Aviva Community Fund provided £122 of match funding
Music matters
Hailsham, England, United Kingdom
Aim
A bespoke music for wellbeing programme set in two different specialist mental health hospitals in East Sussex.
During lockdown and restrictions in 2020/21 we provided a successful online music for wellbeing pilot project service for two separate mental health specialist hospitals, The Department of Psychiatry in Eastbourne and Amberstone in Hailsham. We wish to build on this achievement by providing a sustainable in person service that can be flexible and switch to an online service if restrictions are reimposed. The participants have cited our service as having a positive effect on their journey of mental health recovery. 'I've never done this before, it gives me something to look forward to', 'Its the highlight of my week knowing the music sessions are happening', 'it is lovely having music happening spontaneously here at Amberstone'.
'I felt nervous attending the sessions, but the tutor was encouraging and didn't make me feel silly. I love singing songs from musicals, and he recorded me singing while he played guitar which was different, and I had not done that before.'
'being musically creative allows me to express myself. Yes, the Lifesize tutor was positive about my music and let me explain the meaning behind my lyrics, which makes me feel better understood.'
project participants, The Department of Psychiatry, Eastbourne
We work alongside qualified mental health nurses and occupational therapists and have had positive feedback from them about the pilot project:
'We have been extremely fortunate to have Lifesize, providing free taster online music production experiences for our in-patients in acute adult mental health here at the Department of Psychiatry Eastbourne. Lifesize clearly has staff that are talented musicians and teachers, using a collaborative and person- centred approach to enhance the music production experience. They have a professional music production background and their ability to quickly connect with both the men and women’s wards was a great hit!'
Occupational Therapist, The Department of Psychiatry
This project successfully funded on 7th December 2021