Scottish Storytelling Centre - Space for Stories
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Space for Stories is a new Scottish Storytelling Centre initiative aimed at exploring and celebrating narrative as a vehicle for personal and community development. In collaboration with NHS Lothian and Artlink Central staff, storytellers will facilitate a series of storytelling and story-making workshops for people with mental health problems and learning difficulties in the Lothian and Forth Valley areas.
Background
We all have a story to tell, and storytelling can provide a valuable means of self-expression and communication, as well as building confidence and self-esteem and combating feelings of loneliness and isolation. Building on previous outreach projects involving older people living in Edinburgh and the Lothians, Space for Stories facilitators will lead three projects within the Lothian and Forth Valley areas. Each project will be tailored to the needs of the participating service users and will feature a range of narrative approaches including: telling, developing and re-telling of oral stories; Life Story-ing and reminiscence; storylines in film and drama with group discussion and commentary; creative writing; devising and expressing narratives through group work, to role play and games.
Involving adults living in community and in-patient settings, Space for Stories workshops will run between July and December 2007.
Artlink Central (Stirling)
The first Space for Stories project is a collaboration between the Scottish Storytelling Centre and Artlink Central aimed at providing people with learning difficulties with the opportunity to explore the art of storytelling and develop their own storytelling skills. Whilst making the clear distinction between mental health problems and learning disabilities, it is important to recognise that the risk of mental ill health is greater among people with learning disabilities than among the general population. The Space for Stories group therefore felt it important not to restrict the project to mental health service users, but to take an inclusive and accessible approach to mental health and wellbeing.
Co-facilitated by storyteller, Jack Martin, and drama worker, Elaine Cordys, this series of half-day workshops involves twelve adults from the local Stirling community, with a range of learning difficulties, who currently have little or no access to arts activities. They aim to facilitate and film a group performance of Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas, which will be screened as part of an end-of-project celebratory event.
The Orchard Clinic, Royal Edinburgh Hospital (Edinburgh)
This project is based at The Orchard Clinic, a medium secure unit for offenders experiencing a range of severe psychiatric problems. Working closely with forensic occupational therapists at the Clinic, storytellers Millie Gray and Marion Kenny will facilitate a series of tailor-made small group and one-to-one sessions involving a maximum of ten patients.
Hearing, telling, and devising stories can provide an accessible means of improving communication skills, self-esteem and confidence for people of all ages and abilities. The potential of storytelling as an expressive and creative tool is perhaps particularly relevant to this project, where all participants are in the process of making the transition from secure care to life in the community. Using a variety of creative approaches and contemporary media, Millie and Marion will aim to work together with patients to maximise their ability to live independent and meaningful lives.
Soutra Day Unit, Herdmanflat Hospital (Haddington)
The third Space for Stories project will again consist of a series of small group and one-to-one sessions, tailor-made to the needs and interests of participants. Using a range of appropriate narrative approaches, storytellers Marie Louise Cochrane and Mary Kenny will facilitate nine half-day workshops for a maximum of ten adults from the local Haddington community who are experiencing acute (short term) mental illness and who attend the Unit on a drop-in basis.
As the Unit’s staff nurses and occupational therapist are currently solely responsible for the provision of educational, social and community activities to local service users, this project seemed a particularly good use of Space for Stories resources. Whilst providing service users with opportunities for involvement in quality arts activity, the workshops will help to relieve pressure from Unit staff and resources.
Next Phase
These small-group and one-to-one sessions will be followed in 2008 by network and skills development events for staff, carers and storytellers.