"Wathwood Section 17 Reastaurant Rosewood Centre Visit"

At the Rosewood Involvement Centre we have very close ties to our friends at Wathwood Hospital.

We got invited some time ago to attend the new Section 17 Restaurant, which is run by Service users and Staff at Wathwood.

7 of us set off to Wathwood and not rely knowing what to expect, we were keen to go and show our support. Of the 7 attending we had one Carer who is a Carer Recovery Champion, and 5 service users who volunteer at Rosewood and Involvement one of these is a service user Recovery Champion.

WOW! ! ! Is what come to mind,

What a fantastic Restaurant it is and I can speak from personal experience, before I worked for the Trust I worked 22 years in top 4 and 5 star hotels and restaurants’ in England and abroad,

The Restaurant was set with linin table cloths fresh flowers and Napkins, we were greeted by our waiter (a service user) who said hello introducing himself to all our party.

We then were given what can only be describe as a fantastic 3 course menu with choices to decide on. The food was just outstanding and professionally presented and served, in fact our waiter ‘Steve’ got to know all our names and used then throughout the meal, this is not an easy task for anyone so a big well done.

Phil one of the ward Managers and Involvement Lead at Wathwood also popped in to say hello which as we work with Phil a great deal at Involvement was just great. All the People from Rosewood know Phil and they were most impressed he popped in to say hello.

The highlight for us was Steve’ sat down with us at the end of the meal and it was clear to see that he had hope, opportunity and control of his own Recovery pathway and talked openly about how much he enjoyed the Restaurant and what this kind of work can do for him when he is ready to move forward. All the Staff and service users who were on hand were just fantastic all dressed up in formal black and whites, they looks the part and very very professional. At the end of the meal the service users who had been working in the kitchen came out and a very big well deserved round of applauds was forthcoming. We then got a guided tour of Wathwood.

I wish we could photo copy Wathwood and have it everywhere. The Hospital for me as a former service user is just one of the best examples of what can be achieved and the best example of what Recovery means outstanding.