Holiday Homes for Mental Patients
- Author:
Marjorie U. Welfare
Secretary, Central Association for Mental Welfare.
Jl would not be far from the truth to say that for the vast majority of workers, and of more leisured folk too for that matter, the annual holiday occupies for some considerable time during the year, the forefront of their thoughts, first in anticipation and planning; then in realisation and enjoyment; and then, after it is over, in the sorting out of memories. It is difficult for most of us to realise to the full an existence in which there is not this yearly break to bring refreshment to soul and body and yet there are many, quite apart from those for whom a holiday is not yet an economic possibility, who live from year’s end to year’s end in comparative material comfort but in an endless succession of days where ” each day is like another and each year like the last.” Dwellers in institutions, even in the best organised, suffer from this terrible monotony and gradually get out of touch with normal life and with ordinary homely people living their everyday lives in the world.
It was very largely to combat this deadly monotony that the C.A.M.W. first initiated its gradually growing system of holiday homes. Some of the larger and more enlightened institutions have for many years recognised the value of holiday and change for patients who will probably spend the rest of their lives under care and they have their own holiday homes at the seaside or in the country. But for the smaller homes, and for the many hundreds of defectives living in Public Assistance institutions there lias been nothing until comparatively recent years. Some, more fortunate than others, were able to go to their own people for an occasional short holiday; others were taken out for a day by their relations or friends; but many had 110 one in the world to whom they could go. No ordinary holiday or convalescent homes would accept them as they often could not mix happily with other visitors there, and they remained year after year, well cared for and kindly treated, but with 110 change of environment and with no ” high spot ” in the year to look forward to and to remember. But the Council of the C.A.M.W. is above all a very practical body and in 1932, as the result of thought and observation, they decided to try to do something to meet this situation and to bring change and holiday within the reach of all institutional patients. As far back as 1924, experimental holidays had been organised with small groups of defectives and an entertaining account exists of the first camp of this kind run by the C.A.M.W. at Oxted, with the co-operation of the Church Army. But more than this was needed and in 1932 a bolder scheme was initiated, born of hope and carried out in faith, and the C.A.M.W. reserved all the accommodation for four months during the summer at an existing holiday home at Littlehampton, to which institutions and homes were invited to send parties of defectives at the modest charge of ?1 per week per head. The response far exceeded the Council’s hopes and from this small beginning the holiday home movement has grown and developed until now over 3,000 people each year come to the C.A.M.W. homes, most of them for a period of a fortnight each.
For some time parties of defectives alone were received, with an occasional party of blind; then, so strong are the laws of chance, a member of staff met at a week-end conference a young and go-ahead Matron of a large Mental Hospital. Conversation drifted to the subject of holiday homes and the Matron suggested that these should be made available also for patients from Mental Hospitals, especially for those quiet, well-behaved, chronic patients who had been for many years in the hospitals with 110 change. This suggestion was readily adopted and now some twenty odd parties from Mental Hospitals come each year, and it is hoped that there will be many more as accommodation grows. These patients have up till now been sent under Section 55 of the Lunacy Act (absence 011 trial or for health) and it is hoped that it will be possible to continue this procedure.
The C.A.M.W. has now three houses, leased directly by the Association and staffed by it. They are all in seaside towns?at Redcar in Yorkshire, at Rhyl in N. Wales, and at Seaford in Sussex. This is of set purpose. Patients do not want to come away to look at beautiful country scenery alone, they probably see that all the year round from their institution or hospital grounds. What they want is ” a bit of life and the homes are therefore selected in towns where there are plenty of shops, amusements, and diversions not obtainable in a secluded institution. The houses are not large, as the Committee consider that the first essential of a holiday home is that it shall have, so far as possible, the atmosphere of a private house and not of an institution. Each house is furnished, therefore, for about thirty patients only. The dormitories are small, for from three to eight patients; the curtains, linen and china are bright and cheery; in the dining room are small tables “just like a hotel” as one visitor temarked! There is no luxury, funds do not permit of that, but there is comfort and good cheer, and no irritating restrictions. ” This is like coming home,” said a man the other day, and one felt that the Committee’s efforts had not been in vain.
Each house is in charge of a qualified Matron, with an adequate domestic staff, so that the people who come as visitors can have a real holiday and can enjoy to the full the pleasures and beauties of the sea and country, and the interest of the shops and amusements and of the other people holiday-making like themselves. To be able to go about the streets, in twos and threes if they are 011 parole, or in small groups with the supervising staff; tO’ visit the shops and bazaars to buy mementoes and gifts for those left behind; to visit cinemas and beach entertainments; and to go to ” a real church ” instead of to an institution chapel, all these are sheer joys. One dear old lady of over 80, who had not been away for 32 years, could not be prevailed upon to rest after lunch, but insisted 011 spending the rest hour in writing to her nephew, telling him of the marvellous time she was having. 1 am an old lady now and I am getting near heaven, I hope,” she said to the writer. ” but 1 shan’t enjoy heaven more than this fortnight.” At the other end of the scale come the children from Occupation Centres, some of them from poor homes, who gasp with amazement at the ” grandeur ” of the house 011 the sea front at Rhvl, at the bright flowers about the house and the pretty cloths and china in the dining room. One little girl was found long after she had been put to bed, quite quiet, but wide awake, sitting up in bed stroking the blankets and quilt. ” This is all mine,” she kept repeating in a state of utter happiness, never before had she enjoyed a whole bed to herself.
The C.A.M.W. has been fortunate in finding Matrons who have done their utmost to fulfil the aims and ideals of the Committee and have made the visiting patients feel that they have really found a new home and friends. There have, of course, been some difficulties,?with groups of human beings it could not be otherwise,?but they have been surprisingly few, and in every case the Matrons, with the assistance of the supervising staff, have risen to the occasion and have smoothed them out with tact and sympathy. Most parties, it should be mentioned, bring their own supervisory staff, in the proportion of one to every ten patients; in other cases trained qualified supervisors, in the same proportion, are provided by the C.A.M.W.
Troubles have arisen also from outside sources before the homes were started. Local residents have feared that the opening of a ” mental home ‘ would lower the value of their property and would react on the ” amenities of the town ” and it has needed much diplomacy to soothe their fears and to obtain a reluctant acquiescence in our plans. But in the end, co-operation has been secured and now, so far from opposing the homes, the very people who organised protests vie with one another in helping the patients, entertaining them, taking them to concerts and in showing many other kindnesses- This change of front one must admit, speaks volumes for the good behaviour of the patients and for the tact and competence of the Matrons and their staff.
The development of this holiday home movement has the active sympathy and support of the Board of Control. Technically the Board has ” no authority to approve premises intended to be used as holiday homes ” (Circular 844), but they are ready to assist by inspecting premises and by offering advice regarding adaptation, fire precautions, etc. The C.A.M.W. invariably take advantage of this offer, and in all their holiday homes the precautionary arrangements against fire, the sanitary arrangements, etc., have the friendly approval of the Board’s architectural department.
In their report for 1936, the Board expressed the hope that the C.A.M.W. would open more holiday homes as they considered that ” the gain in health and contentment is far more than worth the cost.” This the Association hopes to do as soon as the necessary funds can be procured. But all things cost money, and the cost of furnishing and equipping each home, together with such structural alterations as may be needed to conform with the Board’s suggestions, has to be met from voluntary funds. Once the home is started, running expenses are met by fees paid for patients by the responsible Local Authorities, but this leaves no margin when rent, rates, salaries, food, etc., have been paid, towards repayment of capital expenditure.
An effort is therefore being made to raise at least ?800 to cover the cost of starting two new homes in 1939 : one at Bognor Regis, where an admirable house has already been secured to meet the demand for additional accommodation in the south; and one at Weston-super-Mare, to provide a holiday home for patients from the south-west counties and from South Wales. This is the plan for 1939. After that the C.A.M.W. hopes to open another home on the East coast so that accommodation will then be available for all parts of the country. A special fund has been opened for this purpose and generous friends have already given sums amounting to over ?670. If any reader is moved to send a small (or large) donation to help the Association in its efforts to bring a holiday within the reach of many who would otherwise not be able to enjoy it, it should be addressed to the Holiday Homes Committee, at the C.A.M.W. Offices, 24 Buckingham Palace Road, S.W.I.
May we quote the Board of Control report again and say : ” There are few chances of buying so much happiness for others at so small a cost.”
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