Mindful Makers reduces social isolation and builds emotional resilience and wellness via a trusted support network where people benefit from mindfulness and a shared enjoyment of creative activities.
Description
Mindful Makers supports Health and Wellbeing in the Three Towns. Our mantra is ‘Be Kind to Your Mind’ (see Descriptive Image attached), and we will build on our successful previous projects (see Document 1 attached, Saltcoats Mindful Makers Report July 2023). We are a non-registered not-for-profit group and are applying for funding to continue teaching and nurturing creative textile skills in the context of mindfulness and social connection. Our aim is to combat loneliness, so we bring people together in a positive and safe environment while building confidence through the acquisition and practice of new skills. We also aim to enhance emotional resilience, by encouraging and challenging people to adapt to new techniques; for instance, in August we explored how being outdoors in nature can heighten the stress-reducing benefits of mindfulness, and the success of this exercise meant that we intend to repeat it annually. To meet the increased demand for Mindful Makers activities over this past year we doubled engagement opportunities for participants who come from all across the Three Towns. Please see the Box below for a description of how we organise our activities. Funding goes to the provision of materials, and workshops and tutoring are provided free of charge to ensure there is no financial barrier to participation amongst vulnerable and/or disadvantaged communities (see Document 2 attached for a few examples of Mindful Makers activities). Mindful Makers will provide a warm welcome throughout the winter at Saltcoats Library, and through our outreach work at CLASP HOPE in Stevenston, while a link has been established for outreach work in Ardrossan where we plan to hold an Introductory Workshop at the Library in January 2024. Additional activities already planned for the next few months include: A further 6-week outreach textile project at CLASP HOPE in Stevenston starting on 19 September; we will be supporting the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival in October by holding an extended workshop focussing on the benefits of mindfulness and shared experiences for mental well-being, and also involve Saltcoats Book Group using carefully selected reading materials; we will support a collaborative community fund-raising event in conjunction with CLASP HOPE in October where we will sell items produced using participants’ new skills to raise additional funds to support our sustainability. Through a link with Ardrossan Castle Heritage Society made at the North Ayrshire Participatory Budgeting and Chit Chat event we are proposing to hold a field trip as the basis for a creative project.
We are applying for funding of £600, to reflect the enormously increased costs of materials in recent months and our greater number of participants. £550 will be for materials, and £50 for awareness-raising and hand-outs.
Location: Mindful Makers is organised by four volunteers who use their own skills to meet the group’s aims. Attendance at our meetings is open to all. Mindful Makers works on a four-week rota of weekly events which take place at Saltcoats Library with the kind support of the librarians. Every four weeks we hold a tutored workshop in a new textile skill ranging, for instance, from Kantha embroidery to fabric creation. Saltcoats Book Group, also taking place every four weeks, has been incorporated into the Mindful Makers network because participants recognised the benefits of reading within a supportive and safe network of trusted peers. Encouraging people to bring their crafts to Book Group discussions has increased membership. In the two intervening weeks we hold new and very well attended drop-in sessions where people can foster interpersonal relationships while continuing to progress their individual creative projects. We have set up a Mindful Makers WhatsApp Group. This is used for admin purposes but has also taken on increased significance as a widely used means of peer support and social connection.
Most voted