Lynden Jackson

A few years ago I stumbled across a wonderful local project initiated by a group of church elders. Launched in the village of Debenham in Suffolk in 2009, its aim was simple: to care for older, vulnerable people in the community where they belonged, so as to avoid them having to leave their neighbourhood, their loved ones, all that was well-known and comforting, to go and live in a care home somewhere else – which is what just over half of these older residents were having to do. And my guest this week is the project’s chairman, Lynden Jackson. 

The scheme’s guiding principles are that it should be local, operating within a four and a half mile radius, benefiting and implemented by people motivated to offer their help to those they know; that it should avoid bureaucracy and that it should concentrate on what could be done, not stress about what couldn’t.  

Its philosophy is neatly summed up in a catchphrase worthy of Saatchi & Saatchi at their best: Make it local, Make it simple, Make it work. 

Within six months – with the collaboration and support of the local mental health trust, adult care services, three major charities, the library, the church and the post office – an advice and information centre and an activities and social hub had been set up, the first Food ‘n’ Friends lunch club held, a website created and a confidential telephone helpline launched.  

Further activities have developed and evolved, evaluations have been undertaken and other parts of the country have looked to Debenham for inspiration.

A big part of the project’s success is that it works from the bottom up, not the top down – volunteers don’t support professionals, but vice-versa. As Lynden Jackson put it so well, “We believe that this is the only way that truly person-centred care can be delivered – caring for the community, in the community, by the community. 

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