DJ workshops are the right mix to service user engagement in Wakefield

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To ensure the Trust offers a range of innovative and engaging activities for people accessing our services, the team at Newhaven enlisted the help of professional DJ, Jim Reiss, to run a series of workshops at two of its low secure inpatient units at Fieldhead, Wakefield.

Newhaven is a low secure rehabilitation service for adults with learning disabilities and the Bretton Centre provides care for men with severe mental health conditions who require care under low secure conditions. As part of their recovery pathway a variety of activities are planned for residents including football, music sessions and creative writing.

Following feedback from service users who were interested in learning how to DJ, Jim was asked to run a series of workshops. The sessions were delivered over a course of eight weeks and encouraged the attendees to learn a new skill, boosting their confidence and self esteem.

Tracy Kielty, Specialist Occupational Therapist at Newhaven said, “Many of our clients are in their late teens/early 20s so we thought that DJ workshops would be a good way of engaging people.

“Everyone appeared to really enjoy the sessions and felt they got a lot out of it. It was a great opportunity to learn new skills and find new interests. Some of our service users have said this is something that they would like to do in the future on discharge from secure services, so hopefully it might have given them a new pro-social and productive hobby!”

Jim tailored each of the workshops to meet the individual needs of those attending, giving everyone the chance to join in. At the end of the sessions, as a souvenir of their hard work, everyone involved produced a CD of a few songs of their choice that they had mixed together.

Tracy added, “Many of the service users were disappointed that we only had eight weeks of the workshops – they would really like them to run again so this is something that we’re definitely going to look into in the future.”

 

DJ workshops are the right mix to service user engagement in Wakefield

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