Shift Happens

Down The Rabbit Hole and other creative adventures in Mersey Care NHS Trust

Dr Mandy Chivers, Assistant Chief Executive

Becoming a Healthy Museum May 2012

Alice in Wonderland Magic Lantern Slides 1900 - 1925© University of Exeter

Thinking Differently

From this …

to this…

The inspiration

“Farmers don’t grow crops they create the conditions in which crops can grow”

Gareth Morgan

“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it”

Pablo Picasso

Translating what I had learnt in clinical system change across an organisational setting ……… Mersey Care NHS Trust

Mersey CareGet Into Reading

Post of reader in residence, occupied by Mary and Katie from The Reader Organisation since September 2007

Reading groups have developed in a broad range of settings across the Trust: currently 40 groups

Mersey Care staff have received training to co-facilitate and then take over facilitation of groups

The success of the reading groups led this year to Mersey Care taking part in a Liverpool Literary Festival

Making Sense’, ‘Making More Sense’ and ‘Unfolding‘’

An early arts-based programme employing professional artists(TAG) to work with those who use the Brain Injuries Service and later in collaboration with The Conservation Centre and

Sudley House. A springboard to further creative learning

programmes in the museums spaces including Portmandieu.

Musician in Residence

Members of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra play in inpatient settings

Service user visits to the Philharmonic Hall supported by staff and musicians in residence

Staff and service users offered discount to assist access to concert performances

Acute psychiatric units Low Secure Unit

Opening Doors

Using the gallery as a resource to work creatively with service users

• at the gallery• in inpatient settings• acute psychiatric units• Low Secure Unit• early interventions service

• Alice

Chapter and Verse Festival

A literary festival that takes place each year in Liverpool, organised by The Bluecoat, an arts centre

Mersey Care worked with The Bluecoat and The Reader to host four author-led events and to promote interest and participation throughout the Trust

Staff and patients at Ashworth Hospital organised a week of special literary and cultural events as part of the festival, culminating in a reading by author, Brian Keenan

Mersey Care Dances

A collaboration between the Trust and Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts

Groups for inpatients facilitated by a professional dancer and supported therapeutically by occupational therapists

A film of the project provides persuasive evidence of the value of the activity as experienced by the service users, the dancer and the therapeutic staff

‘Headsound’

A programme of projects using new media arts; sound, animation, film, VJ’ing to teach new skills and provide creative opportunities to people who use Mersey Care Early Intervention Services

The programme takes place in the medialab at FACT, is artist-led and is supported by a practitioner from the Early Intervention Service

‘Headsound’ have presented two performances at FACT and group members have supported artists at public events

Headsound

Your Treasure Chest: Your wellbeing treasure chest is a virtual place to store all the things that help you maintain a sense of wellbeing. For example, the things you value and give you a sense of purpose in life.

Take notice in the city… 2020 Taskforce Group (sub group health & wellbeing board Liverpool)

New Programme

‘Take Notice in the City’ to encourage the use of mindfulness and support people understand the take notice strand of the five ways to wellbeing.

The University of Liverpool, Mersey Care, Primary Care Trust, Mersey Forest Blackburne House. National Museums Liverpool.

‘

And Alice?... Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle!

Mersey Care NHS Trust and Tate Liverpool: the Alice in Wonderland exhibition, a unique collaboration beyond traditional boundaries. Our long established partnerships, which recognises the connection between wellbeing and culture, not only extends our imaginations but provides a range of opportunities that is making a real difference to the people in our community.

By stimulating different kinds of conversations and experiences, we are moving away from the language of illness towards that of growth, renewal and resilience; shifting the metaphorical landscape and increasing positive mental health and wellbeing for us all.

The story of Alice with its enduring themes, popular with both adults and children, is the perfect vehicle for stimulating a wider conversation with a bigger audience. The topsy turvy world that Alice discovers on falling down the rabbit hole can reflect a life in which we are all challenged to ask “who am I?”

Thanks for listening!Mandy.chivers@merseycare.nhs.uk

Alice in Wonderland Magic Lantern Slides 1900 - 1925© University of Exeter