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The Blue Team is a group of people facing a variety of health and social problems: people with learning disabilities, long-term unemployed, people suffering from depression and young offenders. Before the project started some of the group undertook limited occupational therapy by undertaking basic jobs in local factories, but when the factories closed they were at a loss of what to do. There were already problems in this rural area of Northern Ireland with high unemployment and high levels of depression and suicide. Fermanagh Conservation Action Team set up a conservation group to tackle these problems by undertaking maintenance work on high value conservation sites in Fermanagh's beautiful countryside. From this has come an energetic self-sufficient group with a growing sense of community pride. They report increased skills and interest in the environment as well as improved mental and physical health. The physical outputs are also important: improved habitats and footpaths, helping increase visitor numbers to tourist attractions and improving disabled access to the countryside. It was not easy at first. There were concerns in local communities about participants with learning difficulties. Those with little experience of disabled people did not think they were capable of doing much and initially they were offered very limited un-stimulating work to do. The group 'had to work harder than others to earn respect' but over time they went on to carry out more challenging and responsible projects. Now the staff running the project are fully experienced and the project works so well that there is a new problem: demand for their services and places on the project is higher than their capacity. Other benefits have come through: some of the team have set up a can recycling enterprise, while several of the offenders taking part have reduced sentence. All content copyright © 1986-2008 BTCV Ltd. Registered charity No. 261009 |
