Newton Lodge writing project
Service users at Newton Lodge have taken part in a writing project to encourage them to express their thoughts and feelings in a imaginative and creative way.
Newton Lodge, the Trust’s medium secure unit, provides specialist mental health care to people across the Yorkshire and Humber region. The project, Led by Yew Tree Theatre, aimed to develop the personal stories of service users through a number of workshops. The stories which were developed focus on their families, history and ambitions.
Sarah Osbourne from Yew Tree Theatre, worked alongside the service users and said, “We ran several sessions with service users to gather their stories, this provoked questioning, conversations and interviewing skills. It was really enlightening to hear about the different backgrounds of the service users, where they had come from and what their ambitions were.
“The project was really inspiring. People were eager to tell their stories, and it was a real positive experience having someone who was interested and who wanted to listen.”
The stories produced from the sessions were used by Sarah to form a creative piece of poetry called ‘Everyone has a story”. This final piece of work will be shared at Newton Lodge and made accessible for all service users. It is hoped that the work develops the creative writing skills of service users and encourages them to explore thoughts and feelings around being in secure care.
