thewarriorprogramme

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MEDIA RELEASE

Launch of Charity that Tackles the Emotional Causes of Social Problems

Compelling evidence addressing new approaches to social problems has emerged from a pilot programme run by newly formed charity The Warrior Programme. The charity has demonstrated, through a combination of techniques, new ways to tackle acute trauma and emotional pain amongst disadvantaged groups.

The charity, to be officially launched on 30th November, will have a phased national roll out, and services will be developed specifically for, amongst others, ex-service personnel, the homeless and disadvantaged youth. Attracting attention from a wide range of professional, media and charity bodies, the launch event will include a fashion show introduced by designer Jasper Conran and film director Katrine Boorman, and a live performance by top Irish band The Hothouse Flowers.

Jasper Conran says:
“I am delighted to be supporting this groundbreaking charity. It is clearly not enough just to focus on people’s material needs; we also need to address the emotional pain at the root of social problems and disadvantage. The kind of service provided by The Warrior Programme is particularly important for those who, because of institutional barriers, are normally excluded from such emotional support.”

The Warrior Programme incorporates the techniques of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Cognitive Therapy and Meditation, which have traditionally, along with psychotherapy, been the preserve of affluent professional individuals. The pilot participants, who have suffered acute emotional difficulties, such as attempted suicide, clinical depression, abuse and addiction, have experienced dramatic transformations, enabling them to retake personal responsibility for their lives.

With 31 million prescriptions written last year alone for anti-depressants, it is widely recognised that a new approach to addressing emotional pain is needed, particularly for socially disadvantaged groups whose material needs (housing, resettlement, employment, addiction) often take precedence over the emotional pain at the root of the problem. The charity is now developing a number of partnerships with other charitable bodies in order to broaden the support available to disadvantaged and emotionally damaged individuals throughout the UK.

Film producer and documentary film director Katrine Boorman, one of the trustees of The Warrior Programme, adds:
“I am hugely excited about the programme’s potential as a major contributor to some of the UK’s most intractable social problems. By filming video diaries of the individuals’ own stories, I have had the opportunity of seeing at first hand the dramatic impact that The Warrior Programme can have.”

Liam o Maonlai of The Hothouse Flowers, who will be performing at the launch event, says:
“Depression is a symptom of a widespread desensitisation amongst human beings. We have lost our connection with our mother earth. We live according to a system that has little or no real respect for that from which we come and to which we return. Drugs can’t fix this – there is a need for a global awakening.”

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Eva Hamilton – A Pioneer in Community Innovation

Eva Hamilton is known as an ideas generator - pioneering new and radical approaches to dealing with some of the UK’s most intractable social problems. The organisational models that she has devised and initiated have been taken up by organisations throughout the UK and cross the public, voluntary and private sectors in encouraging innovation in the way that marginalised communities are empowered and supported. In 2005 she was awarded an MBE by HRH The Prince of Wales with whom she has been closely associated over the past 20 years.

Eva was born and grew up in Ireland. At the age of 18 she spent time in Calcutta working in one of Mother Theresa’s Homes for the Dying. This was a life changing experience and shaped her understanding of social problems as being more than material deprivation, but having a strong emotional and spiritual dimension at its root.

On coming to England she worked at Business in the Community heading first of all HRH The Prince of Wales’ Seeing is Believing Programme and then pioneering a new approach to how corporate Britain tackles homelessness, through the multimillion pound Corporate Social Responsibility Programme, Business Action on Homelessness. The latter was the subject of a three part BBC2 programme Headhunting the Homeless which followed Eva’s work over a period of a year and documented the way that she tackled the then indifference of corporate Britain to issues such as homelessness.

As a sufferer of Bi-Polarism – a factor which has dramatically shaped Eva’s outlook - Eva has successfully balanced a family of two young children, her full-time commitment to her campaigning and attention to her own well-being, physical and mental health. As a result of her own direct mental and emotional health experiences, she has been continually struck at how the emotional and psychological causes of social deprivation including, homelessness, prostitution and addiction were not adequately addressed by mainstream agencies and conventional approaches.

After 18 years at Business in the Community, Eva, along with colleague, Charlotte Cole, has set up her own charity, The Warrior Programme aimed specifically at addressing the root causes of emotional trauma. The Warrior Programme is based on a powerful model devised by Hugh Lillingston of the Thorpe Institute which Eva herself experienced with dramatic transformational effects on her own life. Having been piloted for over a year now with some remarkable well researched results, the charity is set to launch its national programme with a Gala event attended by over 200 figures in the charity, media and business world on Friday 30th November.

Read Eva’s speech at the Nov 30th launch here
 
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