Case Study: Calonnau Cerddorol

Introduction

Calonnau Cerddorol used music participation including song writing, lyric writing, performance and group work to support the recovery and future outlook for adults & young people living with diagnosed mental health conditions. Participants were referred to the project through our partners and had a range of diagnosed mental health conditions, including depression, extreme anxiety disorders and self harm. We also saw a lack of services delivered in the Welsh language, so our project focused support bilingually where needed. Our project used music creation to support the growth and confidence of the participants through providing the opportunity to explore creativity, rise to new challenges and achieve new things. The project gently expanded boundaries & aimed to increase confidence, build social networks & community cohesion as well as raise positive future aspiration.

The Challenge

Working in partnership with Ty Canna mental health service in Cardiff & Hafod mental health Team, Denbighshire over 8 years, enabled us to develop this project specifically aimed at engaging adults with severe and diagnosed conditions. We had evidence that the service users on this previous project, had benefited hugely from the engagement, with an 80% increase in positive outcomes. So, due to our evidence & an increase in demand since Covid, we wanted to expand to include new partners who had previously asked to work with us on the project. These included Gisda, Kim Inspire and Ysbyty Prifysgol Llandochau. We consulted with these new partners & their service users to ascertain the specific needs of the groups and designed each project to meet their needs & support their recovery. The project was participant led, as they were able to steer the project depending on their needs and through their group discussions.

The Approach

Calonnau Cerddorol was an 18 month project which used music through songwriting, recording and collaboration, to promote recovery amongst the services-users of our partners and provided activities to increase confidence, set achievable goals and develop community cohesion. We delivered 46 weeks of songwriting workshops, recordings of original music and peer-led performances with our partners in N and S Wales. These sessions took place at the drop in centres in Hafod across N Wales, Gisda in Gwyedd, Kim Inspire in Denbighshire, Ynys Mon and Flintshire, at Women's Connect First and in Ysbyty Prifysgol Llandochau, Cardiff. Our project provided step-by-step goals for the participants to work through to gently extend boundaries and build confidence. The music and nature of the lyrics was 100% participant led, supported by our trained freelance music practitioners. This enabled the participants to explore their feelings and ideas through the safe environment of lyric writing and/ or just song writing, to express themselves. The project built strong relationships through providing a sharing environment where participants worked together to create and perform songs about issues that mattered to them and record their own music which they shared with the wider community to promote cohesion and understanding. We also delivered a mental health specific training course for the staff and musicians to support the projects sustainability. The staff that attended the course were then able to bring some of the project into their future work. It was also attended by freelance participatory musicians who wanted to specialise in this area of worl.

The Impact

Firstly we engaged with the partners who carried out the evaluation and wrote the case studies, as they were best placed to understand the journeys of their participants and see how/if our project had improved their well being. They carried out individual case studies on specific individuals - and mapped their stories, including the impact our project had on them. Their case studies were impartial and also informative as they had the wider knowledge of the participant, their journey and recovery. We collected participant, partner and tutor feedback including questionnaires and 121 discussion, carried out by the partners, as they were more likely to get honest responses. The evaluation was grouped in three key areas, including Increase in confidence/contentment, Increase in positive aspiration and Increase in community support/cohesion. Comments from the participants in Ysbyty Prifysgol Llandochau said: Increase in confidence: “I sang even though I thought I couldn’t” and “I am happy to be a part of these sessions and part of the group.” Demonstrating an increase in future aspirations: “I want to become better with the keyboard and play more in the future.” An Increase in community cohesion: “I love feeling part of the group, I don’t feel alone when we’re playing together.” The partner said: “The feedback from the sessions is very positive and is indicative that a ward-based music group can have consistent positive outcomes for patients.” We engaged with 260 participants, 96% demonstrated an increase in these three outcomes

Lessons Learned

This project has demonstrated to us and partners, how effective music participation is in supporting individuals living with mental health conditions. Through the 3 key outcomes we focused on, we were able to actively demonstrate the positive impact arts has on health. The wrap around support with active care workers as partners worked particularly well around getting the best feedback and evaluation. The successful training for care workers and musicians tutors, 15 on the course, is also something we will explore more in the future

The Legacy

Throughout this project, we identified a huge increase in demand for support for people living with mental health. The project bore out the Welsh Government statistics showing an increase in demand and we were continuously contacted by more orgs who wanted to participate. In some cases, such as with Ty Canna and Amber, they accessed additional funding for us to continue. Partners have been working with us on developing a new project including participation & training, which can be expanded to include new areas. we have also been able to access three year funding from The Rayne Foundation to continue the work in North Wales.

Website and Social Media Links

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Contact Details

Hannah Jenkins - hannah@communitymusicwales.org.uk

Tags: Mental Health, Music for Mental health, Music and wellbeing, Wellbeing, Welsh language mental health support, Mental health tutor training, Participatory Arts Training

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