and that’s exactly what Stormin Norman did on 28th December to drop off
one of our own, at Chris’s House in Wishaw Glasgow, who had fallen off
the wagon due to anxiety and other pressures and had a torrid 48 hours
ending up in hospital overnight accompanied by a few of our MINDS AT WAR
team includng the amazing Dot, and Johnny Morris with myself.
Chris’s House I wrote about yesterday and discovered it on the Minds At War road trip last week.
The impression the visit to Chris’s House left on me was that we have a
new partner in providing therapy here and we must cement that by taking
some guests for therapy asap.
Our veteran arrived late afternoon
Thursday accompanied by Norman and John Wake and after an initial get to
know you meeting, agreed to start therapy today and hopefully that is
what has happened, I am just waiting for an update and some feedback
from our veteran.
ABOUT CHRIS’S HOUSE
Chris’s House was
founded by Anne Rowan, a Wishaw mum with a passionate vision for a
crisis centre established in memory of her son Chris, whom she lost to
suicide in 2011 at the age of 36. In the years following Chris’s death,
Anne experienced an overwhelming sense of guilt. Her hair fell out, she
lost her balance and couldn’t go out unaided.
She turned her attention to taking action – through the creation of Chris’s House, a ‘Centre for Help, Response and Intervention Surrounding Suicide’. It is the first 24 hour, non-medical crisis centre in Scotland offering integrated support. The cosy rooms have each been carefully designed to offer guests an environment they can feel comfortable in. The generosity of families that have been touched by the work Chris’s House have accomplished have raised the funds or made donations to allow for the space offer calm and wellbeing.
While Anne remains an active and passionate member of Chris’s House she is adamant that the focus not remain solely on her efforts. She is joined in this mission to help bring awareness to Mental Health by more than 40 volunteers. Each have been touched in some way by suicide and understand the on-going ripple effects that it has on family, friends and the community.
Chris’s House stands for ‘Centre of Help, Response and Intervention Surrounding Sui-cide’ and has been set up to offer a safe environment where people in crisis may have a respite from their current unwellness, by finding refuge in Chris’s House and involve-ment in an individually tailored programme to offer support and respite through their journey.
We will work in partnership with other established agencies to offer the best possible care.
Our guests will be assigned to a volunteer who will develop a strong
rapport with the guest to help them through the crisis and support them
to counter depression, negative and despairing thoughts and exchange
reasons for dying with reasons for living. We truly listen to our guests
and offer them as much input into their journey as possible. Its your
care you deserve to be listened to.
Our motto: “Lets talk”
Our Volunteers:
We have a large volume of trained volunteers who come from various
professional and life experience backgrounds and who will provide one to
one support, therapies and peer to peer groups, if and when our guests
wish to engage with these non medical based approaches. Our volunteers
are trained in suicide intervention and as individuals offer the warmest
and most compassionate approach to caring for others.
They fully
understand that confidentiality and the provision of a safe and welcoming
environment is of the utmost importance. We believe that within our
community we all need each other in many ways for our collective well
being especially when we are at a low point in our life. Our community
will, through our volunteer group, reach out to the wider community and
make a difference not only to each others’ lives but for those who come
into contact with Chris’s House at their time of need.
COMPLICATED GRIEF
“Christopher’s friend died by suicide on the fourth of April and his
cousin died in a car crash just a day later,” Anne recalls. “It was
shocking, a grenade into our family. Within 16 weeks, we had lost
Christopher as well. We never noticed how bad Christopher was because we
were all in deep grief and shock from his cousin’s death.”
Christopher sought help from the doctor as he struggled to come to terms
with things but he was merely prescribed medication and told to return
in three months’ time, an appointment he would never keep.
Anne
admits she became a “complete wreck” for about two years after
Christopher’s death before her life started to turn around when she made
contact with the Irish charity Pieta, a crisis centre for self-harm and
suicide. She learned about their Darkness Into Light events, 5k walks
that take place during sunrise, and managed to bring the event to
Scotland for the first time last year.
It’s hard to cling to any sliver of hope in the weeks and months after a suicide.
Grief takes a firm hold as darkness descends on the family and friends
left behind as they struggle to come to terms with their loss. It’s a
deeply personal process and you can often feel like the loneliest person
in the world, as if there’s no light at the end of the tunnel.
The
Chris’s House Walk of Hope is a vital fundraiser for a Scottish charity
set-up to prevent suicide and support those suffering from the loss of a
loved one.
But perhaps even more importantly, it offers those who
are still grieving a chance to meet the only people who truly understand
the kind of pain they are going through.
Nobody knows this more
than Anne Rowan, the founder of Chris’s House, who started to emerge
from two years of deep grief following the death of her son Christopher
when she helped to organise the first charity walk in Scotland few years
ago.
Kevin McALLION, CHRIS’S HOUSE .
Full article available here.
http://moristoun.com/chris’shouse.html
