Atmosphere, participation, good and honest products, inclusivity and social activities. These are the pillars of De Boshalte. A place where every person can and may be themselves and everyone feels valued. In order to continue her social enterprise, founder Stefanie Caton had to step out of her comfort zone. How did she deal with this?
“With my father-in-law I often came to bicycle rental De Boshalte, located at the entrance of the Amsterdam forest. When the owner indicated that he wanted to stop, it was part of my plan to give a new destination to my career. I have been a family therapist at the mental health school for 28 years, now it was time to use that knowledge and skills in my own way.”
“Time to use the knowledge and skills my way.”
Social and welcoming
In the eight years that we have existed, the Boshalte became exactly the place it was supposed to be in my eyes: a place where people can come together, where everyone feels at home. We have a terrace with kiosk and a palviljoen where, among other things, the best coffee in Amsterdam is served. We are a Recognized Learning Company and train people with a distance to the labor market and have revived a bicycle workshop.
It is a place where the elderly can shake off their loneliness and where children can play freely and creatively outside, where we organize workshops and activities. It is a no-label place where everyone can be trained and everyone is welcome.
De Boshalte Foundation was founded in 2018. In order to strengthen our social work, I have registered - with a grant from the CCHO fund - for the Social Entrepreneurship Course.
"Upscaling, that's not for us, is it?"
Seed planted
From the first day we were put to work hard, but already on the second day an important seed was planted with me. On that day Pieter van Osch stood in front of the group. He talked about the Rockefeller Habits method, or: upscaling. That was miles beyond my comfort zone. Because upscaling, that's not for us at all, is it? How are we going to shape that at De Boshalte?
But still... It didn't let me go. Pieter's story has run like a common thread through the rest of the weeks. At one point I noticed that I was going to lay the ruler past the organization: where can I upscale, who are my stakeholders, who are my customers and where are they?' I already do networking. On the terrace, talking to the people. We are regularly approached by the media, which results in nice free publicity. The municipality has also approached us with the offer to find a second location so that we can expand our initiative.
The common thread became a thick, red dot on the horizon. We are now making plans for a second location where we can start a social bakery, run by the baker who took care of the cakes on the terrace in the first year. It will also be a place where we train people with a distance to the labor market and offer hospitality training to, for example, ROCs and hospitality businesses from the city. And not unimportant: it will be the location of our barista training.
Self-reflection
For me as a family therapist, the story of Oscar Westra van Holthe felt like a warm bath. The method of the family setup was already familiar to me, but it was wonderful to be working on it again. I think it is very good that this methodology is included in the curriculum. It is incredibly valuable for all organizations, whether two or two hundred people work there.
"You are not the only one who occasionally struggles with the limited 24 hours in a day."
At De Boshalte we are doing a lot with this. What is happening within your team, how is communication going, how are your people doing? Communication, openness and self-reflection are extremely important within our organization. When someone comes to me with the question 'why am I so allergic to that one colleague' then we will look at it together through self-reflection and a dive into the people from someone's past. This often leads to self-insight and causes you to look beyond the slide of the past that you have unconsciously placed on the colleague in question.
Never alone
I love to put my brain to work again. And we have to work during this course! We are a close-knit group that finds a lot of support together. Following this course and the assignments that go with it can be quite a lot if you also run your business. Then it's good that you can lean on each other and know that you're not the only one who occasionally struggles with the limited 24 hours in a day.”