Story
Open Minds but Silent Sounds is a creative writing project for YP from North Manchester aged 12-16 who are experiencing mental health difficulties.
The project aims to offer participants a tool for expression and to raise awareness of mental health in the territory. To deliver a substantial yet safe process, we will collaborate with professional poets, mental health experts from the NHS, as well as a mediation specialist to develop a flexible process that responded to the needs of the participants.
In March & April 2017 we piloted the project which was initially developed and supported by The Agency & ContactMCR. The pilot project consisted of an 8 week workshop process meeting once a week which culminated in an intimate sharing of the work created in the sessions. Over the course of the process we engaged 20 young people who had all experienced different forms of mental health and created some insightful pieces of poetry that we hope to have the opportunity to develop further with the goal of creating an anthology to be released in the future. We hope that this anthology will work as a resource for people suffering similar issues.
We were also honoured to be joined by the Lord Mayor of Manchester for our final sharing, who handed out certificates of achievement to our participants, as well as shared some of his own experiences with mental health. Following this pilot process we were commissioned by HOMEMCR as part of their Project X programme to deliver a be spoke workshop for an invited group from 42nd Street, a charity in Manchester that supports young people with Mental Health issues.
We have strong partnerships with; CAMHS.42nd ST, OddArts, Rathbone and educational institutions in the local community which we will utilise during the recruitment process of the project to ensure we are engaging the young people who are most in need of a service such as this.
We aim to provide a creative outlet for young people to express their emotions and improve their mental state in the long run. Through research and my own personal experience, I have discovered that services for young sufferers are limited in my local area and generally reserved for young people at high risk. I want to provide a service for everyone, no matter the level of their issue and I’m hoping young people and their families and carers in my local area of North Manchester will benefit from this in the long run.
Here are some quotes:
“I believe, anything gets you creative is the best thing that anybody can do for mental health”
Having no Mental Health Services within the territory, people feel the need to put their self in danger to call for help.
"I Thought you did an amazing job this afternoon, services like this are more vital than ever in communities such as this"- LORD MAYOR
"I like this idea of facilitating the production of vocabulary to bring out the individual voice..." Elmi Ali (POET)
“if they (YP) don’t have something positive, they see drinking or drugs as their tool”
“Don’t feel like people in this territory listen, that could be the reason why they aren’t open about their issues”
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