Mental Health Awareness Week (May 21st-27th 2012)

This past week has been Mental Health Awareness Week and Choices for Life spent Thursday in Middleton Grange Shopping Centre promoting our service. We were also promoting the Time to Change campaign which focuses on removing the stigma associated with mental health issues and encouraging people to talk openly about their own. Despite the sunny weather outside we gave out a lot of interested people and got great responses to the array of information we had not just about Creative Support but about mental health on a whole and other Hartlepool based services.

There was of course a fun element to it all with two of our sessional workers putting on bunting and tablecloth printing in preparation for the Diamond Festival that will be held next weekend. This was a big hit with the kids and gave their parents a chance to chat about the service whilst they were occupied!

We'll be uploading photos of Choices for Life's big Diamond festival extravaganza which will include a large portrait of the Queen made from recycled art, circus skills, jubilee themed crafts, a banquet of food created by Service Users and staff and of course information stands. The team can't wait!

Preview of Confidence Building

Prior to the Confidence Building which starts in May a group of staff headed over to Summerhill to suss out the orienteering route and run a mini-session. It's really an amazing place where you feel as if you are in the middle of the countryside when in fact you're right in the hub of Hartlepool! We were lucky with the weather too!

Arts Club

Our Arts Club runs every Monday and is an exciting group where Service Users can come and be creative with the guidance of trained art sessional workers. We began Arts Club with taster sessions in a wide range of arts based activities from card making to working with clay. Currently the Arts Club is focused on longer projects that look at increasing Service Users confidence with a wide variety of different materials, explore how they are used and improve their skills with drawing, mark making, painting and so on. Of course we have a lot of fun in the process too!

Here are a few pictures of the amazing work they've been producing!

Day Trip to Durham

Recently we had a lovely day trip to Durham and although the weather wasn't outstanding we were able to enjoy the sights and sounds of our nearby historic city. We went on the bus and visited many different places including the Cathedral and the monthly Farmers Market! For our next day trip we're planning to head to York so if you're interested make sure to get in touch with Lucy and book a place on it.

Activities Afternoon

Thanks to the great facilities at Grange Road Methodist Church and their lovely big upstairs hall we have been having great fun holding activities afternoons. Service users can drop in and have a game of pool, table tennis, table football or play one of a big collection of board games including scrabble, connect 4, cards and dominoes. We encourage people to stop by and have a few games and get to know each other, even if its only for half an hour or if all you want is information on other up and coming sessions. For more information contact Lucy.

Out and About Group

Our Out and About Group invites service users to explore Hartlepool and the surroundings areas. It's a great way to use one of the five a day that we use within the service by being curious about things that you might normally overlook whilst also getting service users to have a fun walk about and meet others. So far the group has explored the historical sights of Church Square, the Art Gallery, the Hartlepool Museum, Ward Jackson Park and many more!

Here are some lovely pictures taken exploring Ward Jackson Park and the abandoned shell of Tunstall Court.

Photos from Dignity Month/Exhibition

It's been over a month since we held our hugely successful Dignity Month but since our blog is new I thought I would post up a few pictures to show off the brilliant work that our many partners and service users produced as part of our Dignity Awareness month. There were banners created by a wide variety of people from both Choices for Life, other Creative Support services and lots of different services across Hartlepool. We held outreach sessions within sheltered accommodation crating large dignity themed collages, pamper days for all those involved and a session with kids inviting them to create dignity champions (their own dignity superhero) first in comic form and then as masks.

Handprint Studios vibrant and expressive banner

Artisan's used earthy tones and bold shapes in their banner

Our Creative Support banner included pieces by staff and service users

Richmond Fellowship joined forces with foster carers and artists to create their bright banner that included a version of their logo

For our kids sessions the kids created dignity superheroes!

The two collages created with Lynton Court and Hartfield Retirement Village. The second was completed at the exhibition launch and put up on the wall at the end of the day.


And if you'd like to check out the Choices for Life Dignity Exhibition it's still up at the Arts Hartlepool space in Middleton Grange Shopping Centre!