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Rowan Alba brings Mental Health Arts Festival event to Spaces

We held an evening event exploring wellbeing through art at Spaces Edinburgh

Visitors were able to feel first-hand what the symptoms of ARBD feel like

Growing support from within our community

Created with support from The Alliance, as part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival led by the Mental Health Foundation, this special event was a chance to bring people together for an evening of interactive, multi-sensory experiences. Through these activities, we explored how art can offer comfort to people with lived experience of social isolation and Alcohol Related Brain Damage (ARBD), while also challenging stigma around alcohol and addiction.

Gallery of images from our Spaces event

Tools that are a real asset

Our team member Kris Hillquist has created a suite of multimedia assets that volunteers can use when supporting their clients to try new experiences and join our groups. Designed around accessibility and challenging commonly-held fears, these tools guide and comfort in a calm and informative way.

Crafts and creativity also play a valuable role in making tools that support self-management. A long-time community member makes stress ball key rings designed to help others get through difficult times in a healthy way. Simple, compassionate ideas that can make a real difference to people struggling with life’s challenges.

Kris Hillquist presents the multimedia assets they created to support our self-management programme

A growing community with creativity at it’s heart

We would like to thank everyone involved in this special evening and look forward to continuing to build on our Self-Management programme. It was a great chance to share some of the, incredible creativity at the heart of our community and to highlight the partnerships that make it all possible.

If you’d like to know more about our arts-based wellbeing programs, please get in touch with our Community Lead, Tracey Stewart by writing an email to tracey.stewart@rowanalba.org

To find out more about our Self-Mangement programme, have a look at our Community Self-Management project page.

A crochet stress ball made by a community member to help other

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