Our Forrester Court residency, commissioned and supported by Westminster Arts, concluded in July with a sharing in the home. It is a large home and we worked in three units there. Most of the people we worked with were people who seldom left their bed or room. We would like to thank all who took part, residents and staff. As well as the one to one work with residents we led our ‘Living Creative’ workshop training for staff. We focussed on communication and looked at the words of the residents and what they were saying. This led to staff members choosing a personal project to imbed the use of residents books once we had left.Working with staff in a focussed and supportive way as they worked on their own projects led to some insightful and creative work being shared by them at the sharing too.
We were delighted to receive positive feedback such as: ‘Thank you for getting the residents’ voices heard’ Susan, activity Co-ordinator and ‘You listening and writing my words is like medicine for me’ Irene, resident. Most recently the Senior Activity Co-ordinator Edward emailed: ‘The results were phenomenal and have made a massive difference not only to the residents who were involved but also the carers perception of them.’
