Play Sense Create - Whale Arts - Year 1 Report

PLAY SENSE CREATEACCESSIBLE ART PROGRAMME Year

WHALE ARTS

1 Report - 2020-21

Play Sense Create: Accessible Arts Programme Outcomes & Feedback The project has 4 key intended outcomes for all participants: 1. develop new creative skills 2. build confidence and self esteem 3. make new friends 4. enhance their emotional wellbeing Considering the challenges of the past year we feel the project has managed to achieve: Many participants have developed new skills and others have revisited existing skills, all have explored their creativity via the different mediums we have offered.

Participants have shared work online and with family, friends and visitors to WHALE building confidence. Making new friends has been hard due to a lack of in person meetings and the challenges of communication via video meetings. Hopefully we can develop this goal when we are able to have slightly larger groups meeting up.

Feedback from parents has shown that Play Sense Create have been valued by families as a support and creative outlet when most other play services, respite care and family activities have not been taking place. The individually tailored sessions/ art packs made families feel valued and they could see the care that had gone into creating individual content.

The impact of covid on families and Play Sense Create participants has been immense.

Issues have included no respite care, school or other professional input for some time, reduced help from other family members, friends and carers due to lockdowns and shielding, increasing isolation and loneliness. Practical problems have been around financial hardship, difficulty getting what you need if you cannot leave the house due to clinical vulnerability, keeping young people safe and happy in a frightening and different looking world and not being able to follow the usual patterns and expectations.

There has been a very understandable fear of covid and the implications of either vulnerable/ shielding children getting covid or parents getting it and having to isolate/ being unable to look after their children. Without support services (limited access to health, social care, speech & language, physio, CAMHS specialists) some children and young peoples’ conditions have significantly deteriorated.

The pandemic has had a considerable effect on the mental and emotional health of everyone in our families – no normality or routine, limited safe places to be, exhaustion, home schooling challenges for participants and their siblings.

Service Delivery at WHALE Arts We have worked in a number of different ways to support our participants during the past year as our programme has had to change significantly. Working with our families we developed a range of ways young people can take part and families be supported.

Our adaptations have included: When safe we have reopened the building and delivered face to face sessions. We consulted widely on what would make people feel comfortable and confident using the building and used this input, plus appropriate government guidelines to inform our planning and delivery of sessions as safely as possible. This has included a covid risk assessment for each activity, discussions with participants about what to expect and specific measures including Clear masks to aid communication Creating 2m distanced areas using furniture or spaces rather than floor tape which can be intimidating/ cause stress and worry/ be ignored(!)

Giving soft toys to participants to cuddle and then keep instead of cuddling the staff team Talking through strategies for different individuals with the team to help minimise risks - working with multiple groups, with children and young people who can find it hard maintaining social distancing, wearing face coverings and masks and other PPE. Giving individual equipment and materials which are taken home at the end of the session. This has also aided transitions for some of our participants who have found this challenging.

We have delivered tailored one to one family and small group sessions at WHALE Arts Centre when appropriate. This has allowed us to ensure families are in as secure and safe a space as possible. Many of our participants have complex health conditions that mean they were shielding or vulnerable and we wanted to reduce infection risks as much as possible. We also delivered online zoom sessions, activities on our website, group art packs as well as tailored art packs created by artists for individual participants and their families.

Artpacks

Delivery: Year 1 Our targets were amended to reflect the changed circumstances of this year - aiming for support and engagement with the familiar, rather than the development or co-design elements we were hoping to explore.

TARGET: deliver 135 hours of activity per year.

8 Tailored one to one family sessions (in person) Examples include GIANT jelly throwing, ‘Elevator Music’ session.

9 Small group sessions ( in person and online) (messy/sensory/play based/ participant responsive) 35 individual art packs throughout the year filled with resources and materials, created by artists for specific participants. Examples included...‘Home Alone’ messy sensory arts packs, ‘Dr Foster went to Gloucester’ water play pack, non messy festival rave packs, messy ‘spinny arts packs’ sensory ‘diggin for gold DIY sand’ packs & digital music packs 1 full day of Xmas sensory outside woodland trail inc. musicians, performers and sensory activities 4 Bespoke sensory play packs for shielding families 6 Teapot Trust partnership bespoke sibling packs TARGET: 80% of participants and family members learned new skills in creating sensory play experiences using basic materials and creativity.

Many of our participants gained new skills, for others taking part in familiar or favourite activities was important to re-establish connections and make participants feel secure and happy returning to sessions at WHALE Arts Centre.

Examples of new skills learned: One participant tried playing a cello for the first time and enjoyed it so much she has decided to follow up and have cello lessons.

A participant was struggling to cope with the session ending and was getting very anxious, pacing, unable to settle. We suggested he try wrapping himself in a blanket – he used an emergency space blanket which was a shiny silver. Initially he found it comforting to be held in the blanket, then slowly he began exploring it’s properties – it’s slight transparency, it’s crinkling, rustling sounds. Then we began to talk about what else he could see or do with it – he made a superhero cape, used it to create a den to hide in with different members of the team and then danced around the building with exploring it’s different properties.

Another participant participated in a game which involved turn taking and catching and throwing ‘soap jelly’.

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Online resources & artpacks

Delivery: Year 1 TARGET: 70% of participants built confidence by attending 1:1 bespoke sessions and easing into small group sessions.

We have seen many participants have really struggled with the effects of the pandemic.

This has manifested in some really challenging behaviour, difficulty coping with being out of the house so what we would measure as increased confidence has changed - just coming along and being able to focus and stay for a whole session (or repeated attendances) would be a measure of increased confidence as the baseline for this has changed so much.

TARGET: Cultural bridging activities: Whilst we were unable to make any of the visits we had hoped we did engage with other cultural organisations via their online engagement activities, including over 50 art packs from the Edinburgh Art Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe. We also partnered with the Teapot Trust Art Therapy organisation and delivered a six week online block of session in collaboration with an art therapist for three families and four family members/carers. We worked with Starcatchers do develop our Christmas extravaganza event.

TARGET: a Creative production (performance/exhibition) will take place each year: We held a fantastic group event with families who were able to make it into the centre and worked together on a paint installation – creating works using hands and feet making footsteps and paths on large pieces of paper we then hung around the art workshop which were seen by families, other WHALE Arts participants during their sessions, staff and volunteers.

A Christmas Extravaganza was facilitated in collaboration with other young people's groups at WHALE Arts. This took place outdoors as a ‘The Night Before Christmas’ christmas trail. With a number of performers and musicians delivering a walking performance, stopping at different points to reenact specific points of the story through sensory play, story telling, crafts and Santa Claus gift exchange. The walking trail which incorporated movement throughout, was praised afterwards by families who mentioned this was the first Christmas experience as a family unit they had been able to attend, due to their child’s sensory needs, often heightened around the festive period.

TARGET: work with 15 participants and 75 family members, carers, community members and audiences.

Delivery: Year 1

During this first year we have worked with 36 participants and 46 family members with an additional 47 in person community members and audiences, plus online audiences and community members on WHALE Arts social media.

We worked with 18 Young People with Neurological conditions . Conditions of the children and young people taking part in the project include: Autism Learning Disability Hyperacusis Anxiety Sensory Processing Disorder ADHD Bainbridge Ropers Syndrome Walking Aid/Wheelchair user Sensory Processing Disorder Language Comprehension Delay Down Syndrome D/deaf FASD (Foetal Alchol Spectrum Disorders Rare Generic Delation DI George Syndrome Speech impairment Low Muscle Tone Bainbridge Ropers Syndrome hyper mobility Self Harm Behaviour Hepertonia Melorheosis (painful bone condition, mainly in hands) Largngomalaci (effects swallowing) Safeguarding All staff have had safeguarding training refreshed and reviewed in light of pandemic working. Organisationally we have continued to develop and refine our safeguarding procedures.

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Sensory play sessions

What have we learned and how it will inform our work in future

Most of our learning has been around adapting our services to the pandemic and extending the emotional support for families with regular phone and video contact, then developing highly personalised activities in person and via art packs to respond to the different needs and interests of individuals.

We had far higher numbers of participants than we anticipated - this was in part due to other services being limited or closed during the pandemic and participants joining from beyond Edinburgh to participate - including Fife, East, West and Midlothian, Lanarkshire and Glasgow. Word of mouth and parents sharing their appreciation of the project on family support groups (on social media, websites, closed groups etc) and our ability to post session materials and deliver online work also widened our reach.

We also had a number of parents that were referred by social work for friendship calls who we then were able to offer activities too. When we return to mostly in person sessions we will try and refer families to opportunities closer to their homes/ area.

Moving forward into year 2 we hope that conditions will allow us to increase in person sessions for groups but we will work at a pace that families feel comfortable and tailor our offer to individual circumstances.

We hope to deliver increased numbers of engagements but are conscious of the challenges families face during this uncertain time. We are increasing our family support, working alongside the Teapot Trust to offer Art therapy sessions for families and individuals as well as looking at specific support we can signpost for parents and carers.

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Tropical family party - crafts, sensory play, silent disco, cooking and games together in the WHALE Arts Garden.

Photo Kate Griffin

Feedback from Families “I just wanted to say the hugest thank you for the pack you sent (childs name). She’s having a ball and we still haven’t done it all. Also, the packaging was just too amazing and she could recognise her name which was very special. I’d be happy to buy packs in the future be great to support you and your colleagues. It really uplifted us so thank you so your kindness as the last year has been especially tough.”

“Just wanted to say (childs name) loved his pack his brother joined in too. I thought the pack was extremely well thought out and the artist clearly knows what kids like. Super impressed!”

“We received our Dr Foster Water Play Pack at the end of last week, and the boys had a play with it today. Entertained them for almost an hour, thank you so much! (Leaving the umbrella hats until bath time!)”

“I just wanted to let you know we got the art pack and (childs name) loves it. She was thrilled with how personal it was to her and particularly loved the shadow puppets and the fairy (edible) glitter. - Thanks very much.”

“Just wanted to thank you for the lovely sensory packs you sent us. They were fantastic and the kids loved them. We blew up the ball today and used it in the garden with the snow. The kids loved it. Thank you so much for taking the time out to make it for us, very much appreciated .”

“I just wanted to say a huge thank you for (childs name) art pack. It's fantastic and so generous. He particularly loves the personalised activities. We may not be doing too well with literacy and numeracy but I've got a budding Banksy on my hands! Thanks again.”

“Many thanks! It arrived today! What a beautiful package with his name on it! Lots of goodies inside. I will enjoy doing this with him. Lots of best wishes.”

“As you can see.... There's a happy smile on that face! (photos included in email but no consent given) Thank you so much! He loves it! Especially the tasks with the home alone characters on them. We've agreed we're going to do the messy activities out in the garden tomorrow. But he's taken all the activity cards and the rest of the stuffup to his room, and has been up there for half an hour just setting them out on his bed, and humming the songs. For me, that's a sign he loves it. My child can't fake anything. You're awesome!”

“Just to confirm we have received the pack this morning and (childs name) is thoroughly enjoying it! The balloon car, light, glow sticks and bubble wrap are a huge hit and he is a very busy boy today!

Thank you so much for this, it’s engaged him well and is for him (and me) a welcome break from the more traditional home schooling we’ve been attempting to do!”

“Lockdown. Crappy weather.

Psc art pack saves the day (one I kept from last time for emergencies Thank you! (*She also sent a video of child playing with her pack at home.)

“Hi! Just wanted to say a huge thank you. We received (childs name) pack today and she was thrilled. We've had a busy afternoon with paint and shaving foam. She’s asked me to send you some photos of her creations.

Thanks again. “

With thanks to our funders: R S Macdonald, City of Edinburgh Council, Baily Thomas, Ernest Lonzai Trust.

Above - Tropical Family feast, photo Kate Griffin.

Overleaf - Play Sense Create families playing with their sensory art packs, Photo Participant parent ( with permission).