An arts initiative in Co Wexford is opening new lines of communication forthose with mental health problems. Fiona Tyrrell reports
Celebrating the artistic and creative imagination of people with mental health problems and disabilities is the aim of an innovative arts programme called Arts Ability in Wexford.
Since last September, close on 200 patients from six different facilities in Wexford have been attending weekly art classes which range from teaching participants how to use their body as percussion to helping them create animated cartoon characters.
Based on the success of this pilot phase, partnership funding from the South Eastern Health Board and Wexford County Council has been secured to ensure the project's development during 2004. The programme was officially launched recently.
Arts Ability involves a team of professional artists working with clients from a number of facilities in Wexford - the Occupational Therapy Unit in St Senan's Hospital St John of God House and Kilagoley Training Centre in Enniscorthy, Our Lady of Fatima Primary School and Ard Aoibhinn Centre, Wexford and Co Wexford Community Workshop, New Ross.
Visual artists Declan Kennedy and David Redmond, musician Anne Colgan and drama practitioner Gemma Gallagher work with participants who all have moderate to severe mental or physical disabilities or problems and who range in age from youngsters to 80 plus. Mosaic, pottery, painting, video animation, drama and voice workshops are just some of the areas covered by the programme.
Access to the arts for those who suffer from mental health problems is often hampered by the perception that the arts are elitist as well as a misunderstanding of the role of the arts in social regeneration, according to Rosaleen Molloy, arts officer with Wexford County Council.
A cornerstone of the Arts Ability programme is recognising the participant as an artist in his or her own right. Arts Ability differs from art therapy in that it seeks to promote access to and participation in the arts among people with mental health problems and disability, rather than using art merely as a therapeutic tool, she explains.
"Art therapy is concerned with the need for emotional expression; artistic expression is considered to be less significant. With our Arts Ability project we want to nurture creative ability.
"Yes, it is therapeutic but the idea of the individual as an artist and their individual expression is more important. At the kernel of the Arts Ability process is the nurturing of the participants' personal growth through creative experiences."
David Redmond, a Wexford-based visual artist, spends two days a week in the Occupational Therapy Unit of St Senan's Hospital. There he is co-ordinating a major mosaic project in an old house on the grounds of the hospital. A mosaic designed by participants will decorate the interior and exterior of the house. Residents will then use the building as a recreational facility.
He believes the programme has had a big impact on participants so far and hopes that other psychiatric hospitals will follow suit. "When I joined the programme I was very keen to work in St Senan's because I had the experience of visiting people there. I knew it would be a real challenge but also had a clear picture of what a psychiatric hospital was like. Many general hospitals have art programmes but I think the need is all the greater in psychiatric hospitals because patients spend much longer periods in them and also because of the nature of their illnesses."
Although many participants were very closed and hesitant when he first started, they have really taken to the programme and often the problem is getting them to go back up to the ward, he explains. "I work as an artist, not a therapist, but I realise that on a practical level the programme offers participants a break from the humdrum of life in a psychiatric hospital."
All the programmes were individually designed for each venue after consultation with the staff and those undergoing treatment based on needs, wishes and capabilities, explains Ms Molloy.
"The classes are process rather than product driven. For example, the drama classes focus on creative role-playing rather than a dramatic production."
The many positive benefits of the programme include injecting laughter and fun into mental health facilities, giving patients a reason to get out of bed in the morning and giving staff a new and more positive perspective on patients. In particular, the programme has meaningfully contributed to social inclusion, she believes.
"Art has the power to foster communication, to build relationships and forge strong bonds between people. The participants confide in their art teachers in a way that is different to how they communicate with staff. They develop an improved sense of self and greater wellbeing. All the medication in the world does not have the power to develop a person in the way programmes such as this can."