Venture FX 10th Anniversary
This year marks 10 years of our Venture FX initiative operating at the South London Mission. As we reach this important milestone and the VFX projects will now continue as an integrated component of SLM’s work (outside the VFX framework), Winnie Baffoe looks back over the past decade of mission and ministry.
Group Talking therapies
The VFX Mummies Republic project has many outstanding achievements, its earliest achievement being the initiation of the South London and Maudsley NHS group therapy sessions, which continues to provide a model for other community groups.
“Relationships with local communities are essential for mental health services like ours to do our jobs properly. The stigma that is still associated with mental health difficulties is often an obstacle to people receiving the mental health care that they need and deserve. It is also sadly the case that people experiencing the greatest social disadvantage who may need the services the most, will often also be those who find services hardest to access. We know that we can't improve access by simply sitting in our clinics. This is why building partnerships with community groups is so helpful for us, and why we are so grateful for the support of everyone at Mummies Republic. “ Dr Janet Wingrove, Consultant Clinical Psychologist : Talking Therapies Southwark Annual Report 2017
Annual retreats
Venture Fresh Expressions Mummies Republic Butlin’s 2019 retreat
A further achievement was the annual retreats initiated to mitigate the scourge of poverty around the summer holidays. In the words of one of our members “This summer my child can report back to school, that they did more than go to the playground”. This annual activity began in 2016 as a learning outcome from the group therapy classes and ceased due to Covid-19.
Venture Fresh Expressions Mummies Republic Universal Credit campaign 2019
Campaigning based on lived experience
The launch of Universal Credit in 2019 necessitated the project to challenge and campaign using the lived experience of its members. On route to the Houses of Parliament, our members took a picture alongside the statue of Millicent Garrett Fawcett in Parliament Square.
The message on her statute read “Courage calls to courage everywhere.” The message resonated with the experience of our members, as the amendments and necessitation for online access to the benefits system attacked the physiological and psychological safety of low-income households.
It took great courage for our members to stand in front of a collective of politicians, heads of housing associations, national campaign senior leaders and headteachers in the Houses of Parliament, impart their experience of the racial and gender biased nature of the policy and its egregious attack on households, simply for they being poor. Courage for the members came in knowing that nothing but policy change would improve the system.
The collective 10 years of the project’s development has provided a compelling direction for continued community development and social innovation, seeking to holistically empower households. This is only achievable with the agreement of our members, participation of high-performing teams made up through partnership, and a wide group of stakeholders providing the financial and governing support. Using this model Mummies Republic as a project of the SLM will be sustained for a further 10 years.