Views from Rosemary

Right now, I am sitting at my desk at Craig’s Table, for the most part it is quiet here in the main building, just a trickle of people coming in getting what they need and going off again. It is a far cry from the hectic pace of this past week. For me it was travel to work with case managers and claims agents to the workers compensation regulator, then back to an over packed facility with two different groups training and (almost) nowhere to park, to this morning when there was just one group in for training but the Opportunity Shop was also open so there was a mix of Craig’s Table placements and shoppers and again (almost) nowhere to park.

The reason I am writing about this is quite simple, yesterday we had a visitor who came to see “what all the fuss is about”, the oddest thing she had to say in the entire time she was here was “Craig’s Table doesn’t look like workers compensation”.

Our visitor is correct, Craig’s Table is nothing like the known framework of workers compensation, Craig’s Table is all about forward focus, what can be done, where is the next path, what more can be done or investigated. Craig’s Table is not about having any one with a workplace injury placed into a holding pattern, it is about bringing people in and moving them back into their own lives and back into their own community and back seeking real employment in the shortest possible time whilst adding real skills and real ability to focus on whatever path is chosen.

In the coming weeks Craig’s Table will present information sessions for the participants to learn about coding, or what is required in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation; we will also bring in professionals from the fire brigade in order to speak about being bushfire ready. The participants will also learn about the importance of oral hygiene and anything else we can put forward in a way that always causes the participants to think forward and to expand their horizon. 

We have a very important space here in the main building where there is a lounge and TV and a DVD player, along with a collection of comedy movies. The importance of laughter is something that for way too long has been overlooked, so we have set up the area in order to just encourage people to sit and watch movies and laugh. There is even the start of an electric train set (note to self: need a bigger table) again its not about the train set, it is about interrupting the negative self-talk for a short time or a long time and allowing other happy thoughts to fill the mind and heart.

None of Craig’s Table looks anything like workers compensation, it looks like any community centre where people gather to learn and grow and support each other. Each day when I arrive for work it is more like getting to hang out with my best friends, if I am away for a day or so I am greeted back. One of the best things about Craig’s Table is that no one here cares that I am the Founder, if the floor needs to be cleaned or the dishes done or the Opportunity Shop needs to be minded or the garden needs to be watered and I have the time to get it done, then the task falls to me.

The very simple reason is that when others see me doing what they don’t expect me to do they stop and think about what more they can do, they offer to help, or they come for a chat whilst I am watering the garden. 

I am the first one to admit that Craig’s Table has not replaced workers compensation and all the legal quagmire that the mainstream workers compensation concept entails. What I will claim is that Craig’s Table has altered the way the injured worker community views itself and in doing so the interaction for the injured worker community is changing mainstream workers compensation: and hopefully you will agree that is a good thing.

Best I go check on the Opportunity Shop.

Yours in service
Rosemary

www.craigstable.net.au
rosemary@craigstable.net.au
SKYPE Rosemary2412
3^rd August 2018