The Alchemy Project

CO-PRODUCTION ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT IN 2015

The Alchemy Project:•Dance United Yorkshire (DUY)•Cultural Utilities and Enterprises (CUE)•SLaM - Early Intervention Services in Psychosis: STEP: Southwark Team for Early Intervention in Psychosis. LEO: Lambeth Early Onset Service. LEIS: Lewisham Early Intervention Service. COAST: Early Intervention Service for Croydon. OASIS: Outreach and Support South London

•SLaM - Head of Arts Strategy•Optimity Matrix - independent evaluation organisation •Dr Matthew Taylor of King’s College, London - Expert Consultant

Contemporary dance as part of an integrated recovery model for young adults accessing early intervention in psychosis services within the South London and Maudsley Foundation Trust (SLaM)

Participants referred work intensively on a full-time basis over a period of four-weeks

PILOT PROJECT SeaBreeze in 2013 worked with 16 individuals and culminated in a series of performances that took place in an informal studio setting at Jerwood Space in London

ACTION RESEARCH PROJECTThe Alchemy Project delivered two interventions in 2015 each of which concluded with the performance of the choreography ‘El Camino’ specially commissioned in 2014

Over two separate periods of 4-weeks the project team involving healthcare professionals worked with two different groups of 18 individuals (including peer mentors) referred to early intervention in psychosis services through SLaM

The final performances took place at The Shaw Theatre in March 2015 and at the Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadler’s Wells Theatre in July 2015 for an invited audience of arts professionals, healthcare workers, commissioners, students, and friends and families of the participants

SLaM - Early Intervention in Psychosis Teams identified three key problems

Patients: (1)often feel isolated and struggle with interpersonal relationships

(2) struggle with their body awareness and physical fitness and this has a negative impact on their overall levels of confidence

(3) find it hard to get up in the morning and to maintain energy and optimism, with a liability to over-focus on their condition and worry about the future

Referred by frontline clinical staff

Positive Affect: raised motivation, energy and optimism

Positive Functioning:improved embodied confidence

Satisfying Interpersonal Relationships:greater satisfaction in interpersonal

relationships

Sharing a healthy lunch and snacks Trust exercisesLearning a 15-minute

piece of choreography

Young adults aged 18 – 35 with an early diagnosis of a mental health condition

Inputting own material into choreography via creative

tasks

Learning dance technique in daily

class

Resilience: having energy for and

commitment to the dance project and

being able to overcome challenges and

obstacles along the way

Stillness and bodily control:

showing observable moments of stillness, bodily

control and mastery of movement

Communication skills: communicating effectively

when interacting during classes and rehearsals

Being part of a performing dance company in which all members learn and perform

choreography in order to produce a high-quality artistic result

Taster sessions

Three performances of a 15-minute dance piece to invited audiences

Being part of a performing dance company in which all members must interact effectively to produce a high-quality artistic result.

Being part of a performing dance company and attending every day and overcoming obstacles and challenges in order to produce a high-quality artistic result.

Level of trust : being able to trust and be trusted by others

Symbolic expression: expressing ideas and feelings through expressive movement

Level of optimism:believing in their capacity to achieve a high quality dance performance

Working as part of a team: negotiating group solutions to dance challenges that require co-operation and timing

team-building activities

Care Coordinators noted the very high levels of attendance, particularly given the full-time nature of the commitment and the levels of engagement it demanded

“There are so many other clients to whom I would like to offer this project, so many people with whom we are "stuck" that we don't quite know what will help them take that next step towards recovery. Too often I feel we go down the more coercive routes when this happens, rather than seeing if projects like [The Alchemy Project] could make a difference”

Ann Bessell, Social Worker STEP Team

The research has revealed that the dance intervention acts as a powerful catalyst for the recovery of mental health in service users

Intervention effectivenessKey factor 1

It does not define participants by their illness or their deficits and instead provides a focus, structure and process that enables them to work beyond the typical lived experience of this constituency and challenge their expectations of themselves

Intervention effectivenessKey factor 2

The physical activity of dancing addresses symptoms of mental health illness and/or medication such as apathy, lethargy, and lack of motivation and rebalances the mind-body relationship

Intervention effectivenessKey factor 3

It creates social and physical connection between individuals and counteracts the feelings of isolation and fragmentation characteristic of populations with mental health problems

The research has demonstrated that the dance methodology at the heart of the intervention in the early stages of psychosis delivers clinically significant results in the well-being of participants: increases in their Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being scale (WEMWBS) scores

In the words of Dr Matthew Taylor, “Very impressive”

Average: 46.753.4 (+6.7)

Averages:

Cohort 147.1 -> 55.0 (+7.9)

Cohort 251.3 -> 55.0 (+3.7)

Other measures: stars

Communication skills

Resilience

Concentration and Focus

Level of trust in others

Working with othersas part of a team

Other measures: quality of life

• EQ-5D:– standard measure, NICE-recommended

• Cohort 1 0.82 -> 0.92

• Cohort 2 0.82 -> 0.85

• Substantial wellbeing improvements– Three cohorts

• Improvements in other measures– Communication skills, Resilience, Concentration

and Focus, Level of trust in others, Working with others as part of a team

• Improvements in Quality of Life

For further information about The Alchemy Project please contact: carly@duy.org.uk

gwenvs@thealchemyproject.co.ukDr Lauren Gavaghan Blog:

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/discoverpsychiatry/blogzone/thealchemyproject.aspx