Comas history

Comas History

The Timeline

	Governance	Activity	Team
January - June 2011	The Board completed its Strategy 2011-2015 and its Business Plan 2011-2015. A leading capacity building charity turns down our request for support and challenge, because our Board and management is ‘skilled and experienced’ already!	The Serenity Café arts development programme funded by the Postcode Lottery Trust provides involves people in recovery in a choir, a drama group and guitar group. The finale performance rocks an audience of over 100 at our March Café Club night. Read our final report to Postcode Lottery Trust here. The Recovery Coaching pilot programme funded by Long Term Conditions Alliance Scotland concludes. 10 individuals complete Self Coaching and Recovery Coaching courses in which people in recovery provide peer support to each other. Read the findings of our action research. The Resilient Parent pilot programme concludes after helping 12 parents to become more resilient through a one to one coaching process. Plans to develop a parent peer coaching approach are developed.	Gillian Gibson joins us as Arts Development Worker. Louise Cowe joins us as Development Worker on a part-time basis. Rachael Atherton is our first Finance/Administration worker on a part-time basis. Ruth Campbell, Chief Executive, starts the Clore Social Leadership Fellowship, joining 15 other social leaders from around the UK, helping to network Comas and bring new ideas to our development.
January 2011	The Board is working on a strategy and business plan	The Arts in Recovery project boosts the Serenity Cafe	Gillian Gibson joins to lead the Arts in Recovery project.
August - December 2010	The 2009-10 accounts report 30% growth during the second year. The Board grows in size and strength	The Serenity Cafe project is boosted by a major grant to develop a Recovery Coaching training programme for peer to peer support between people in recovery. Comic Relief supports volunteering and recovery community development in the Serenity Cafe. We hold the first national networking event to promote recovery community development and recovery cafes – the idea is catching on all over the UK, and our guide is produced. The Green Drying Project gets underway to challenge planners and developers to recognise the need for outdoor drying facilities to avoid carbon emissions, higher bills and dampness.	Alina Pripis undertakes the groundwork on the Recovery Coaching project. Michele Armstrong and Sarah Howard then take the project forward. Karen Maclean is appointed part-time volunteer development worker with the Serenity Cafe. Jade O’Donnell and Lisa Jones join the team as SCVO Future Jobs Fund trainees for six months. Lisa completes all the groundwork for the Green Drying Project. Kristellys Zolondek joins as an intern with the Green Drying Project.
January - June 2010	A lease is taken on our first premises: 14 Montrose Terrace, Abbeyhill Comas wins Scottish Charity Awards Community Action category for the Serenity Cafe Project	Small grants continue to develop the Serenity Cafe: a steering group has formed, training for volunteers and steering group members strengthens their role in leading the project	Jim MacDonald and Sally Sorrie join Comas as Resilient Parent project workers helping develop the resilient parent coaching framework
August - December 2009	The Board completes audited accounts for 2008-09 and transfer assets to a Company Limited with Charitable Status in August. An outline strategy paves the way for a focus on resilience, recovery and community development	The Serenity Cafe goes from strength to strength, with members of the recovery community building skills to run cafe-club nights. Comas works with City of Edinburgh Council to support voluntary sector involvement in Getting it Right for Every Child. Learning from this work leads to the Resilient Parent Project, helping Comas pilot a coaching approach to support parents struggling to bring up their children	Ellen Leaver returns for another stint as intern.
January - July 2009	The Board looks ahead: juggling commissioned work for income generation with developing direct work to support people and communities to develop and grow	First development grant: Investing in Ideas helps us explore the Serenity Cafe concept with people recovering from addiction The CLU/HIE contract culminates in online publishing of the “Mind Your Own Business” guide for community groups	Development workers join Comas for a short period to support Serenity Cafe business planning and development: Steve Saunders, Debbie Bain and Joe Lafferty. Joe stays on for the rest of the year.
June -December 2008	A vision and mission statement help clarify purpose and direction – but the reality of hand-to-mouth finance makes planning a challenge.	More commissioned work builds experience: Scottish Social Networks evaluation Inspiring Scotland applicant support	Ellen left for a better internship in Washington USA!
April - June 2008	Comas inception – after 12 weeks in Sri Lanka watching grassroots action to tackle enormous social problems, a new perspective on community development gave Comas its foundation Four Board members formally register Comas as a Scottish Charity with OSCR in June.	With a £0 start, income generation was a priority! Services to other community organisations seemed the obvious place to start – greeted with some suspicion by ‘traditional’ vol orgs who mistook the approach as ‘private consultancy’. Small pieces of commissioned work get us underway: Community Land Unit (HIE) training programme for community groups wishing to own community assets Citadel Youth Centre fundraising strategy	Ruth Campbell leads the development. In June Ellen Leaver joins as an unpaid intern. Ian Leaver is an associate for the delivery of the CLU/HIE training.