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Borderland Voices
is an arts and mental health group which offers creative space in a supportive
group to any adult interested in expressing themselves and the promotion of mental
health.
We won the local council's 2002 group award for cultural and artistic
achievement.
Polish connection
The group aims to support
people from all walks of life and the Polish community is no exception to this.
The Polish Connection (2002-3) - was a creative writing and digital
technology project, which recorded the experience of the Polish community from
Blackshaw Moor over the post-war years.
The project resulted in an exhibition,
a powerpoint presentation and a cultural evening at the 2003 Leek Arts Festival,
and is due soon to be toured round Staffordshire libraries.Weekly
workshops
We are currently centred in the North East Staffordshire Moorlands,
where we offer weekly arts and writing workshops, all the year round, at our base
at Ball Haye Cottage, Leek and, during term-time, at our creative base at the
Manifold School, Warslow.
We also offer outreach sessions by arrangement
in a variety of other settings, which at present include regular art therapy workshops
at an independent psychiatric hospital and ongoing music and reminiscence sessions
at a day centre for the elderly.
A
wider social issue
We try to bridge the gap between 'mental health' and
'mental illness' believing that these are both part of the same continuum of human
experience and that finding safe forms for the expression of experience is often
the first step in the process of recovery.
By beginning to map our own
inner journeys, we believe we can contribute not only to individual well-being
but also perhaps to the recovery process of a wider society. Time
to spend as you wish
In the words of one of our users, "The workshops
provide a safe and calm space to put paint, crayon and felt pens to paper, to
put your thoughts and feelings down in whatever way you want….even if you
end the session with a blank page or a scribble! You can just come and chat, have
a coffee or play with clay. The time is yours and nobody tells you what to do,
there's no good or bad artwork, every mark counts - we're all artists I suppose
in our own way."
Sheena
- Borderland Voices
For
more info see the WEBSITE or
e-mail info@borderlandvoices.org.uk
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