Community Arts and Recovery:

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• Community Arts and Recovery
• The Old Parcels Office way
• Delivered by
• Jo Saunders Arts Development Worker
• Jean Newsum Project Participant

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Welcome!

• Conference about modernising mental health
  services
• OPO has an innovative approach in tackling mental
  ill health through the arts
• How people access the project
• First hand experience
• How participants move on
• What is needed to run a project such as this?
• Vision for the future

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• A Haven of Activity

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• What relationship do you have currently with the
  arts in your profession?

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Arts in Mental Health Movement

• Still in early stages of development
• Strand of the larger movement for arts in health
• Hospital and community based
• Many authorities working on Arts in Health
  Strategies
• Developing awareness and development of holistic
  and social model of health
• It has been shown that the benefits of a
  pharmacological support-based approach can be as
  effective as prescribed anti-depressants
• (Appleby et al)
• Arts is a tool which can be used to improve
  health, but also more about developing a
  relationship between the two.
• National Network for Arts in Health

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• How can participating in the arts be beneficial
  to mental health?
• Stress reduction
• Therapeutic benefit
• Improved sociability
• Skills development
• Which influences reduction in deterioration of
  conditions and the likelihood of relapse.

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Hull East Yorkshire
Minds Mission Statement
Purpose Mind works for a better life for everyone
with experience of mental distress. Values and
Principles Autonomy, Equality, Knowledge,
Participation and Respect. Old Parcels Office
Arts Centre aims To promote positive mental
health for all, through creative activity.
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Organisational StructureHull East Yorkshire
Mind
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(No Transcript)
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Different Strokes for Different Folks!A
Participants Perspective using the examples of
the WEA singing group, the Mind Drama Group, and
Artspace
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Access to the Project

• Telephone booking system for open courses and
  workshops
• Preliminary telephone conversation with key
  worker
• Information Sessions for organisations

• Familiarisation meetings with potential
  participants and a key worker
• Referral/action plan
• Usually recommend key worker attends first
  session with participant

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Working in Partnership

• Provides better services for people in need
• Strengthens resources (funds, skills, knowledge,
  workspace, publicity)
• Mutually beneficial i.e. CMHT
• Involves participants committees, opportunities
  for progression i.e. WEA
• Reaches more people who may not normally access
  the project
• Opportunities for innovative projects which meet
  needs i.e. Art Along the Line

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Evaluation and monitoring

• Fundamental to projects direction
• Helps us to plan new programmes
• Ensures people who are using the project have a
  say in how it is run
• Indicates the quality of the service delivered
• Provides statistics
• How?
• Registers
• Workshop evaluations adults and children
• Personal development questionnaires
• Consultation events
• Dialogue

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Developing effective ways of measuring soft
skills

• Vital importance of a persons starting point in
  order to measure distance travelled
• Making eye-contact
• Extended concentration span
• Attendance without support worker
• Regular attendance
• Acting for self rather than waiting for direction
• Asks for help
• Accepting others we dont agree with - Let each
  other be

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Personal Benefits

• Making friends and meeting people
• Inspiration to try out different crafts and
  activities
• Learning
• More confidence
• Feeling of well-being
• Asking for, and accepting help
• Combating loneliness
• Its made me go out instead of looking at 4 walls
  every day
• given me more confidence in myself
• Mix with people I wouldnt normally mix with
• My daughter was home-educated and is now doing a
  diploma in fine-art and design. She got onto
  this course by producing a portfolio of work,
  most of which she did at the Parcels Office

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Health Benefits

• I suffer from chronic depression, and it helps
  me keep occupied and my mind off my problems
• It helped me immensely after the sudden death of
  my husband
• Helped with my panic-attacks and anxiety
  problems
• Get better
• I think that being creative gives me a feeling
  of well-being
• Helped with my emotional ability
• Using the arts has helped improve it (health)
• Made me feel better and something to look
  forward to
• I feel a lot better since being introduced to
  Artspace. I hope I can still come and hope to
  progress even more to getting my life back
• The OPO was recommended by my Community
  Psychiatric Nurse. Had to pluck up the courage
  to phone let alone go and see and present myself
  to a room full of strangers. Now (I am) happy to
  go to Women and Creativity on a Thursday and miss
  it when its not on
• In a gentle way I know that I feel safe yet are
  not made to feel like a freak at all. I am
  treated as me which is again a very positive part
  in attending. If you feel accepted you feel
  youre not as weird. Thankyou for this

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• People with multiple disadvantages are more
  likely to benefit from a staged approach to their
  support, with a range of different forms of help
  over time as they develop. For very
  disadvantaged people, steps such as breaking
  isolation, building confidence and motivation,
  establishing a routine or changing attitudes to
  training and employment may need to precede
  training or getting a job.
• Recognising and measuring outcomes, regular
  attendance or soft skills like increased
  self-confidence and self-esteem, is in its
  infancy. We do not currently have a range of
  appropriate measures to assess progress made (or
  distance travelled) by some very disadvantaged
  people.
• Breaking the Cycle Taking stock of progress and
  priorities for the future a report by the
  Social Exclusion Unit Sept 2004 Office of the
  Deputy Prime Minister, London. Chapter 6

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Considerations for running a project such as this

• Person-centred approach
• Clarity of aims
• Recognise limitations
• Management structure
• Creative thinking
• Range of skills in team
• Contacts with good quality community artists
• Sustainability and funding

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Vision for the Future

• Sustain current project activity
• Develop the Old Parcels Office base
• Progress outreach work to engage those hardest to
  reach
• Develop a co-ordinated youth and family arts
  programme
• Nurture and support emerging artists
• Provide opportunities for artists to develop
  transitional skills in working with groups
  consisting of people with varying abilities and
  needs

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Contacts

• The Old Parcels Office Arts Centre
• Bridlington Railway Station
• Station Approach
• Bridlington
• East Yorkshire
• YO15 3EP
• 01262 40 00 00
• mindhey-parcels_at_btconnect.com
• Jo Saunders
• Arts Development Worker
• Perrie White
• Resident Artist for Mental Health

• Other Useful Contacts
• National Network for Arts in Health
• 123 Westminster Bridge Road
• London SE1 7HR
• 020 7261 1317
• www.nnah.org.uk
• Mind thegap Arts Council England
• Queens House 14 Great Peter St.
• Queens Road London
• Bradford SW1P 3NQ
• BD8 7BS
• 01274 544 683 0845 300 6200
• www.artscouncil.org.uk