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The Garvald Centres are a group of six affiliated but independent Scottish charities that support people with special needs and learning disabilities. It is based on the work of the Austrian esotericist (Rudolf Steiner). The charities operate in the Midlothian, Scottish Borders, and Edinburgh locations of Scotland.
The Garvald School and Training Centre was founded near West Linton in 1944 by Dr Hans Schauder, his wife Lisl, and others who decided to join him after working at the Camphill community in Aberdeen for some years. Dr Schauder himself was of Viennese origin and had fled Austria some years previously as he came from a Jewish family. Connected with anthroposophy, the medical and therapeutic work of Rudolf Steiner, and with the group around Karl König, he had been among the founders of Camphill. After working at Garvald for some years he opened his own practice in Edinburgh and developed his own method of counseling until meeting the Dominican friar, Lefébure, with whom he wrote his best-known work Conversations on Counselling. [1]
The Garvald school later became the Garvald Training Centre and later became six independent communities:
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The centres are based on the work of Rudolf Steiner, in particular his ideas on social therapy expressed through the type of opportunities provided, the approach and the interdependence they try to create. The goals are to give structure and rhythm to member's lives, bring people together to form a solid community through common activities or the celebration of events and emphasize the quality of what the workshops produce so that everyone can take pride in achieving the best possible. Within this philosophy, the items produced should have value or benefit to others rather than making things for one’s own sake.
They provide creative working environments focusing mainly on craft, catering, artistic skills and agriculture. There is a focus on craft activities because they strive to offer a wide range of possibilities for people to express creativity. Crafts are also tools used to encourage a connection to nature. In addition, they engage in approaches such as the talking points methodology, which focuses on outcomes for service-users and carers. The centres themselves produced Talking Points tools which have been designed specifically for people with learning disabilities. The program hopes that by providing these resources, there is an opportunity for anyone coming to one of the Garvald centres to affect their environment and community — local and beyond. A range of therapies like eurythmy, creative speech, massage and various other therapeutic arts are also offered.
In addition to providing structured and creative working environments, the majority of their studios and workshops have an enterprise focus: returning income to offset running costs. These opportunities are designed to help people gain confidence, with a focus on those leaving school and transitioning into adulthood. The workshops teach skills that one can apply in a work environment as well as skills to continue developing their creativity.
They have experience in supporting people with a range of needs and syndromes including autism, Down syndrome, fragile X syndrome, epilepsy, Prader Willi Syndrome, dual diagnosis and those with other physical and communication difficulties. Members' ages range from sixteen to the mid-seventies.
Anthroposophy is a spiritual new religious movement which was founded in the early 20th century by the esotericist Rudolf Steiner that postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world, accessible to human experience. Followers of anthroposophy aim to engage in spiritual discovery through a mode of thought independent of sensory experience. Though proponents claim to present their ideas in a manner that is verifiable by rational discourse and say that they seek precision and clarity comparable to that obtained by scientists investigating the physical world, many of these ideas have been termed pseudoscientific by experts in epistemology and debunkers of pseudoscience.
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a literary critic and published works including The Philosophy of Freedom. At the beginning of the twentieth century he founded an esoteric spiritual movement, anthroposophy, with roots in German idealist philosophy and theosophy. His teachings are influenced by Christian Gnosticism or neognosticism. Many of his ideas are pseudoscientific. He was also prone to pseudohistory.
The General Anthroposophical Society is an "association of people whose will it is to nurture the life of the soul, both in the individual and in human society, on the basis of a true knowledge of the spiritual world." As an organization, it is dedicated to supporting the community of those interested in the inner path of schooling known as anthroposophy, developed by Rudolf Steiner.
The Camphill Movement is an initiative for social change based on the principles of anthroposophy. Camphill communities are residential communities and schools that provide support for the education, employment, and daily lives of adults and children with developmental disabilities, mental health problems, or other special needs.
Gifford is a village in the parish of Yester in East Lothian, Scotland. It lies approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Haddington and 25 miles (40 km) east of Edinburgh.
Karl König was an Austrian paediatrician who founded the Camphill Movement, an international movement of therapeutic intentional communities for those with special needs or disabilities.
West Linton is a village and civil parish in southern Scotland, on the A702. It was formerly in the county of Peeblesshire, but since local government re-organisation in the mid-1990s it is now part of Scottish Borders. Many of its residents are commuters, owing to the village's proximity to Edinburgh, which is 16 miles (26 km) to the north-east. West Linton has a long history, and holds an annual traditional festival called The Whipman Play.
The Scottish Civic Trust is a registered charity. Founded in 1967, and based in the Category A-listed Tobacco Merchant's House in Glasgow, the Trust aims to provide "leadership and focus in the protection, enhancement and development of Scotland's built environment". It often comments on planning applications. From 1990 to 2011 the Trust maintained the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland on behalf of Historic Environment Scotland and delivers the popular Doors Open Days programme in Scotland. The current director of the Trust is Susan O'Connor.
Dundee Science Centre is a science centre located in Dundee, Scotland, and a part of the Scottish Science Centres Network. It is a registered charity under Scottish law. It is funded by the public and donations from local corporate sponsors.
Titirangi Rudolf Steiner School (TRSS) is a privately funded school with a unique educational approach known as a Waldorf school, situated in Auckland, New Zealand.
Breadmakers is a short 2007 documentary film, directed by Yasmin Fedda and produced by Jim Hickey and Robin Mitchell. This is a film about a unique Edinburgh bakery, where a community of workers with learning disabilities make a variety of organic breads for daily delivery to shops and cafes in the city. The Garvald Bakery is part of a centre inspired by the ideas of Rudolf Steiner where the workers realise their potential for self-discovery and creativity in a social environment. Yasmin said that she was surprised about the response that the film received.
Mary Caroline Richards was an American poet, potter, and writer best known for her book Centering: in Pottery, Poetry and the Person. Educated at Reed College, in Portland, Oregon, and at the University of California at Berkeley, she taught English at the Central Washington College of Education and the University of Chicago, but in 1945 became a faculty member of the experimental Black Mountain College in North Carolina where she continued to teach until the end of the summer session in 1951.
Steiner Schools Australia refers to the independent, private body of kindergarten, primary and secondary schools based on the Waldorf education system across Australia. Steiner Education operates in over 50 locations across the various states and territories in Australia, providing educational playgroups, kindergartens, primary schools and comprehensive K-12 school programs. Steiner Education is recognised by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) as an ‘alternative’ form of education and operates mainly within private independent schools with a small presence within public schools as Steiner streams. Steiner schools in Australia are represented by Steiner Education Australia, a not-for-profit organisation. Steiner Education has also attracted debate and criticism for its similarities to religious forms of education from the various states and territories.
The James Hutton Institute is an interdisciplinary scientific research institute in Scotland established in 2011, through the merger of Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) and the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute. The institute, named after Scottish geologist James Hutton, one of the leading figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, combines existing Scottish expertise in agricultural research, soils and land use, and works in fields including food and energy security, biodiversity, and climate change. With more than 600 employees, the institute is among the largest research centres in the UK. It is a registered charity under Scottish law.
Blackthorn Trust is a UK charity in Maidstone, Kent which offers specialist therapies and rehabilitation through work placements in the Blackthorn Garden. They offer help to people with mental health difficulties, chronic pain and type 2 diabetes. The charity's work is based on the work of Rudolf Steiner, and the charity aims to assist individuals to progress towards their full potential.
Wynstones School was a Steiner Waldorf school in Gloucestershire, set on 11 acres near Gloucester. It took pupils from pre-school through to university entrance and has an enrolment of around 275 students.
Sunfield is a private special school, Children's Home and charity on the border of Worcestershire and the West Midlands in England. It was founded in 1930 and now supports boys and girls, aged 6 – 19 years, with complex learning needs, including autism.
Hans Schauder, was a British medical adviser and counsellor, co-founder of Camphill Community, founder of Garvald School & Training Centre
The Bridgend Farmhouse Community Project in Edinburgh, Scotland is a community-owned and community-run charitable organisation. The project restored an 18th-century farmhouse to provide a community meeting place, café, garden and workshops. The project runs classes, workshops and training courses in a variety of crafts and skills aimed at all age groups. It also provides facilities for performances, gatherings, talks, entertainment and small conferences. Given charitable status under the title Bridgend Inspiring Growth (BIG), the project was one of the first in Scotland to achieve community ownership in an urban setting. In 2018 it became the first organisation in Scotland to transfer from a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) to a Community Benefit Society with charitable status.
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