Looking to New Ventures - Helping Needy People in London

Hello!

In Al Anon they tell us that we should not project into the future - in fact, we should just "live in the day". But things are beginning to change in my life - again. Tomorrow I will be teaching a class in criminology for Birkbeck College in London - and after this year I hope it will be my last regular one working for them, and that I will have moved largely into voluntary work. It will mean no regular income for me, but my income was "occasional" anyway. I have a small source of money from investments (my inheritance from my mother). I have only a small pension to look forward to. But we own our house, and we both have savings - so that's something to back us up.

Next year I expect to be doing mostly voluntary work. My church (the Jesus Fellowship) is setting up a big new Christian-inspired welfare centre in London, thus making 3 in total for this church in the UK, as there are already 2 in the Midlands. That is - the London Jesus Centre, just off Oxford Circus, due to open in November/December 2006 or soon after. It is in a wonderful 7-storey C19th building in Margaret Street, London W1 that was once a convent, and has a beautiful listed chapel, plus several meeting rooms. Last Saturday the church held a focus or "engagement" day - we had some worship, and then seminars on what the centre would be doing, who ti would be helping - and so on. I took part in a role-play drama, as a wealthy widow (not me!) who needed more in her life, despite her money. There are wealthy people in that area - we hope some of them will "drop in", or help us finance our work. This day was about the vision and how services would develop. I've been helping a little with fund-raising, but that is not really my "bag". My interest is in social and welfare services - advising, mentoring and running groups. If you look on the "Jesus Fellowship" / "Modern Jesus Army" website you can learn about the church's Jesus Centre project, and about the London Jesus Centre that comes on stream this year. (We already have the building.) We aim to help the needy in practical ways, and bring them spiritual solace too. This is already happening in our centres in Northampton and Coventry.

Because of my connection with Al-Anon (I go to 2 groups locally) - I have thought of setting up an Al-Anon group there (at the LJC) - apparently AA once before used that building for a weekly meeting. My meeting would most likely attract wives, grandparents, girlfriends and mothers, as it would be during the day, but if held in the lunch period we could pull in some office or shop workers during their breaks. All sorts of people have relatives with alcohol problems. Today I read a newspaper report that alcohol related disease in the UK is not getting adequate health provision (of services). It seems that about 1 in 18 sufferers from alcohol related-illnesses (mental or physical) get any sort of treatment. The chances of people dying from cirrhosis of the liver is fairly high (if they are heavy, regular drinkers) - this appears much later in life, about 20-30 years from the time of heavy drinking. There is also a risk of various types of cancer. I am concerned that my son Tom will develop such problems if he continues to drink as he has done so far (if he lives that long).

I think (and have proposed) later this year to set up a family support group at the London Jesus Centre, which might cover a variety of topics - so on different weeks it could cover (not necessarily in this order): alcohol and drug misuse, parenting of children and teenagers, family bereavement (coping with grief; arranging a funeral; financial and legal issues), education, prison (having a relative "inside"); marital / relationships / gender identity issues. I am not a trained counsellor, but have qualifications to a high level in sociology, social psychology and adult education, and have taught various aspects of social science for several years: for the last 6-7 years I have specialised in teaching Criminology. My personal experience as a carer and relative of someone (my son Tom) with substance abuse issues, who is also caught up in the criminal justice system and prison, gives me experience of all that side of things - as a consumer and his "advocate". I have recently been invited to serve on the Carers' Committee of the local Hospital Trust's mental health team (dealing with substance abuse issues).

This is all very exciting! I feel that I have learned a lot through my experiences with Tom - I can pass much of this on to help others. Whatever comes of Tom, I can still be of help... I have some ability and expertise, and a range of experience. I am hoping that later this year, Tom will be able to progress on his own feet - I have applied for housing for him, hoping that he can live independently of us whenever he is released from custody or mental health care, whichever it will be.

Meanwhile, I am looking forward to going back to Krakow for a short break just before Easter - revisitng S.E. Poland (where I will do some filming for talks) - and the Easter worship with my church (the J.F.) up at Northampton - where we will gather in a big marquee and hear talks, sermons and sing great modern worship songs. We meet everyone, all our friends, from the whole church at these meetings (which are 3 times a year - I missed two in 2005). Sadly Tom (my son) is not able to take part, as he would wish - he is being remanded in custody until at least April 21st (his next court hearing). But this at least means I need not worry about what might happen to him outside. He has contacted us by phone, and is begining to recover somewhat from his last bout.

PS: Added a week or so later, so the date on this entry will change. - My idea to run an Al-Anon group at my church later this year was well received, and is likely to be accepted. I am looking into how to organise it. I have also discovered (read about in a London paper I picked up) a website called "Posterity" - where you can subscribe, and leave a lasting record of who you are, your childhood or origins, your interests, successes/failures, family, ideas, sins/virtues, hopes, favourite things, likes/dislikes, etc. I found some of the categories rather trivial, but some are good. You can also upload you images to a phot album section. I have only just started on this, but stayed up on my PC till nearly 2 am last night (how stupid!)getting some of my personal story up there. Today I have added some photos - but then I lost the connection. It is another way of blogging. Somehow, that info will stay on the website forever, even after we die. Quite daunting!

Anyway, that's all. Goodbye for now. God bless anyone who reads this.
Love and peace - Tigey