C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 35 DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION 2 RestorationTrust (2021) Creatively Minded and Heritage, Baring Foundation 3 Willis, Jane (2021) Burgh Castle Almanac Evaluation, Restoration Trust and the Broads Authority The Human Henge group inside the stone circle at Stonehenge on the final celebration close to the spring equinox in 2017. A partnership with English Heritage, Richmond Fellowship and Bournemouth University that ran from 2016 to 2020, Human Henge was largely funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. (Photo: Yvette Staelens) Laura Drysdale is director of the Restoration Trust, an award-winning charity that involves people living with mentalhealth challenges with heritage and creativity. www. restorationtrust.org.uk so heritage’s availability matters more than its particular characteristics. The barriers for heritage organisations wanting to work with people with mental-health challenges are high, and vice versa. It is our job to overcome them. We convene partnerships of participants, heritage organisations, mental-health providers and universities to create pilot projects and scale up the ones that work. Projects in ancient landscapes such as the Stonehenge and Avebury world heritage site (Human Henge), or at Burgh Castle Roman Fort (Burgh Castle Almanac), are co-produced, small-group experiences of at least 10 sessions where people explore a heritage asset and reflect on it creatively. As well as the historic environment, we work with archives, conservation and museums, and our Heritage Linkworker pilot in Great Yarmouth and Waveney is testing how people referred through social prescribing can enjoy local history. Our four-session consultancy offer helps organisations which want to set up their own projects. We encourage people to participate in everything we do by joining our expert advisory board and becoming trustees, working as volunteers and staff, and attending successor groups. Evidence is that our projects improve people’s mental health, including in the longer term, and that every £1 we invest returns £12 of social value. Stuart’s story Burgh Castle Almanac helped Stuart overcome a traumatic early life, an abusive childhood, substance abuse and mental-health problems. In BCA he has found belonging in a safe and welcoming space, enabling him to build a new family of friends. It has rekindled a love of nature, heritage and learning, giving him a sense of purpose. Unable to hold it together I’ve always used work to manage things, keep things at bay. I managed to keep it together like this until I just couldn’t do it anymore. I put on this persona during the day and as soon as I got home my mood would hit the floor. I just couldn’t do the falseness and faking anymore. Eventually I had a proper breakdown. I tried to take my life again. I was really in a bad way. I was back into hospital. The turning point I’ve been with the mental health recovery team since 2018. This was the year that one of the support workers introduced me to Burgh Castle Almanac. My wife said I should give it a try. I had become very insular and didn’t want to go out or do anything. Even with her and the support worker behind me, I still wasn’t sure about it. But they really pushed me and I’m so grateful that they did. That first time I went along, I felt fear: fear of the unknown; fear of being with a group of people I didn’t know; fear of not being accepted. Absolute pure fear! When I met [the facilitator], I felt at instantly home. Her openness and her welcoming manner put me at ease straight away. And everyone else was so welcoming too. It was like being in a family, a loving family. And that was something I’ve never had. Learning new skills, rekindling old ones Burgh Castle Almanac ticked all the boxes for me: I love the outdoors; I love nature; I love history. Doing all those things together was spot on. And through everything we’ve done together at Burgh Castle, I’ve got back into my creative side as well. I’ve done creative writing, I’ve written songs. I’ve learned so many different things. I’m reading books, I’m researching things on the internet, which I would never have done before: the history of Burgh Castle, the history of the Roman army and the Iceni tribe, and Boadicea. There’s just so much to immerse yourself in. When you’ve got some knowledge of something, you enjoy it more. On the last walk I led, people were firing questions at me left, right and centre. I can tell them the answers because I’ve found it all out and researched it and, yeah, I’ve become an expert. Because we want to change the world, we gather high-quality evidence of outcomes, present to conferences, publish books and articles, use social media, join networks and bang the drum for radical inclusion in heritage. The key strategic friend for this cross-sectoral work is the Culture Health and Wellbeing Alliance, and we have been well supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic England and the Heritage Alliance. Case studies of best practice in this field can be found in our report for the Baring Foundation published in November 2021, Creatively Minded and Heritage. 2 I leave you with the words of a participant in Burgh Castle Almanac, from the evaluation by Willis Newson. 3
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=