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| | Borderland Voices is an arts and mental health group which offers creative space in a supportive group to any adult interested in expressing themselves and the promotion of mental health.
We won the local council's 2002 group award for cultural and artistic achievement.
Polish connection
The group aims to support people from all walks of life and the Polish community is no exception to this.
The Polish Connection (2002-3) - was a creative writing and digital technology project, which recorded the experience of the Polish community from Blackshaw Moor over the post-war years.
The project resulted in an exhibition, a powerpoint presentation and a cultural evening at the 2003 Leek Arts Festival, and is due soon to be toured round Staffordshire libraries.Weekly workshops
We are currently centred in the North East Staffordshire Moorlands, where we offer weekly arts and writing workshops, all the year round, at our base at Ball Haye Cottage, Leek and, during term-time, at our creative base at the Manifold School, Warslow.
We also offer outreach sessions by arrangement in a variety of other settings, which at present include regular art therapy workshops at an independent psychiatric hospital and ongoing music and reminiscence sessions at a day centre for the elderly.
A wider social issue
We try to bridge the gap between 'mental health' and 'mental illness' believing that these are both part of the same continuum of human experience and that finding safe forms for the expression of experience is often the first step in the process of recovery.
By beginning to map our own inner journeys, we believe we can contribute not only to individual well-being but also perhaps to the recovery process of a wider society. Time to spend as you wish
In the words of one of our users, "The workshops provide a safe and calm space to put paint, crayon and felt pens to paper, to put your thoughts and feelings down in whatever way you want
.even if you end the session with a blank page or a scribble! You can just come and chat, have a coffee or play with clay. The time is yours and nobody tells you what to do, there's no good or bad artwork, every mark counts - we're all artists I suppose in our own way."
Sheena - Borderland Voices
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