Community Arts and Recovery: The Old Parcels Office way Delivered by:

1. Community Arts and Recovery: The Old Parcels Office way Delivered by: Jo Saunders – Arts Development Worker Jean Newsum – Project Participant

2. 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

3. “A Haven of Activity” The Old Parcels Office Arts Centre Charity No. 1101976 Bridlington Railway Station

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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. Hull & East Yorkshire Mind’s 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.

8. Organisational StructureHull & East Yorkshire Mind

9. Quarterly Programme Targeted Programme Bridlington Arts Festival Old Parcels Office Arts Centre Outreach Projects Youth & Family Projects Mental Health Promotion Partnership Projects

10. Different Strokes for Different Folks!A Participant’s Perspective using the examples of the WEA singing group, the Mind Drama Group, and Artspace

11. 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 Access to the Project

12. 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

13. Evaluation and monitoring • Fundamental to project’s 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

14. 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 don’t agree with - ‘Let each other be’

15. 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 wouldn’t 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”

16. 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 you’re not as weird. Thankyou for this”

17. “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

18. 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

19. 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

20. The Old Parcels Office Arts Centre Bridlington Railway Station Station Approach Bridlington East Yorkshire YO15 3EP 01262 40 00 00 mindhey-parcels@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 the…gap 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 Contacts