Esther Rantzen spoke to us about her experience with community services, her thoughts on partnerships and her future plans to launch an adults support service.
Reflecting on the much publicized Jimmy Saville case, Esther asserted ‘we as a Country, do not make it easy for people to speak out’.
That taboo surrounding abuse was the inspiration for the series she created, ChildWatch, on which , Childline was launched in 1986. Esther shared with us a story from this time in her life, about a young girl once helped by Childline, who went on to help others. The moral bring that the vulnerable individual should always be in the driving seat, we as service providers should progress at their pace. A sentiment all speakers agreed with.
After 26 years and 2.7 million children helped, Esther is now working on her next project The Silver Line (due to launch September 2013). This is aimed at older adults, providing 1:1 & group telephone befriending, , addressing issues such as loneliness and abuse.
What will be a highly successful service is attributed to partnerships says Esther. To create success, Esther created a round table of those working in the field. She was amazed that many working in the same sector were sitting next to each other and hearing about each others’ services for the first time! Why hadn’t they met and collaborated combining their skills and experiences before now?
Congratulating ASA, Esther admired what she called the “patchwork of provision provided by the third sector…brilliant, innovative, niche projects, tailored absolutely to the clients’ needs…empowering clients to set the agenda”
Esther closes with a key sentiment for the day “Imagine this wasn’t a patchwork, imagine it was how we delivered social care, Country wide”?!
