January 2021 – Mindful Art Club

Comic Relief to Fund Womens Group

We are pleased to have been granted new funding to offer mindful art sessions to any Plymouth women in need of support.

The Comic Relief Community Fund offer help for projects that are in line with their theme of Mental Health Matters. These are projects that support good mental health in communities, improve access to support and tackle stigma and discrimination.

This funding will allow us to deliver 12 weekly mindful art groups at The Sunflower Women’s Centre. The issues being tackled are social isolation and poor mental health. We address these problems by using creative activities to make it easier for clients to engage in meaningful conversations.

The Sunflower is a trauma-informed women’s wellbeing hub, providing opportunities for any woman who has support needs. Women receive support in addressing and resolving substance abuse, childhood trauma, criminogenic behaviours, domestic violence or poor mental health. The centre offers a range of therapeutic activities, accredited programmes and practical support in a safe, nurturing, substance-free and valuing space for women to move from their pasts, develop their skills, regain their self-worth and go on to flourish and thrive. The Sunflower Centre has over 500 registered service users.

Mindful Art Club will offer these women peer support for common mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. New friendships are formed in our groups which combat social isolation, and we will also teach new skills such as how to use mindfulness and art for self care.

We would not have received this funding without the generous help and support of the staff at The Sunflower Women’s Centre, and the funding advisors at POP. POP ideas is a service delivered by POP+ and Iridescent Ideas CIC that provides advice for small, large, new or established voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations in Plymouth.

Page 10, Plymouth Chronicle January 2021

If you’d like a place on one of these groups after the current lockdown ends, you will need to register with The Sunflower Women’s Centre and ask to be added to the waiting list for Mindful Art Club. Their staff is limited during lockdown, but you can leave a message at 01752 977614 . Groups at The Sunflower Centre are small, socially distanced, and organised with a number of Covid-19 safety measures in place. These sessions are permitted by current law, as support groups.

Here’s what some of our previous clients at The Sunflower Centre have said about us:

“I have found this group very helpful in my recovery. My biggest problem is ISOLATION. So to have this group is a lifeline. I also struggle with substance misuse, although, (thanks to help), I am clean and sober. It is nice to have a space that is non-judgmental where we can check in and connect.
I love art anyway, and find it very relaxing and engaging. But it’s so much more therapeutic to do it with others. Many thanks.”
Anna (Shared with permission).

Mindful Art Club on PTown Radio

In this relaxed and fun radio interview Chi asks Emma,

What is Mindful Art Club?

Where in Plymouth does it happen?

And who exactly is it for?

Emma Sprawson talks to Chi Bennett on Show and Tell With Queen Chi, PTown Radio, (15/01/21) about Mindful Art Club(R), a unique support group, that tackles social isolation and mental health in Plymouth, Devon.

Skip to 11 minutes in to hear Emma read a poem that explains how to stop, breathe and walk slowly into the mystery.

Skip to 12:35 where Chi asks, what if I’ve got kids at home? Can I still join in with the online group?

How to Make Zentangles

Zentangles® are a kind of meditative drawing; creating abstract, repetitive patterns, without worrying what the patterns look like. This process slows down the breathing, calms the mind, and helps you to focus on the present moment. It’s a therapeutic way of drawing that offers peace of mind, and is accessible to all.

The method was created in 2003 by an American couple called Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. You can find out more about them at www.zentangle.com The Zentangle teaching materials and tools are covered by copyright and “Zentangle” is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc.

You will need a piece of plain A4 paper and a black pen.
Draw six boxes to put your Zentangles into.
Inside the first box, draw a line to make a “string.” The string separates your square into sections, in which you draw your tangles. A string can be any shape.
Take your pen for a walk, and draw random patterns inside the shapes. Try shading different areas.
On an A4 page you might have six different boxes full of Zentangles.

There are eight steps in the original Zentangle method, which you can read about on their website.

What is a Zentangle and why would you draw one? Watch Emma explain here:

Watch Peggy draw Zentangles here:

https://www.facebook.com/MindfulArtClub/videos/660535961437055/

Join in with the Facebook Live session here:

https://www.facebook.com/MindfulArtClub/videos/196899558173904/

Skip to 25 minutes in to watch the part about Zentangles.

Alternatively, instead of drawing in squares, you could incorporate zentangle style patterns into your own drawing, as with the example above created by Cara H, a client at one of our weekly groups.

Now we’d love to hear from you. Have you tried drawing zentangles? How does it make you feel? Leave us a comment below.

Tier 3: Changes in January

We hope you are safe, and that you have had a chance to relax over Christmas. Although Devon is now in Tier 3 we are planning to continue to provide mutual aid and support wherever we can. However, some of our venues will be unable to open, even though support groups of up to 15 people are permitted in Tier 3. Details of how this will affect our regular groups are below.

In the meantime we want to offer you some fun resources to kick off the New Year.

Listen to Emma on the radio. She talked about how our art club continued to bring people together in a safe way, during a year when we were asked to socially distance ourselves from one another. Skip to seven minutes in to try a quick mindful drawing exercise.

Watch: MAC Awards Ceremony 2020 The celebrations were restricted to a very small, outdoor dinner party, because of the coronavirus restrictions.

Try our new online group. We are looking forward to working with Devon Recovery Learning Community in 2021 to deliver a new six week course, on Zoom, on Thursday afternoons.

Learn: A quick video guide to using Zoom.

Join Our Tuesday Zoom group. A supportive online meeting offering creativity, company and social connection: A short mindful meditation and an easy art project.

Read: How to Do Art Club When You Don’t Really Want to Go Out. Includes a mindfulness recording to listen to at home, and some YouTube videos of us making art for fun.

Changes for January 2021

Mondays The Sunflower Women’s Centre – All courses at The Sunflower Centre are currently postponed.
Tuesdays Our online group continues with new co-host Linda Langart! (£3.00)
Tuesdays: 7pm 8-Week Wellbeing Course The evening course is temporarily postponed. We will contact you with more details.
Thursdays Plympton group at The Brook Inn Postponed while we are in Tier 3.
Fridays The Sunflower Women’s Centre. Group cancelled.
Fridays Ocean Studios, Royal William Yard. Postponed while we are in Tier 3.

Full details about these groups are here: Mindful Art Community Groups When groups begin again booking is essential due to Covid-19 safety recommendations.

If you’re on Facebook you could also join our Mindful Art Club group to stay in touch with others who come to our sessions. It’s a place to chat, maintain connections, support one another, and share your art from the Zoom sessions.

We wish you all the best for the New Year, and look forward to seeing you again when it is safe to do so.

Peggy and Emma

PS. Catch up with a video replay of one of our online art groups any time you like, on Facebook.