Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association Newsletter April 2010
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. Charles Darwin English biologist (1809 - 1882)
*NEW* Anthology of Poetry & Short Stories: "A Better World"
Members of the Darnley Road Day Centre were involved in a number of creative writing workshops facilitated by Social Spider last year. The participants were both new and experienced writers.
The final goal of the workshops was the production of an amazing anthology of poetry and short stories.
The title of the book is "A better world".
It is currently on offer at a cost of £2.50 from PRA Services, 1a Darnley Road or can be ordered by post (post and packaging cost to be added).
It is well worth a read!
Et Cetera Gallery
The PRA is pleased to announce the forthcoming opening of its gallery “The Et Cetera Gallery”. The gallery is situated at the Darnley Road Centre, just off Mare Street, near the Town Hall and is one of the larger galleries in the East End of London. It offers approx. 130 square metres of floor space and approximately 100 square metres of wall space. It also boasts a large walled outside space that can be used to site appropriate sculpture work. The gallery is available for hire for one or two week periods and it is hoped it will attract the attention of the many artists living and working in the East End of London. Interest has already been shown by various Universities and individual artists. The gallery will also be used to show the artistic work of the PRA members.
For further information regarding the gallery please contact Greg Morter or Administration on 020 8985 3570.
Adult Learners’ Week
Following the success of PRA’s first workshops as part of The Learning Trust’s Adult Learners’ Week in 2009, we are pleased to announce that we have been awarded funding to run another two workshops for the 2010 Adult Learners’ Week.
We will re-run one of the most popular workshops from last year: photography. We are very pleased to announce that this year the workshop will be facilitated by the professional photographer, Celine Marchbank. You can view some of her fascinating work at www.celinemarchbank.com.
Also, we are introducing a new workshop entitled Making a Rose. This involves using paper in a variety of styles to make decorative roses. Luisa Cotardo will be running this workshop based on the techniques of the "Cartapesta Leccese&q. You can see some of her wonderful creations at www.wordsandroses.com.
The details for the workshops are as follows:
Photography: Tuesday, 18th May 2010 2:00pm-4:00pm
Making a Rose: Wednesday, 19th May 2010 11:00am-2:30pm
Both workshops will take place at 1A Darnley Road, London E9 6QH
To register for a workshop please contact our Services Coordinator, Simon Behrman on 020 8985 3570.
PRA New Research
Employment is a vital part of life and quite useful for the rehabilitation of the mentally ill. It provides a sense of contribution, increases confidence, and gives some meaning to life. Moreover, it improves health and provides a general sense of well-being. Sheltered workshops like PRA’s Stean Street provide employment to those who are not capable of working in open employment, due to mental health difficulty, level of social ability, or simply age.
Unfortunately, sheltered workshops are often criticised, because of their low rates of transfer to open employment. It should be understood that the goal of a sheltered workshop is not necessarily to transition workers to open employment in every case. Gathering from news articles, journal articles, and member interviews, this forthcoming research delves into the benefits of sheltered workshops in terms of rehabilitation of people experiencing and/or recovering from mental health problems. Further, it explores how PRA’s Industrial Education Units could evolve and what the future may hold in store. The research paper will be available from end of May 2010. Please contact our head office for a copy.
PRA Volunteers
As always, PRA good work is also due to the contribution made by our many volunteers. Their support helps us stretch our limited resources while assisting to sustain our current services and aid with new developments. In this quarter we would like to acknowledge the work of:
Lotte Friedrich, who runs groups learning French and creative writing, and supervises the gardening project.
Vivienne Yip, a psychology graduate from Royal Holloway who runs a photography group and helps out at our sheltered workshop in Stean Street.
Dilesha Patel, a psychology graduate from the USA. She runs groups teaching Hindi and maths.
Deepan Paul, a psychology student at Boston University. He is with us on placement via the EUSA programme. He is carrying out some research to identify the impacts of engagement in PRA projects and the measured benefits to participants.
Ewa Kowalska, also a psychology student from Poland, on placement with us via ERASMUS. She is running groups on Polish culture, cuisine and history.
Iwa Kos, a psychology student from Poland. She is on placement with us via the ERASMUS programme. She is currently supporting the development of our workshops into a social enterprise.
Claudia Reidlinger has recently completed her studies in nursing in Austria. She was part of the delegation of Austrian nurses which visited PRA in autumn 2008. She is currently supporting our residential project, as well as, the industrial unit in Haringey and the training programme in Hackney.
Haringey User Network (HUN)
HUN has finally moved to new independent premises in Haringey. The new office space is situated at Room 302, Parma House, Clarendon Road, Wood Green, London N22 6XJ.
Please note the new telephone number as well: 0208 889 1633.
It is a spacious and bright space which will allow the network to expand its activities. We wish them all the best in their new place.
C4BH
The Centre for Better Health (c4bh) counselling and psychotherapy service provides inexpensive access to talking therapies. In the present climate this is particularly good news for people facing or struggling with unemployment.
The service is unique as people can self refer and begin therapy quickly. It also offers both long term and short term counselling and its large team of counsellors and psychotherapists offer a wide range of therapeutic approaches and experience of many issues. The fee starts at just £2 for people currently unemployed and from just £15 for people in employment.
The service is also open on Thursday evening with sessions offered at 5.00pm and 6.00pm. A standard fee of £30.00 applies to these appointments.
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