We are delighted to announce that the Arkbound Foundation has been awarded funding from the National Lottery for its upcoming project: “Power of the Pen: Mental Health & Covid-19“.
The project is dedicated to reaching out to vulnerable individuals and traditionally hard to reach groups in Scotland who have found their mental health exacerbated by the social isolation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The aim of this project is to help individuals tackle these issues through a series of workshops and creative writing courses. Participants in the project will have been through difficult circumstances, not just because of the pandemic, but also due to the various cultural, social and financial challenges the last year has created which have had direct and indirect negative impacts on their emotional and psychological well-being.
Mike Findlay, Chair of Trustees, comments:
‘The pandemic has had a profound impact on the mental health and well-being of many of us. Many people are frustrated, their thoughts and feelings are suppressed, and some are experiencing extreme loneliness and isolation.
Through our mental health project, we are aiming to give people an outlet to tell their stories and build their resilience. The ability to write and capture your feelings authentically on paper can be therapeutic but it can also build a sense of community – people recognise they are not alone in their experiences and feelings. Our hope is that this project will capture the imagination of many who have come through hardship during the pandemic, giving hope that there is life on the other side.
We are very grateful to the National Lottery Community Fund for making this project possible’.
This is a very innovative and ground-breaking project, which will be exemplary of how we can use writing to confront and remedy mental health issues, and one which has huge potential to grow throughout Scotland.
The National Lottery’s support will enable the charity to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach, and the impact it will make on people who need it most, and thus demonstrate a vivid platform for rehabilitation and revival during the pandemic.
Mike Findlay continues: ‘We know there is hidden talent and people bursting with creativity – who knows where this project might lead to and what creativity and potential it can unleash? We believe everyone deserves a right to write and have the views heard. BAME and other hard to reach groups often struggle to get published and this is also an area that we are working on.
Arkbound is very much seeing this project as a pilot and one that we will roll out nationally also. We would welcome funding partners and supporters to help make this happen.’
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For further information, please get in touch with mike@arkfound.org or waltraud@arkfound.org