In November 2016 the members of the Caring Community Circle (CCC) were invited to take part in an Evoneers’ Journey. We decided to work on developing a business plan for a care agency with a difference. At the end of the workshop we had to present a ‘pitch’ to the Community.

We had a wonderful response from the Community, and indeed attracted a very skilled young person to work with us. She put us in touch with an inspiring model, Boleskine Community Care, which had put into practice almost exactly what we were looking for. Several members of the CCC visited that project and were very inspired by it. Boleskine Community Care project was under the umbrella of a large care agency which provided the legal and administrative structure for the community project.

We proceeded with searching for ways of bringing a similar service to the Community. Despite our best efforts, we could not find a care organisation prepared to provide an umbrella for us as in the Boleskine model. We kept exploring other models and eventually met a very inspiring, entrepreneurial lady in 2018. A few years ago she had set up a care agency single-handedly, after she had looked after her own mother. With phenomenal passion and energy she had dedicated her life to that care agency, her staff, clients and community in a remote area of the Highlands. We set about finding such a dedicated individual to champion a care agency in the Community…. And then the Covid pandemic hit and the landscape in care experienced a seismic shift with a drastic shortage of carers in all areas.

So for now that Care Agency with a Difference is still in the realm of ‘a good idea’ and its time may yet come…. or perhaps we have done the groundwork for something new to emerge.

As we were told in the Evoneers’ Journey: failure is part of the journey – what matters is to learn and keep moving.

In that way we were successful, we didn’t spend big sums of money, we explored avenues and when we came to a dead end we looked elsewhere. We handed on the baton to those who came after us.

 

Greta Bergman, Cornelia Featherstone