Multisensory creative workshops with children

In 2011 the Cupp module (Community Engagement: Theory into Practice) won the MacJannet Prize which recognises exceptional student community engagement initiatives at Talloires Network member universities. Cupp received a $2,500 prize to put towards a student led community engagement conference based in Brighton. The day was entitled 'Learning to make a difference' and ran in March 2012. The event aimed to bring students a glimpse of the exciting work that is already taking place and to support them in providing skills and information on where they can go to develop their own projects. As part of this students were given the opportunity to apply for funding (donated by the Springboard grant at the University of Brighton) to run their own student led projects. The following project received funding from this conference. For more information about the conference click here

What I/we want to do and where it will take place:

We are proposing to organise and facilitate a series of multisensory creative workshops with children in the local Brighton community affected by drug or alcohol misuse within their family.

The project would be in partnership with the Young Oasis Project.

The creative workshops will take place at the Phoenix Art Studios in Brighton During the month of July.

The aims of my/our project:

Young Oasis project

“Young Oasis is a therapeutic service for children and young people 4-18years affected by familial drug or alcohol misuse. Often these children are stigmatized and viewed as the ones having the problem. Play and creativity are central to most children’s experience, but if an environment is unsafe or dangerous, then survival becomes the primary concern. Any opportunity for making art and play is therefore invaluable to these children and in their development” - Jo Parker

Jo Parker, Young Persons Therapist At the Young Oasis Project approached our course tutor Alice Fox with an interest in forming creative collaborations with the Inclusive Arts MA students. As a result three of us visited the center and assisted with some art sessions over the Easter holidays.

Addressing a need

One issues became apparent from our visits and subsequent conversations with Jo,

that these non-therapeutic creative sessions (such as the ones we assisted with) are of great value for the affected children, but due to restraints on resources and space The Young Oasis are not able provide a fully immersive creative experience to the standard and quality from which the children would most benefit.

Jo writes: “Young Oasis is based in the same building as the adult services. As a result any group activity has to take place in a shared multi use space. Due to this any creative, potentially messy activity is limited. Many of the children that access Young Oasis come from messy families. Offering them a studio space and art materials to explore and express freely and with permission, could be highly beneficial. There is real need for the Young Oasis children and young people to be enabled to engage in the creative process in this way. The funding will help provide a space and the materials.”

How I/we plan to do it:

Creative Workshops

With the Springboard funding and the support of the Oasis Project we are proposing to design and facilitate a series of day workshops that would take place at The Phoenix Studios in Brighton, a dedicated art studio appropriate for our purposes.

These creative sessions would address a current lack of appropriate resources and space at the Young Oasis.

The beneficiaries of the project would be children aged 5 – 10 years, service users of the Young Oasis (affected by drug or alcohol misuse in their family).

The workshops would offer an immersive, multisensory, creative and most importantly ‘fun’ experience.

We would be assisted by Oasis Project Therapists within these sessions to insure best and safe practice at all times. The presence of a therapist would help to facilitate a safe space within which the children can experience valuable therapeutic freedom of expression and creativity.

On-going opportunities/Sustainability

We hope that this project could be the seed of a growing and on going relationship between Young Oasis and the Inclusive Arts faculty at Brighton University.

“Young Oasis is open to ideas and collaborative working. The area of focus is on building resilience and self-esteem in the children and young people. Many of these children have been labeled from an early age and to help them articulate their own story and thrive in difficult family situations is key. I am interested in how working with Inclusive Arts could potentially enhance the lives of these children/young people.

I view building a relationship between the university and Brighton Oasis project as mutually beneficial, developing opportunities for these children outside of the project as a way of broadening their experiences and potential.” Jo Parker

The Young Oasis Project is currently funded to run creative workshops during the school holidays by Children in Need, but the amount they receive is very minimal. It is our joint hope that with these summer sessions we can document and create a model of good and valuable practice that can be taken back to potential funding bodies in order to solicit appropriate future funding to make them a regular part of the Young Oasis creative program.