Performance Art Life Skills (PALS) - Community Cash Fund

News - 1 January 2018

Healthwatch Hear My Voice was a six week performance art based project commissioned by Healthwatch Redbridge for local residents with lived experience of mental ill health, either as service users, service providers or carers/support workers.

The results of a survey of local residents views and experiences of Redbridge mental health services was used as a basis for some end of project sketches which were performed entirely by the project participants.

The survey was conducted both online and at local health and wellbeing events and solicited the views of both service users and providers, with the results finding 80% of residents currently use, care for a user or provide local mental health services. It also showed that 60% of Redbridge felt it was easy to gain access to local mental health services and that a large majority used talking therapy services. 60% of the survey said they were happy with the services they currently used.

The majority of survey respondents and project participants appear to be mostly satisfied with the local mental health services provided, although long waiting times for access to talking therapy services is still a prevalent concern. There is also concern expressed about the quality/skills training of therapists and first point of contact personnel.

Other areas for improvement noted are the need for increased availability of, and better signposting to, a greater variety of therapeutic and social activities, not only for long term service users to improve quality of life and help prevent relapse, but as a preventative measure that could be tried before the prescribing of medication in some mild to moderate cases.