Arts and Loss is a monthly workshop programme that supports unpaid carers to explore their identity and emotions in relation to their experiences of bereavement, grief and loss, through creative mediums (writing, poetry, art, script analysis and performance).
The project is coproduced between us and York Carers Centre. It came about 2 years ago when unpaid carers were asking for a peer support group for those experiencing bereavement that felt positive, productive, active and inviting.
The group has gone from strength to strength starting out with 6-8 attendees on average last year, to now a cohort of 20 (with a waiting list). The benefits of this are palpable within the workshops and it is through the art that participants are really able to talk about huge topics freely and openly; the creative writing/poetry is expanding their vocabulary on expressing their emotions, the art and craft is giving the physical assets and metaphors to represent their experience more clearly or in a different way, the script analysis and performance is providing recognisable situations and characters, but by having them as pieces of fiction provides participants with the needed distance to make remarks, suggest advice or to gain a different perspective.
Above all it has created a network of unpaid carers all going through parallel experiences, where they can turn to one another, or just feel supported in the knowledge that they are not alone in what they are going through.
Feedback and reflections from participants has included:
- 'I get so much out of this. Thank you.'
- ‘We are being brave - to be honest and open about your pain in front of others is really brave’
- ‘I was so nervous about coming, but I’m so glad I did. I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s just been so useful and I’ve found it actually really inspiring and feel like I’m leaving with quite a lot’
- 'This is giving me time. Which is important. Time that is just mine, just for me and where I can just think of a few things rather than everything all at once. It reminds me to stop sometimes and not just keep going round and round the same things.'
- 'It’s made me realise that I’m on a journey, I don’t know where I’m going fully, but I do know that I’ll get there.'
- 'What I’ve taken from this, is that all emotions/stages of grief are valid and valuable, even if you are at different stages to other people.'
- 'This has really validated and helped me make sense of responses to my dad’s death many years ago. At the time I couldn’t talk about it, or realise the differences in response across my family, and that’s where a lot of hurt came from. If we could’ve talked about it at the time it might have been different. But just knowing that now is really helpful.'
- 'I have been both of these characters in the play! And it’s made me realise that that’s ok. It’s ok to be both and it’s ok to be both at different times.'
- “I feel lighter and because of the conversation in today's group that I am on a journey somewhere better. I don't know how I'm going to get there but I will"
- "It's good to feel. Feeling is normally something I push away so I can cope but coming to this has made me feel and connect with others."
- ‘This is the happiest I’ve been all year.’
Arts and Loss was shortlisted in The Good Grief Trust's 2024 Shine A Light Awards
