Our Story
Simple Beginnings & The Community Today
Our Origins
The Community began when Lilah and Benedict inspired in part by the 17th Century Little Gidding community began what was really a religious experiment in their own home. Almost at once people came and joined us and there soon began a process that was to lead to work with the seriously mentally ill. In 1973 when Benedict was ordained a Priest of the Russian Orthodox church and moved to serve a parish in Devon, the Community began to have a visible form with formal referrals.
Father Benedict is very proud that modern descriptions of the Community refer to it as ‘entirely secular’ and that it has come to be recognised as a meaningful and very successful demonstration of what community care can make possible. We do not represent any alternative treatment of mental illness but rather a new setting in which conventional medical treatment can achieve vastly improved results.
The original setting of our work in a family, a large one with lots of children is now replaced by a collection of households on various models such as for example a group of students living together and there is still an emphasis on domesticity and enjoyment which we think is of enormous importance.
In hospital, I was more sedated. I was asleep normally. It’s just a feeling where you haven’t got anywhere to go except there, just being there, depressed, so agitated, so angry, so furious why it happened to you, so down in the dumps that you can’t get out, can’t see any way forward. They should have more places like this, where it’s one-to-one, talking to you, gradually building you up into a state where you can be confident enough to carry on.
The Community Today
The Community now has many houses in rural and urban settings, where people live and make their home, a large staff team dedicated to working alongside and supporting individuals as well as an administrative support team. The family has grown up but it is still very much involved in the life of the Community.
Through the years the Community has grown and developed, but it has remained our consistent aim to preserve its sense of domesticity, sanctuary and belonging, enabling those living with us to find a place in the wider community.