I am an occupational therapist working at a psychiatric hospital in Grahamstown, with patients who have a chronic psychiatric illness. Many of these patients have been at the hospital for years due to families that have abandoned them as well as an inability to stay away from substances when they are on leave from the hospital, which is often a result of their lack of ability to get a job when they are outside.
The lack of a job often results in a lack of purpose and routine in the outside life which has a tendency to result in their relapse and readmission to the hospital. Which is why we see the revolving door trend of the same people being readmitted.
When they are in the hospital many of the patients are desperate to gain some transferable work skills, but, as we are a government institution, funding to achieve this is often a challenge.
Despite this, my colleague and I have developed a proposal to start a patient-run coffee shop at the hospital as a way of equipping these vulnerable, often stigmatized people with skills that are relevant and marketable in a daunting open labour market.
We have an excellent Barista who is willing to train the patients as well as the coffee machine needed to run the coffee shop, but we are in need of the capital to hire the Barista and to purchase the consumables that are essential for running the business.
Anyone willing to contribute towards this initiative would be doing this marginalized population an extremely great service.
Thanking you in advance for your contributions.