TRK’s Elevate project delivered a 24-week Creative Writing class and a series of 18 Singing for Health workshops at their premises in Loughbrickland. The project was facilitated by two artists and benefitted 40 people. The Creative Writing class produced a book of stories at the end to showcase the work, while the Singing for Health project finished with a celebratory performance.
The Elevate Mentoring Programme helped TRK staff gain knowledge about the effect which health inequalities has on the whole person. The training provided space for them to reflect with other mentee organisations on the social determinants of health and how these are relevant for people they work with. Mentoring enabled this to be explored at a deeper level with sessions focusing on how to best collectivise and use the voices of their participants.
Gaining knowledge about community development really has had very positive impacts for the organisation and has increased their confidence in addressing health inequalities through a community development approach.
The Elevate project had tangible benefits for the people TRK work with. There was a significant improvement in the social wellbeing of participants, with people benefitting from the new connections and friendships that formed because of the creative classes. This has resulted in reduced isolation and an improvement in self-esteem. The solo performances have also increased participants’ confidence. Through the creative writing classes, people were able to share their lived experiences which was very positive and enabled them to tell their own story in their own way.
Most significantly, there is better connectedness to TRK more generally. This is best evidenced by the other services that participants have since signed up for. Increasing participation and harnessing this community empowerment is their next step as an organisation.
"Through Elevate, we have a greater awareness of the social and health inequalities that exist in our community and with the mentoring help, we were able to develop some existing workshops to reach other vulnerable, lonely and marginalised people in our community."
Sharon Brown, The Right Key
