Windmill Therapeutic Training Unit, Wexford. Ireland

General
Over the past twelve years we have experienced a steady increase in the number of adults attending the unit, which continues to reinforce and endorse the feelings that there are many people in our community whose needs are not being met by the present state resources. (Our present group consists of 60 adults).

Programme
The programme embraces such areas as Literacy, Remedials, Communications, Relationships, Group and Project work, Visual Aids, Current Affairs and a wide range of Craft and Work related skills, as well as tapping on the resources of the wider community such as Drama, Role-Play, Swimming and Physical Education. We are particularly delighted about the way in which these activities have been linked with the resources in the wider community realising that it is an essential part of Human Growth and Development for our young people to be put in touch with their environment.

History and Background
The seed of the Therapeutic Training Unit was sown in the very early part of the year, January 1988 when a small group of interested people were asked to consider the feasibility of setting up a new Unit which would pay special attention to the Middle Band of the adult disadvantaged in the community. It was evident to us that the present resources were woefully inadequate and were not geared effectively to cope with their needs. With such a diversity of trainees, ranging from the profound to the upper range of the mildly handicapped; Staff had the impossible task of meeting the needs of all. The demands of the profoundly handicapped necessitates, more often than not, a staff ratio of one-to-one and consequently the skills and energies of staff were spread too thinly and often resulted in less effective work being achieved with the Middle Band. We have attempted to redress this problem with the setting up of the new Unit.

The Philosophy
We have as carers, set ourselves the task of taking a closer look at the needs of the Adult Disadvantaged in our community and concluded that a new approach was necessary if our trainees were to be enabled to reach their full potential. It was vital that we adopt a new style, a new approach and to move away from the stereo-typed establishments into something which is fluid, flexible and generative. The therapeutic concepts remains for many a somewhat imperfectly understood but perhaps a trendy respectable idea. It sometimes seems tantamount to a sort of vague aspiration towards a more humanitarian treatment, but it really is a good deal more precise than that. It is our conviction and the conviction of those of us who have explored and practised along these lines that it has a clear contribution to make in helping those in need towards personality development and social survival and the Programme has been designed with this in mind.

Head of Unit: John Carroll MIITD

Windmill is a bona fide charity, Registration No. 9500 Sponsored and Funded by POBAL, HSE and the Community