We granted The Natural Theatre Company funds to creatively support mental health in Radstock and Westfield. Here’s what they got up to:
These sessions are provided as part of a creative wellbeing provision for Adults struggling with their mental health in Radstock. The participants are all referred to the project via the social prescribers at Hope House Surgery. The very nature of the project means that numbers are kept small to provide a safe and accessible space for all the participants. This is the second series of workshops that we have run as part of this provision and we increase the numbers engaging each time.
Initially the funding was to provide 5 sessions but we were actually able to provide 7 drawing on money from elsewhere for the extra workshops.
Over the 7 sessions we had 13 attendees. Some coming regularly.
During the sessions different arts forms were used as stimulus to creativity including Drama and visual arts.
The participants all engaged very well with the sessions and expressed a want to continue in the future.
Quotes from evaluation includes:
‘We did some crafts, and some imagining- what is community & what it means to us.’
‘We were thinking about togetherness & how we could bring people together in our area.’
‘It was good to get out and talk to people. There aren’t many things to do around Radstock. Especially for young adults & adults on the spectrum. I spend most of my time home reading or watching YouTube, so it was nice to get out with other people & use my imagination & think about other things. As being at home so much can make you bored.’
‘I was able to have a laugh with good company.’
‘The lady running it was very friendly and made me feel welcome!’
‘I enjoyed being creative. I haven’t painted for years and I enjoyed talking with the other attendees.’
‘I’ve found my love of painting again.’
‘Just a quick thank you for offering something different in the social therapy format. It’s been great to reconnect with my old creative self again and have a laugh!’
It is clear that the sessions have had an impact personally for the participants but also locally, providing a provision that is otherwise not there.
I have attached some photos of the collage work that they created during the last sessions. They did not give permission for photographs to be taken of them working for obvious reasons.
We hope to run another series of Natural Steps sessions before the Radstock Fayre this year.