Violence Reduction and the Cathedral District - Thursday 4th April 2019

A drizzly morning in Glasgow turned into a sunny day with a freezing Atlantic wind, but I made it out sightseeing in the afternoon. I walked up to see the cathedral district with the Lord Provost House that was built back in the 1400’s and is one of the only remaining houses of its era. The cathedral is far more impressive inside that outside and I really enjoyed exploring the various chapels and looking back at the stained glass windows once the sun shone in.

A few gravestones had caught my eye in the church yard but I later went up to the Necropolis to see a wide range of head stones and recognise a few names from the history books. Lord Kelvin (of the Kelvin temperature system back in physics) was there. Sir Harry had told me earlier in the week that a group of surveyors went through and measured the height of the headstone and correlated with the age of the person buried there and found a direct relationship existed! Presumably those who lived longer, amassed more wealth and could afford a bigger headstone.

I did do some work today though. I woke up at 2.30am to watch Monash Paediatric grand rounds(by Blue Jeans teleconference), where the MCHS teachers were talking about the “Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships” curriculum. This was a nice segway into the meeting with the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit this morning. I largely got to be a fly on the wall, listening to Sir Harry, Neven and Alistair talk about the ways in which we can prevent violence through early intervention with families, how to assist our politicians to understand this concept and how to negotiate effective programs like “Navigators” into the places they are needed.

I heard about the Navigators program last week. It operates in 4 Glasgow emergency departments on weekend nights, when they meet with those who have come in with injuries or illnesses most likely linked to violence, substance use etc. They introduce themselves, offer to follow up and help people navigate out of the chaotic lives they lead. Their workers are those with lived experience who can connect and walk alongside people, but are supported to have worked their own trauma to enable them to reach out. A strong message I hear over and over is to develop trusted relationships with people and start with what matters to them. Once we help them through the first few problems, they generally get on top of things for themselves. They had some great ideas about how to structure a similar program for those locked up on Friday or Saturday night or those soon to be released from prison. It was interesting to hear the difficulties getting successful programs through the bureaucratic processes though. Some things are common the world over. One of the things ringing true for me in these conversations is the value of the network I have established through LV and the WCLP, so it is becoming clearer to me how I might create the links vital to the success of good ideas reaching implementation.

There are numerous murals painted on the side of selected buildings around Glasgow. They are very impressive and varied. This one on High St really appealed to me with the lighting and details in it.