put a bit about it in the 'Places' section of the blog (03 on the right). There's a link to their website. Let me know what you think.
ReplyDeleteLarry got back to me. He says it's the University programme that's gone. They were working with students with BI. No more. Giveback, the community mentoring system goes on, but by the sounds of things Larry's departure (and that of his fiancee, who is the Coordinator) is likely to cause a bit of an upheaval. Larry also says the programme 'exists only during it's meetings,' which are monthly. I have my doubts about whether this is going to be worth the (long) trip to Florida. Open to feedback on this.
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