Art workshop at Penn Street Village Hall, Buckinghamshire, 14 May 2024

Lorna’s blog from Penn Street art workshop:

ACT workshop #1 at Penn Street village hall was creative and transformative. It began with disaster – my worst nightmare, technological mayhem. Neither of the 2 projectors worked. We could not plug in the sound system. I was very worried that we would not be able to show the film, which is the centre point of the whole workshop and essential. I panicked. Even Jo Doll’s techno-savvy other half concluded that both projectors were broken. Unusable. What to do.

We divided the group into 2 and screened the film on my laptop twice, once with 5 participants sitting closely in chairs around my laptop. We could see the film easily and clearly. The sound was good. It was more intimate than using a projector – closer to the action. In effect this made it more powerful and connected. Then we showed the film again to the 2 participants who were socially isolating. When not watching the film, participants made art, doodled, played with fiddle toys, scribbled – Jo Doll handed out lots of materials – and they had the opportunity to pause and reflect on the film in a safe place. So the film element was not how we had planned, but it worked much better like this. Much more intimate and engaging. Also, playing it twice allowed people to hear the audio twice, so it could really sink in.

Another practical issue was that Sainsbury’s cancelled the food order at the very last minute. So the beginning of the workshop was chaotic and anxious. But we pulled together and we made the best of what we had. In the end we had too much food! 

The event was a big success. We created an intimate, connective, empathic community of individuals, coming together with our differences. We made art, we told stories, we shared our lives. Exactly as I had hoped. 

Some participants shared their experiences of not having the care they need, problems in the NHS, falling ‘in between’ neurology and mental health services, being helped by neither. Not knowing what to do or where to get help, when nothing is available. Crisis. There is much to do. How can this project contribute towards making changes? How can we support people? Our legacy — we listen and respond; we work collaboratively from different viewpoints, genres and perspectives (always creatively). ACT #1 was an intervention in itself – participants said they felt safe, connected, inspired. The workshop provided a model and a method to move forwards with.

There was a positive energy to the event – even though participants were visibly touched and sometimes overwhelmed, nobody complained or kicked off. One participant became quite upset, a few people cried, watching the film. But it was about relating to the stimulus and feeling difficult, potentially unresolvable emotions. No emotion is a bad emotion. There was space to express, share, create ways to live with and be well.

Because there were only 7 participants and 4 in the ACT team, we could work with participants 1-1 and participants  also supported each other. Community. We build a safe place. 

Penn Street village hall provided the perfect setting for the workshop – intimate and calm – with all the vivid, lush nature all around us. I took participants on little walks around the village green and the woods, with the dogs. We talked. So natural and meaningful. The rain stopped. There was a beautiful, peaceful, precious aura to our surroundings and our connections. This is just the start.