News
Art Workshops in Bolton
Simon Sullivan, a drama student, from the Phoenix Centre, in Bolton, approached us about doing five 2-hour arts based workshops with some of the service users in our supported accommodation project in Bolton.
The sessions were split into workshops to assist:-
1) Personal Development, self-awareness, self-esteem, problem solving and negotiating skills
2) Art work- selected by the young people.
There were group sessions, as icebreakers, where the young people used cards for one minute to write down the end of a sentence e.g. My wish for my child is ……..
One to one sessions were also offered, with support for job seeking, mentoring and advocacy and to raise expectations and to build self-confidence.
For the art work the service users decided to read a story, poem or nursery rhyme and record it on a CD. They also wanted to do some photography, taking pictures of each other and their babies.
The result was a CD recording of them reading their own stories. These CDs were printed with theirs and their babies names, photographs and the title “Guess how much I love you?” printed on the front.
An additional CD was produced with photographs the service users can print off themselves.
The service users were thrilled with their achievements, to have read and recorded their stories knowing they can play these to their babies. They also all agreed they would be lasting mementos to show their children when they are older.
The Society, and in particular the staff and the young people at our Bolton project, would like to thank Simon and The Phoenix Centre Project for helping the young people to “record” their achievements.