Social inclusion through the arts

The Old Parcels Office Arts Centre is a community arts-in-health project in the heart of Bridlington that aims to promote positive mental health for all through creative activity. Josephine Saunders describes the origins of the project and how it manages to bring together the issues of mental health and social inclusion by opening its doors to all the people of Bridlington, not just people with a diagnosis of mental health problems.

If you take a trip on the train to the seaside town of Bridlington, on Yorkshire's east coast, you may be in for a big surprise. As you get off the train and walk through the station, apart from the café, the ticket office and the colourful flower arrangements, you will also come across an arts centre. You may stand and watch as local people come and go, all shapes and sizes of creations tucked proudly under their arm. 'What,' you may ask, 'is going on here? And what on earth is an arts centre doing in a railway station anyway?'

The Old Parcels Office Arts Centre (OPO) is a community arts-in-health project based at the heart of the Bridlington community that aims to promote positive mental health for all through creative activity. The idea for this project emerged in 1996, when a group of workers from Hull and East Yorkshire Mind got together to set up groups and activities that would complement statutory services and fill gaps in the provision of care.

One of the aims of Hull & East Yorkshire Mind is to provide services that offer people with an experience of mental distress a chance to work towards independence and involvement in their community. For this to work there had to be opportunities in the community for people to get involved in that were non-judgmental and supportive and brought further opportunities for development. The group at Hull and East Yorkshire Mind noticed how people they worked with had benefited from the arts, but that current projects were very 'bitty' and short-term, and therefore decided to campaign for a community arts centre. Two years later the Old Parcels Office premises were secured via an agreement with the local railway network (Regional Railways North East), who were keen to see their empty buildings put to use for the benefit of the community. The local railway station was an ideal location because of its location and accessibility. The project started small but has gone from strength to strength over the past seven years, with the centre currently being used every day of the week by local community members and groups.

Who is it for?

The project aims to bring together the main issues of mental health and social inclusion for the people of Bridlington. It is an arts project that is firmly rooted in mental health, but is different in that it has open access to the whole community. This works on the grounds that:

* mental health is an issue that affects everyone

* inclusion in the mainstream of community life enhances the recovery of a person who has experience of mental distress.

What we offer

An open programme of arts activities is devised and publicised four times a year to more than 600 individuals, local agencies and regional bodies. The programme is open to anyone in the community, and we aim to make it as varied as possible in order to attract people of all ages and backgrounds and diverse interests. The project team also regularly consults participants to find out which activities are popular and what people might like in future programmes.

Examples of the activities offered by the project include film-making, watercolour and oilpainting, paper pulp sculpture, improve your singing, creative textiles, writing children's stories, an Open Book reading group, dance, mime & music, traditional crafts, beach sculpture and photography.

Alongside the open programmes, the project offers targeted programmes specifically for people who have experienced - or are recovering from - mental distress. These groups tend to be smaller and require more support for a wide range of needs in order to ensure a positive and enjoyable creative experience for all the members.

The Mind Drama Group is a great example of this work. This group meets weekly to devise, rehearse and perform pieces of theatre that often include song and dance. Some of the members have been involved with the group for a number of years, and some stay for just a short time. Participants develop flexibility, as sometimes a member needs to have some time off when experiencing a difficult patch but is supported and welcomed back to the group when they are ready. Members and staff are fully involved in the creation - often by improvisation - of each piece of drama and have performed for the local community in a range of settings, including the arts centre, residential mental health settings and local theatre space as part of the Bridlington Arts Festival.

Other targeted projects include Make It (a small group for women), Artspace (where people bring their own art projects to work on), and various outreach projects in the community, drop-in residential settings and schools.

Benefits to participants

The project offers courses that range from oneoff tasters to ten-week courses. In this way we aim to meet the needs of the beginner and also provide more in-depth learning of an art form. The arts activities we offer provide opportunities for recreation, culture and personal development for participants. More specifically, by providing a welcoming and inclusive approach and environment, participants are able to develop transferable skills, including:

* confidence and self-esteem

* creativity

* social skills - teamwork, problem-solving

* coping skills

* practical skills.

How people reach us

A person can choose how they access the project - either by booking onto a particular activity, or via a referral meeting. The referral meeting takes place informally with either the development worker or resident artist, and is held in the OPO when no other people are present. The participant is invited to bring along a key worker/friend/family member. The purpose of this meeting is:

* to enable the potential participant to feel more comfortable

* to meet a member of staff (so they will then know at least one person on their first visit)

* to determine what they would like to gain from attendance

* to determine which groups they would most like to attend (which could be targeted or open activities, depending on the person's interests and current needs).

How the project is run

The project is managed by Hull & East Yorkshire Mind and adheres to its core values of autonomy, equality, knowledge, participation and respect. A small, core staff team of dedicated workers run OPO, consisting of a full-time arts development worker and part-time resident artist for mental health, admin worker and housekeeper. A bank of six sessional support workers and six volunteers help to run the programme, and support participants with a diverse range of needs, to enable equal involvement in the activities.

Funding

Regular funds towards the core running costs of the project come from the local authority and the primary care trust. Funds for specific pieces of work have been provided by Arts Council Yorkshire, East Riding Children's Fund and the local child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). A substantial three-year grant was secured from the Community Fund in 2002, which expired in May 2005, providing a challenge to the OPO team and management committee of Hull & East Yorkshire Mind to ensure continuation of this work and its benefits to the local community.

Partnership

The project relies heavily on partnership working with other agencies in order to achieve maximum benefits for participants. Key partners are the local community mental health team and social services, with regular attendance at team meetings to share information about the project and review effectiveness of the referral process.

Another key partner is the Workers Education Association (WEA), a provider of local adult education. The arts development worker and some OPO participants sit on the WEA committee to help plan courses to meet the needs of adult learners. The WEA provides tutors for some of our arts-related courses, and has been a close partner since the project began. Other important partners include the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Yorkshire Coast Community Rail Partnership and Bridlington Arts Festival Committee.

Annual arts & crafts exhibition

What makes the Old Parcels Office Arts Centre unique is that its primary purpose is to improve mental health, but it is a project that is open to all, and is firmly rooted in the infrastructure of the local community.

A particularly innovative aspect of the project that demonstrates this is our annual arts and crafts exhibition. This year will be the ninth time this event has been held, and it has become a prominent feature of the annual Bridlington Arts Festival in May, attracting thousands of local people and visitors from all around the country.

The exhibition is held in a local leisure complex, in a large multi-purpose hall. Anyone from the region is eligible to exhibit their artwork, and groups are particularly encouraged to exhibit. This event was initially organised for Hull & East Yorkshire Mind's users to display the artwork they had put together in group sessions. However, over the years it has grown and evolved and now established artists, professional artists, local residents and children submit their work (the 2004 event housed 777 exhibits and had 3000 visitors). The event relies heavily on volunteer support to supervise the exhibits and gather feedback from visitors: a role that more than 30 exhibitors and participants enjoy undertaking, coming back year after year.

Also within the exhibition space, we run community arts workshops and promote the OPO programmes. Hull & East Yorkshire Mind staff attend on a rota basis to give information and answer any questions visitors may have about mental health and local services. This unique event raises the profile of mental health, challenging stigma and misconceptions around mental illness. It often provokes questions and discussions with visitors, and challenges assumptions about what people with an experience of mental distress are capable of.

Social inclusion

The unusual nature of the project - working to improve mental health, with mental health services users alongside the rest of the community - was a risk, but it has proved to work very effectively. OPO has consistently remained open about being part of Hull & East Yorkshire Mind's services, which could have made some members of the local community reluctant to get involved. However, responses and attendance levels show this is definitely not the case. People often ask questions about the nature of the project, and indeed about the nature of mental illness. However, this tends to lead to increased awareness and understanding by the local population, and an acceptance of the project as a valued part of community life. This is also reflected in the volume of agencies that work constructively in partnership with OPO, and in the number of requests for outreach arts projects.

Workshops with children, young people and families have also developed particularly well over the past two years, contributing to the prevention of mental ill health. The project began to engage the 11-17 year age group in 2002, via a regular evening youth arts group called CR8 (Create), and now also works with Positive Futures (an initiative working with young people at risk of crime and social exclusion) and with social services, accepting referrals into this group.

The way forward

The need for the project and its benefits are clear, and evidenced by the level of local support from community members, evaluation results and documentation of participants' progression and personal development. Project staff continue to explore effective ways of measuring participants' progression as a result of participation in OPO activities.

The main challenge for the project - as with any other voluntary sector provision - is to ensure that the project obtains sufficient funding to continue to operate its service in a way that meaningfully meets the needs of the community it serves. Hull & East Yorkshire Mind has ambitious plans to develop the project by extending and refurbishing the current premises in order to increase the project's capacity.

For other organisations considering taking on the challenge of setting up a similar project, it would be important to consider the following factors:

* person-centred approach - it is a must to build good relationships with project participants, and to provide channels for them to give feedback regularly and provide input into how the project is run

* management structure - have a clear line of hierarchy, especially if the project is to be managed by a range of partners. An effective management structure will allow for the freedom that such a creative project requires, but also provides a solid framework for support and accountability

* focus - what are the core aims of the project? This needs to be identified at the outset and communicated openly to participants and partners. These aims can then be used when planning the project's activity, to prevent over-commitment of staff to diverse demands beyond the project's remit

* sustainability and funding - it is vital to plan a funding strategy well in advance, involving a range of staff and stakeholders. This avoids 'eleventh hour' reactions to funding bids, pressures to adapt the project to current political agendas, and vulnerability to folding.

For further information about the project, please contact Perrie White, Old Parcels Office Arts Centre, Hull and East Yorkshire Mind, Bridlington Railway Station, Station Approach, Bridlington YO15 3EP101262 400 000 e oldparcelsoffice@mindhey.co.uk

Jo Saunders, Arts development worker, Hull and East Yorkshire Mind

Copyright Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) Ltd. Aug 2005
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