The Coborn Centre for Adolescent Mental Health is an in-patient service for young people with complex and severe mental health difficulties. Caring for those aged between 12 and 18 years old, young people themselves have been involved in the design of their service which is a bright, colourful, friendly environment. Part of the Coborn’s ethos is to identify and develop the strengths and interests of the young people (rather than their difficulties), in order to aid recovery, which includes the fostering of creativity.
In 2012, 2013 and 2015, we designed and delivered a range of creative workshops to patients at The Coburn Centre. The sessions lasted approximately an hour to an hour and half and were delivered at the centre. Topics covered were: Photography & Haiku, Exploring Identity and Optical Art.
Date: 2012
Facilitator: Trisha McCauley
Theme: Photography & Haiku Inspired Poems
The young people were introduced to haiku poetry and used this as inspiration to create a body of photographic work. They were taught how to use a digital SLR cameras’, studio equipment and shown how to use Photoshop to edit, manipulate and prepare the images for print. Exploring still life, landscape and portrait photography they had an opportunity to participate in a series of short art sessions where they were encouraged to work collaboratively to create a large artwork inspired by nature. The sessions culminated in an exhibition organised by the young people.
A particular young person, named Janet, was referred to us from the NHS Coborn Centre for Adolescent Mental Health and she participated in the photography workshops. She was also interested in ceramics and joined the weekly pottery class for adults at Rosetta Arts, attending with her support worker. To begin with she was very shy, but as the weeks progressed, her confidence improved and she felt comfortable being in the room on her own whilst her support worker waited outside, and eventually traveling to class without support.
Janet (whose name has been changed) was encouraged by the holistic approach to learning at Rosetta and the relaxed studio environment of the Centre with inter-generational classes and discrete unpressurised assessment. Her artwork was really starting to develop when she came to a stage in her recovery where she was ready to leave the Coborn Centre and re-integrate into mainstream schooling. She requested to continue her pottery class here, but her school insisted that she attend full time. After her final class at the Centre, her ceramics tutor came to the office and was brought to tears by the event, as Janet had expressed how much she had been helped by her tutor, and by being a part of the ceramics class. It was truly inspiring to see her development from illness to health and to have been a part of her journey. Janet told us “coming to pottery has helped me to reconnect with the world”.
