Creative Care

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Arts for older people and their carers

Following on from the successful pilot work (see Creative Carers in Past Projects) Suffolk Artlink has developed a training programme for carers and wardens who work within residential homes and day care centres.

Creative Activity does not always mean paint and pencils - this training programme will enable carers of older people and people with dementia, to think creatively and to plan creative ways of approaching activities. Carers will develop the skills and confidence to lead diverse arts activites with their customers, from arts and crafts to music and poetry. Training will be delivered through a mix of trainer led sessions, artist led sessions and mentoring.

The Creative Care Training Programme ran in four centres in West Suffolk in 2006. Visual Arts, Dance and Creative Writing sessions were delivered in the centres through tailor made courses. The programme concluded with a session run by the carers with the support of the artists. This enpowered the carers to run regular sessions in their own centres once the initial training programme has finished.

An extra round of four centres in St Edmundsbury, with funding from the Havebury Housing Trust, was completed in February 2007. This programme was put together to meet the demand from the first set of applications.

The next round of the training programme commenced with an Open Day on 12th March 2007 at The Cut Arts Centre, Halesworth. From this four centres from East Suffolk were selected. The centres took part in workshops led by Cathy Bullen, Michael Laskey and Margaret Wyllie as well as training sessions by Helen Rousseau and Caroline Wright.

The final mentor session for this round will take place on the 17th September where the carers will have the opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences so far. This session will complete this round of Creative Care.

The Creative Care Training Programme is supported by the European Social Fund and Suffolk County Council.

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