RESIDENCIES

PHASE 1

We are in the first phase of the project where we are doing time limited residencies in education institutions

across the South West.

We have been providing a selection of the following services:

One-to-one art therapy
Group art therapy
Mental health staff training
Wellbeing lessons
Mental health mentoring

So far we have offered 6-week art therapy groups and individual art therapy that has been 6-15 weeks in length.

Residencies have varied in length between 10 weeks to 2 years.

We are evaluating the work we are doing using standard outcome measures. We are charting students' wellbeing scores using Warwick and Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, Choice Wellbeing Scale and Child Outcome Rating Scale (CORS), using the measures appropriate for their age. We are also setting personal goals with the young people using the Goal-Based Outcome (GBO) tool. These goals focus on aspects of their life they are struggling with. Examples of these are: "feel less anxious about coming into school"; "get on better with my parents"; "be able to express my feelings openly"; "feel stronger inside".

The average young person's wellbeing improves by 18%, and they get 40% closer to reaching their personal goals.

For detailed evaluation from each residency please contact us at theportablewellbeingstudio@gmail.com.

Many of the children now feel better placed to access further support within school whereas before they may have found it difficult to 'open up'

(Headteacher)

NEXT PHASE

"It was a great initiative and I would highly recommend other schools and institutions consider the wellbeing studio as part of their support for mental health awareness”

(Headteacher)

For the next phase of the project, we hope to partner with and park up outside places such as museums, galleries, libraries, social housing estates, homeless shelters and parks. Please get in contact if you'd like to collaborate. We'd love to hear from you.

“Art therapy helped me to acknowledge my awesomeness”

(Year 7 pupil)