COMMUNITY CENTRE PRACTICE — POTENTIAL AND POSSIBILITIES FOR CREATING CHANGE

Abstract

It has been suggested that community centre practice offers important possibilities for addressing the complex needs of families. This paper arises from a larger study of the Aintree Community Centre. The goal of the research was to understand better the multi‐faceted ways in which community centre practice contributed to family and community change. Discussion is structured around the consideration of a single case study of a family seeking support at the Aintree Family and Community Centre. It pays particular attention to the early period of engagement between the family and staff. This focus allows us to explore the contribution which psycho‐dynamic and systemic approaches made to practice in the centre and also to think about other characteristics of centre practice that assisted the family to embark upon a journey of change. The complexity of the practitioner/client nexus and the role of the support relationship in client/family change are examined. Through this the value of community centre practice in the delivery of support to families facing complex troubles and the nature of the change process as gradually accumulative can be appreciated.

Keywords:

• community centre
• practice model
• support relationship
• parenting
• wellbeing
• change

Notes

1. Details of the community centre, the family which agreed to share its story with us and the workers who supported this family, have been changed to protect the identities of these various participants.