Celebrating creativity and a cup of tea with friends

Ah go on… celebrates creativity and the positive mental health messages a cup of tea with friends can bring. The project was delivered by use of instructional videos created by local Waterford artist Adele Stanley and with supplementary in person support from the Occupational Therapy Team at the Department of Psychiatry.

Ah go on… an art project for people living in the Waterford community accessing mental health services at the Department of Psychiatry (DOP), University Hospital Waterford. It was delivered by the Waterford Healing Arts Trust in partnership with the Occupational Therapy Team at the DOP and funded by Creative Ireland Waterford.

During each session there was an emphasis on skill sharing, socialising and confidence building. Participants had a chance to play with clay, explore their creativity in a relaxed environment, socialise with others and make a decorative tea set.

Participants were invited to make individual tea cups to gift to a loved one or a stranger to encourage connectedness with others. The project has the potential to increase wellbeing for the local community and those accessing the mental health services.

The artist Adele Stanley created four short instructional videos that are a resource for the Occupational Therapy Team at the DOP to engage service users in a positive art making experience. Due to public health restrictions the artist was unable to visit the DOP unit so the artist fired the clay pieces off site and returned them to the participants when completed.

The Occupational Therapy Team will continue to use the video resource and materials to engage participants at the DOP in this art making experience. The Ah go on … project was awarded Creative Ireland funding through the Creative Waterford Open Call 2020.