ARTS AND MENTAL HEALTH
SOME NOTES ON A COMMUNITY BASED APPROACH FROM NORTH EAST ENGLAND
PETER THOMSON – TYNE 08 Ltd
BACKGROUND
Arts and Mental Health work in Tyne and Wear, an ex-industrial sub-region in north east england of 1.1 million people, has been a feature of artistic practice for 20 years and the 3 permanent Arts Studios have been in operation from 10 to 17 years. Other Studios have opened more recently in the wider region and I have nearly completed the creation of a fourth in Tyne and Wear. The field of work can therefore be safely said to be past its pilot or trial stage and to represent an established and successful provision. It is recognised as a useful and positive intervention in the pathology of many service users lives; provides training, qualification and employment opportuities to those users; and offers significant employment opportunities for artists, technicians and administrators.
The roots of the work lie in the development of styles and approaches to artistic and creative work which can be defined as participatory and contextual. That is to say professional artists working with groups, or communities of people in non-institutional, non-formal environments. Historically, in England, these roots were in the period from 1970 to 1985, although proper study would reveal much earlier influences. Generally this work was known under the banner of ‘Community Arts’ but it is as well to understand that it was a broad banner indeed.
Some of the earliest arts and mental health work actually took place in mental health service institutions. However there soon developed a strong impetus to create environments for this work outside of the clinical one, to support service users. This was given an urgent focus with the introduction of ‘Care in the Community’ in the field of mental health in the late 1980′s. Hospital admission was increasingly available only during episodes of severe ill-health; for the bulk of service users support was to be made available at home, in the community, or in ‘halfway houses’.
Mental ill-health is, along with back pain, the most common form of illness in the UK presented to health professionals. Stress and depression is sometimes now referred to as the ‘backpain of the 21st Century’. 1 in 4 people will experience some form during their lifetime; typically this would be defined as a presentation to a General Practitioner where the main complaint is of anxiety or depression. 1 in 100 people will suffer from clinically diagnosed schizophrenia. Mental illness therefore affects a large number of people and, in common with other forms of illness, has a higher incidence amongst those with fewer resources in their lives; that is those categorised as poor and/or socially excluded.
Arts and Mental Health activity is one of a range of interventions that have been brought to bear on these issues. A key factor is that this work is not concerned with diagnostic or treatment pathology, as explained in the introduction; rather it works from the principle of establishing and nurturing a creative environment in which service users can explore personal potential. It can be characterised as a social rather than a medical model of intervention.
Arts interventions are in fact already an established resource in many fields addressing social exclusion; criminal justice, education, community resource building, health and social services are all fields in which there is established practice. Positive mental health offers the potential of a unifying framework under which all these fields can make progress towards their desired outcomes. Seen in the context of the current interest in reversing social exclusion to promote its opposite, social inclusion, social science research methodology offers an attractive theoretical base through which to evaluate the positive mental health approach
Within arts and mental health there is a growing body of research, assesment, evaluation and policy development, both locally in the north east and nationally, which is recognising the value of linking the issues of mental health and social exclusion through arts based interventions. In July 2004 the Government published a report – Mental Health and Social Exclusion – which endorses the value of arts and mental health work, whilst calling for a strengthened evidence base. Some work was undertaken jointly by the Department of Health and the Department of Culture Media and Sport and was published as part of an overall Prospectus for Arts and Health.
Just as in the field of disability there is a dichotomy of outlook between the medical and the social model of mental illness / health. The research responded to this dichotomy in a positive way, recognising that both approaches contain valid paradigms. Recognising and understanding the importance of the social model is a key factor in the wider acceptance of the validity of arts and mental health work. It is noteworthy that mental health service users themselves are prominent in promoting and understanding of the social model.
THE LATEST VENTURE
As I noted above I am in the final stages of creating a new Studio. This is known as Newcastle and Gateshead Arts Studio (NAGAS). Newcastle, on the north bank of the river Tyne, is the acknowledged regional capital of north east England and, with Gateshead on the south bank, forms the greater part of the Tyneside area. NAGAS was formed in January 2004 to provide access to creativity centred activities for residents of Newcastle and Gateshead; focusing on those who have, are, or are at risk of experiencing diagnosed mental health problems; and those who experience other forms of social exclusion within their communities. We believe we can make a difference to the lives of those residents by operating an arts studio model with an enhanced focus on training and employment opportunities for its members.
The model for the Studio is from the South Tyneside Arts Studio (STAS) which I ran from soon after its creation in 1995 until 2001. STAS provided 4 private artists’ studios alongside 2 public studios where the day to day activity for members took place. NAGAS envisages one large (25 users) and one small (15 users) public studio space where members can work in an informal way supported by professional artists alongside 9 private studio spaces where professional artists can develop their own work. The principle has worked well at STAS offering artists good quality studios at a reasonable cost whilst encouraging a culture of serious creativity amongst the members using the public studios. Furthermore the professional artists renting the private studios are offered the opportunity of taking sessions in the public studios.
The principle of professional artists working alongside the public studios is important to us. We want our Members, the people who join to use the public studios, to recognise that people make art their profession. In the public studios we hope to show them that making art, their innate creativity, can be therapeutic, inspiring and educational. Working next to artists making such things their profession gives significant weight to our work; not least by emphasising the elements of seriousness and quality.
Activities will be led by professional artists, typically employed on a sessional basis. NAGAS will provide activities 7 days per week to ensure fully supportive cover for members and our ambition is to offer 3 sessions per day.
Activities will include:
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Drawing and Painting
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Ceramics
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Sculpture
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Photography
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Music
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Creative writing
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Dance and Drama
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Digital media
Services offered will principally be the provision of open access sessions in the Studio; each session lasting 3 hours. Building on this base provision, a range of additional services, in formats designed to meet members’ needs, can be provided:
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Specialist art-form sessions which may also lead to projects, partnership projects, exhibitions, outreach, and issue based activities
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Field trips
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Basic NVQ accreditation within the Studio
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With training agency partners, especially Newcastle and Gateshead Colleges, support to access routes to further training and accreditation opportunities for members; and support for students from colleges and other training agencies to access the Studio’s resources.
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Liaison with both Statutory and Voluntary sector service providers to market the Studio’s services. The primary market is users of mental health services who will remain a key client group . Subsequent target groups will range across those broadly categorised as socially excluded
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Exhibition programme in the Studio and in other venues.
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Picture loan service to G.Ps. , and other community venues in Newcastle and Gateshead
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With employment agency partners, especially NEWcastle FUTURES, support access to a range of employment opportunities from Intermediate Labour Markets to Individual Placement Support to Social Firms to regular employment.
The underlying principle of the activities is to offer, as our Business Plan puts it:
“Through carefully supported initiatives and partnerships NAGAS will nurture members’ personal growth through a range of appropriate training and employment options.”
Work has been recognised as the most effective recovery route; but it needs to be seen in the widest context. Voluntary work, learning through study and training, setting up socially useful projects such as social firms all play a part alongside more conventional work options.
At full operational capacity the Studio plans to employ 3 members of staff, supported by sessional workers who will principally be artists. Full job descriptions for the Studio Manager and Administrator have been agreed by the Board. The third post, Studio Technician, is a draft position to be reviewed during the first year of operation. The post is planned to be activated during the second year.
Most Studios encourage an active volunteer programme to fully utilise the opportunities offered by both individuals and by organised schemes, NAGAS will develop a similar programme. All volunteers would work under a volunteers’ agreement which seeks to ensure their needs and objectives are met as well as the support they are able to offer NAGAS.
Evaluation will be a core tool in helping us achieve these aims. We want to know not just how many people attend sessions but what value they offer to participants, whether they open up new opportunities, and what other mental health providers think about our work and its effects.
Peter Thomson TYNE 08 June 2007
