Creativity spreads across our houses’ living-rooms, as our young people and staff illustrate their Safe Space, and have them printed onto cushions.
As part of Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW), Rossie’s Specialist Interventions Services (SIS) team develop interesting and inclusive ways of including young people in different projects. This year, as well as offering a puppeteering video workshop on self-esteem, the theme of MHAW 2019, our SIS team asked staff and young people to design and develop images of their Safe Space.
Rossie’s Chartered Psychologist said: “a Safe Space can be used as a soothing strategy when people feel distressed, upset or confused and anxious about something. Creating your own Safe Space image is a way for individuals to have a meaningful image they can bring to their minds and help them relax.”
Our SIS team thought that Safe Space images could be copied onto cushions so not only was safety captured visually, but it was also available in a soft and comforting cushion. This means that, from a sensory perspective, more than one sense can be soothed at a time.
Our Art Instructor in Education provided the space for the project and a selection of different artistic materials. Some people chose paint to create vivid and loud pictures, others chose pencils for delicate drawings, some chose felt tip pens for accuracy, and others even stuck on feathers or glitter to their creations for a 3D image.
Two displays were made for each school campus so the art work and creations could be shared and enjoyed by everyone.
During a brainstorming activity which commenced the Safe Space project, one young person said that “‘Safe’ feels soft, warm and cosy.” What a perfect opportunity for our young people to transfer their Safe Space image onto something that is soft, warm and cosy.