The Psychological Therapies Service at St John’s approached us last year asking if there was anything we could do to brighten up the waiting area and public corridors of their department. The waiting area and corridors have no natural light and are quite gloomy.

After meeting with staff, we all agreed that it made a lot of sense to have works created by staff and outpatients brighten the walls of the department.We invited artist Vanessa Lawrence to develop a 5 week making workshop, with one workshop in the morning and one in the afternoon, to ensure that as many people as possible involved with the service could get involved.

The department staff team have been brilliant and taken the work on board with gusto! We love it when we are met with this level of enthusiasm, as it usually leads to a pretty successful outcome. All participants have been brilliant. We are really impressed and excited by the level of creativity and skill they have brought to the workshops.

“What a fantastic opportunity for patients and staff. The sessions that I have been involved with have felt very therapeutic and the artwork produced has been incredible. It has been really lovely to interact with patients in a different way and see the joy that taking part in such a course has created for them. I can’t wait to see the pieces framed and up in the waiting area!”
Sinead Murray, Clinical Associate in Applied Psychology

Other news from St John’s:

• Art Games - We have started a drawing exchange with St John’s and Liberton Hospitals. The process is easy to take part in; there are 4 simple steps where patients start a drawing which is copied and added to by an artist. It is based on a surrealist drawing game that allows a drawing to change as more […]
• Lost for Words -   Lost for Words is our creative writing project. The first phase has just finished, and we were delighted to have author Laura Marney as our first writer. Laura is a Scottish writer with a great sense of humour, as anyone who has read her second novel, ‘Nobody Loves a Ginger Baby’, will know!  Laura […]
• Crafting with Joan - Joan is a long time friend of the Hospital Arts Programme and has been attending the workshops at the Glasshouses for many years. For anyone who knows Joan, they will know that lockdown is not going to put a stop to her creativity. Here you can see Joan displaying some of the works she had […]
• Welcome to the Blog - First of all, we want to acknowledge the amazing work that NHS staff have been doing over the last 5 months in what are incredibly challenging times. THANK YOU. Although Anne and Trevor have not been able to work on the wards during lockdown, they have been busy. Anne has kept in touch with various […]
• case study: singing through change - Using interactive performance to gain a better understanding of patients’ needs and staff practice at Liberton Hospital in order to address immediate issues of low motivation, social isolation and boredom; ensuring relevance and greater impact of longer-term approaches. We had been approached to provide input to Liberton in early 2018 as a date for a […]
• A dash of colour - The Psychological Therapies Service at St John’s approached us last year asking if there was anything we could do to brighten up the waiting area and public corridors of their department. After a visit to the department and meeting with the team we invited artist Vanessa Lawrence to deliver a series of watercolour workshops for […]
• Making Changes - Laura Key, the clinical Associate in the Applied Psychology unit at St John’s got in touch with us asking if Artlink could help brighten up the waiting areas in their department. We had a look at the spaces and chatted to Laura and her colleagues to find out what they were looking for. Through conversation […]
• Reading Friends - Over the last months we have been working in partnership with The Scottish Book Trust and The Reading Agency to bring Reading Friends to care for the elderly wards. Reading Friends is a UK wide scheme that uses books and reading as a way of fostering friendship and creating meaningful moments that have long term […]
• The Value of Meaningful Activities | Arts Programme Jan – Mar 2019 - We work with professional artists who are flexible and responsive in their approach and sensitive to the situations patients are in. It is this empathy that starts and sustains conversations and opens up possibilities and potentials. We have witnessed how activity can change behaviours and seen how the process of working alongside someone can change distressed and confused behaviour into engaged and concentrated behaviour that would have seemed impossible at the beginning of the workshop.
• Art Group at St John’s Hospital - A great opportunity to work with artist team leader Anne Elliot on Ward 17.
• Working Together – Hospital Activities Programme Sep | Dec 2018 - The new activities programme it out!
• Talking, Listening & learning – Hospital Activities Programme Jul – Sep 2018 - Activities for July to September 2018 – enjoy!
• It’s Something You Said – Hospital Activities Programme Apr | Jun 2018 - The programme is a direct response to your recent feedback on our winter activities programme. In response to the needs of people on long stay elderly care wards, we will be extending our events programme and creating weekly performance events. We are also investigating new work which better supports patients as they move from the hospital to the community, so look out for Anne Elliot's new activities which are all about encouraging greater community involvement.
• Open Show 2018: Call for Submissions - It’s nearly time for the annual staff and patient exhibition! This year it will be taking place in the gallery at the Western General Hospital from 1st March – April 2018. The exhibition so far has been developed by illustrator Laura Cave Macgowan, in collaboration with staff and patients who responded to an earlier call for […]
• Ward Activities at St John’s - The new ward activities programme at St John’s is out – full of music, singing and art.