HEALING THROUGH PLAY
What began as a grassroots creative program has evolved to become an important national service, due to the initiative of two community-minded friends.
When Jane* received a ukulele in the mail, she didn’t expect the instrument to help fast-track her recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Yet within just a few weeks, the former first responder had noticed the positive impact of creative practice on her mental health.
This improvement was the result of ReMind: Creativity on Prescription, an evidence-based, return-to-life programme that uses creative practices to help support, maintain and assist with mental health recovery and wellbeing. ReMind is one of the core programs available through MakeShift, an education and support agency, and the brainchild of Caitlin Marshall and Lizzie Rose.
“We wanted to create a platform for people to come together based on shared interests rather than shared problems,” explains Caitlin, who has a professional background in social work, and community services and development, working predominantly with notfor-profit organisations.
A ‘shared interest’ is exactly how Caitlin and Lizzie came to meet in the first place. New to the area, Caitlin met Lizzie’s partner through work, who then invited her to join a casual singing group that caught up weekly in a friend’s back shed. Talent wasn’t a prerequisite. Just enthusiasm. And when Caitlin met Lizzie, between rousing choruses no doubt, the mutual enthusiasm was clear.
After about a year of pipedream conversations, Caitlin and Lizzie launched Wild Rumpus in 2013. Originally a grassroots programme in the Illawarra, on the NSW south coast, Wild Rumpus facilitated various creative workshops run by locals, for locals.
When GPs began referring patients to Wild Rumpus classes, Caitlin and Lizzie, who has a background in sustainability and adult education, began to consider the wider potential. “Even after just one class, people felt a renewed sense of identity, a renewed sense of belonging and social connection, and their levels of anxiety toned down, even if it was just for a couple of hours,” says Caitlin. “So, that really planted the seed for what has now become MakeShift.”
Although the pandemic forced the face-to-face programme to shift to an online model last year, the transition was already in play. The July 2020 switch doubled as the official changeover from Wild Rumpus to MakeShift. The evolution also allowed the service to go national.
Through all its programmes, MakeShift incorporates social, playful practices to foster re-connection. Activities include music (which explains the ukulele), art, movement, cooking, and gardening, and programmes are designed for participants to experience the full gamut. Open to anyone in Australia, the eight-week ReMind program includes a Creative First Aid Kit of materials, which is sent to participants in readiness for the first session.
For Jane, who endured unthinkable trauma across 21 years as a first responder, the experience helped her to rediscover a love of art, an activity she has stuck with since completing the programme.
“I had no idea how positive an impact the programme would have on my mental health,” she says. “Being creative takes you away from everything. Your mind is at peace, you feel calm and you don’t feel anxious, shaky or hyper-aroused. You’re not thinking about any bad experiences you’ve had, you’re living in the moment.”
Research supports play as a powerful medium for working with both children and adults with complex trauma. A comprehensive review of relevant materials published between 1995 and 2007 – a collaboration between Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and the Harvard School of Public Health – found that music, visual art, movement and writing helped promote healing.
Caitlin is quick to point out MakeShift programs are not run by therapists, but rather experts in each creative field, known as ‘creative facilitators’. Therefore, the programmes are not the same as ‘art therapy’. Nor are the benefits of creative play limited to those with trauma. A 2016 study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology, conducted on a large sample of adults, supported “everyday creativity as a means of cultivating positive psychological functioning.” It is one of many studies to do so.
Adds Lizzie: “It’s just a reminder that engaging in things that bring us joy and pleasure are really important parts of the human experience and are really a vital antidote to despair and to uncertainty.”
ReMind has recently been bolstered by a government grant as part of icare Foundation’s WorkUp fund. The grant helps MakeShift deliver ReMind to people who are on workers’ compensation due to psychological injury. The majority of these participants so far have been first responders.
Other courses under the MakeShift umbrella include: Mental Health First Aid, designed to arm participants with the tools to support those with mental health challenges; Press Play, a four-week version of ReMind; and Lunch Break, one-hour lunchtime sessions to support workplace wellbeing.
Meanwhile, MakeShift was a finalist in the 2021 Social Prescribing Network Awards for Best International Social Prescribing Scheme.
Having seen the rewards of the MakeShift ethos, Caitlin and Lizzie hope to eventually see creative practice more widely recognised and valued as an integral piece of the community health puzzle in Australia. Or, as Lizzie puts it, they’re ready for “a disruption to the system.” makeshift.org.au
VISIT MiNDFOOD.COM
Former fashion photographer Russ Flatt now processes his grief and trauma through deeply personal photography. mindfood.com/trauma-photography