The Shadyfish Xperiance

 

The Shadyfish Xperiance hereafter known as TSX is a voluntary organisation that is open to all people regardless of age, race, gender, sexuality or ability. 

We welcome people with mental health issues including those recovering, or undergoing treatment for, substance abuse, people with emotional problems or with none.  People with criminal justice issues, carers, single parents, the young and the old – all are welcome as TSX is a truly open organisation.

  

TSX was founded in 2009 by Ricky McCarthy and Linda Russ who had both been drug and/or alcohol abusers.  Wishing to reduce the social isolation that such conditions engender the Founders looked at ways in which people of all types and abilities, including those who had lost their social skills and ability to communicate within the wider society, could be given back their dignity through re-integration to society starting with the people in their own geographic location. One of the first steps people may take is to approach one of the existing services such as Health or social care whom may provide a support worker to help, but this will only do so much.

The TSX community groups are what we believe to be the next step. By giving people the opportunity to get out into the community and within a friendly environment, where they can be around other people who may or may not have similar issues in their lives.

During the course of Ricky’s 25 years of clinical depression and 20 years of drug, addiction the services and resources that exist to help had continually failed to provide adequate support within Ricky’s life outside of the hospital environment. This was not entirely the authorities fault but the system they are governed by, the red tape, under staffing and under-funding which allowed Ricky to continually fall through the safety net of the health services. Although agencies such as CDAS are in place to help with rehabilitation for drug and alcohol misuse, they only provide the initial support of counselling and until recently do very little to provide further support within the community for not just the individual but also those people that have been affected by that persons addiction. Had such support been available to Ricky he is no doubt that he would have been more successful in quitting many years before he did.

During 2008 Ricky was lucky enough to be put in contact with Open Arts which is part of SEPT who run 12 week art courses for people with mental health issues. This introduction was pure luck due to a period of 4 years isolation Ricky needed some work carried out on his council home and during a visit by a housing manager from Vange was told about open arts, and had this not happened he would never had found out about this.

During the next 6 months, Ricky started to develop the idea of setting up his own similar group in Basildon, as he knew that the open arts group would not be there indefinitely, and he knew that he needed to do something to help himself and other people like him. People in low income situations or couples with children and single parents that could not afford child support.

 Through his own experiences, he was aware there was a need for a new and fresh approach to the problems facing people in similar situations. It is not the fact there is no help, it is the fact that this help is always target specific and limited to the length of time these services can be provided, and the fact that these services are never about families or communities but individuals, and yet the problems faced by individuals always affect those around them and have an impact on the community at large, and from these humble beginnings Ricky founded The Shadyfish Xperiance.