Caswell Clinic is managed by the Mental Health Directorate. It provides specialist healthcare services for people from South Wales with mental health problems who are offenders or have a potential to offend.
Therefore, it is a secure unit with strict procedures. Our resident Storyteller, Jess Wilson, has over 20 years experience as a psychiatric nurse and so was aptly placed at Caswell Clinic to train patients and staff as Storytellers. At our Stories for Change team meeting, we discussed how Jess might best be able to measure the levels at which trainees were engaging with her storytelling, given that many of them are on high levels of medication and may have difficulty with expressing themselves. Creative Digital Developer, Cheryl Beer, who is also responsible for evaluation within the project, suggested that the group devise story cards based on Jess's Stories. This would not only enable them to create their own Story Cards for future storytelling but give us an insight into their understanding of the story and level of engagement with it. The plan worked an absolute treat. Jess gave out cards and patients illustrated them as she was telling the story, finishing them off afterwards and using them as a basis of discussion. They then displayed them on this glorious tree mural, giving them a really positive outcome. The tree will now double up as a place for patients to display story cards on an ongoing basis. |