The Camphill Foundation is a US-based organisation with a primary focus on North America. Under its aegis,an event entitled ‘The Camphill Research Symposium 2017’ took place in July in Hudson, New York State. Obviously much of the agenda was not immediately relevant to the UK.
One session however which may be of interest comprised a talk by Miriam Snellgrove, Ph.D., University of Bristol “Who is Camphill For? Challenges and Perspectives from the UK Experience” , in which she examined ‘the changing nature of Camphill principles and practices in the UK; in particular the ways that the ‘vision’ of who Camphill is for and how it should be run have faced considerable challenges with the increase in employment, declining co-worker model and more complex needs of residents…’
The video of Miriam’s talk is embedded in the webpage (There is no reading required!). It gets complicated given the devolved structure and organisation of Camphill in the UK – Miriam herself spent her childhood in a Camphill in Northern Ireland; she undertook most of her research at three Camphill villages in Scotland; and the ‘big debate’ on Camphill’s future and viability seems to be focused on its villages in England. Anyway, if you want to ‘get a handle’ on the current issues around Camphill in the UK, perhaps take a look…