THEORIES ON COMMUNITY, OCCUPATIONAL AND CREATIVE INTERVENTION

To gain the in depth information that I will need to make 'PROJECT X' a success I needed to dig deep into the theories behind the use of creative intervention in society, communities and especially the demographic that I will be targeting which is at risk youth individuals being effected or are being effected by knife crime and gang violence.

The subject of knife crime and gang violence has many root causes and factors that span over many socioeconomic factors such as austerity, poverty, the war of drugs and far more phycological factors such as peer pressure, lack of family figures etc. which all boil up together and have created this disease on society which is killing and destroying many lives.

(Further research on the subjects above will be posted here and in my final project).

For now, I have started to research creative intervention to try and tackle mental health issues and various other issues such as just coming out of prison and struggling to re integrate themselves in society after a long time in prison etc. As well as this I have also been researching into community intervention and the many theories and pathways that one can go down to tackle a certain problem.

"Creative Interventions for Health is a project which aims to

improve health for excluded and vulnerable groups through

participation in the arts."

Creative intervention

Often consisting of elements of art and craft using mind and body, Being experienced as meaningful, Creating creative processes, Developing skills, enhancing occupational performance and managing everyday life, and Being easy to modify individually or in groups with different approaches.

Creative intervention is a method of therapy that is used to help individuals with various mental or physical problems such as depression and addiction for example. Enjoying the creative arts has huge benefits for individuals that are struggling with factors of reality that are effecting them, the arts is a form of expression and escapism where they may not be any. It is also used for people who are in prison and acts as a extra curriculum class but more importantly for the inmate, it is a way of escaping the reality of prison and enjoying a hobby and learning new skills and things that they may not know about themselves.

In East end of Glasgow a creative intervention programme was founded in 2006 to try and tackle various issues that derive from mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, addiction etc. The study found very positive results from the use of various art workshops:

Creative Interventions has developed a high quality standard in its delivery of art tuition which has resulted in participants developing their creativity and producing a good standard of art work. Quality artistic practice is a core value for Creative Interventions, and is ensured through using two artists for each programme who are well qualified and experienced in the field to deliver a programme which supports individual participants in their creative development, through choosing the form of art which is appropriate for needs of the various groups. The workshops have been a mixture of participant led, in being very client centred, but also artist led, in that they provided a structure for creative development.

The artistic development demonstrated by participants consisted of increase in skills, confidence to experiment and take risks and develop individual expression and production of art works of a high standard, some of which have been sold. The degree of engagement of the participants generally increased as the workshops progressed and was unexpectedly high for mental health service users. There was some evidence of the increase in confidence and degree of engagement leading to participants continuing with their art work at home or in other classes. The participants in the study wanted to continue the process they had started.

Creative Interventions has increased access to arts activity in terms of a high standard of art tuition and the arts in general for vulnerable groups who would not normally be in contact with arts education. Trips to the art galleries and use of art books stimulated creative development and broadened participants’ perceptions of art. The artists felt supported by Creative Interventions and the support workers being present in the groups, which meant that there was not a strong pressure for artists to assume a counselling role. The artists tended to be isolated from other groups within Creative Interventions and lacked knowledge of the broader picture. This was exacerbated by there usually being only a small number of projects running concurrently and the short term nature of the projects allowing little time for collaboration.

The establishment of the pilot projects has been very successful in the range of groups worked with in health service and community settings and the innovative work that has been developed. There have been some challenges relating to attendance, achieving necessary levels of preparation with partners in setting up the programmes and technical support with the computer based graphic novel group.

My main points of interest in this study are:

• The need for the creative workshop/classes/intervention need to be high quality for people to feel like it has importance and for them to build a stronger connection with it.

• The high quality creative art sessions show a greater client interest than any other intervention for mental health.

• Clients felt more confident, felt better about taking risks and further developing their skills to enhance their quality of work.

• The need for high quality, experienced leaders of the class was vital to deliver the standard of work that made the clients more interested and invested in the classes.

For my 'PROJECT X' I always knew I needed to make sure the level of quality that it delivers will be pivitol in its short and long term success and for that to be doable I will be needing to work with industry professionals to ensure this standard is met.

Why would anyone want to go to a creative work shop that looks, sounds and feels rubbish and delivers a sub par final project? This cannot happen.

"Theories are important for anyone who is trying to bring about

social change."

As well as creative intervention and the possibilities that arise from it, I wanted to look into how community based interaction can be used to create social change. Due to a community being so diverse in many ways, age, gender, race, financial and health positions, gaining a better idea of theories behind community intervention was important.

Ecological theory

This theory was created by James Kelly (1966) who was one of the founders in the field of community phycology. The ecological theory sets a framework for how a community works and how intervention in different ways will effect the community for good or indeed bad, a specific problem has a specific solution.

Interdependence theory

The principle of interdependence helps us understand that any change in one component of a system can effect changes in other components of the system as well, creating a domino effect. The concept of interdependence is central to the theory and practice of Community Psychology because it helps individuals to recognise that everything is interconnected.

An example of 'interdependence in a community' was also given:

Interdependace in the community is one of the main factors in which I believe 'PROJECT X' can do tremendous good for society. By investing in the community and help individuals (young individuals) of the same community we can then nurture the positive seeds that will be planted and hopefully watch it grow larger and larger until not just one community is being helped but every community in England.

The case study above is very interesting as it backs up my idea for 'PROJECT X' in the fact that it is bringing facilities and opportunities to a space where there isn't and because of this the community can then come together and learn skills, create products and a huge successful project that can then be reinvested into the very community that help build it.

Cycling of resources

Cycling of resources refers to the process of how communities identify, incorporate, and use different types of resources that exist within their communities. Resources can be skills and expertise, information, networks of social support, access to supplies or equipment, and socialization processes that either deter bias (i.e., gender or racial) or provide events (e.g., celebrations) for social and cultural cohesion. Using this principle, psychologists might either uncover existing competencies in a setting or match individuals with the settings that provide the resources they need

An example of 'cycling of recourses in a community' was also given:

The case study above is a perfect example of what 'PROJECT X' is trying to do, invest in the roots of the community, the youth, and give them the tools and recourses to prosper in hope to create a domino effect in the decrease in crime in various areas such as knife crime deaths and individuals wanting or having to join a gang - Make them want to join 'PROJECT X' and create a career instead.

"An effort to better understand the natural interplay between

individuals and their social contexts."

Social climate theory

Social climate theory helps to understand how people adapt to their social environment and how contexts adapt to people. Social climate taps three main dimensions of how people perceive: 1) how a setting organises their perceptions of social relationships, 2) how they are being supported in their personal development, and 3) how the setting handles the maintenance of norms and supports change processes. From a psychological measurement perspective, the social climate is very much related to indicators of individual well-being.

This theory is very relevant to 'PROJECT X' as the problem that it is trying to help is an issue that can be said to be because of discrimination, racism and classism. For this theory to be practical in the sense of using it in my project I will need to research into the said reasons as to why knife crime and gang violence is such a problem in certain demographics and from this I can then gain a larger more detailed picture into how 'PROJECT X' can put in place plans and objectives that make

change to society socially and politically.

Liberation theory

Liberation Psychology (or psicología de la liberación) is based on a more critical perspective that acknowledges the role of power and the ongoing battle for resources.

Praxis can be thought of as a tool for acquiring knowledge and transforming oppressive realities involving a conscious integration of theory and practice to make theory more grounded in reality (Montero & Sonn, 2009). Dialectics is a philosophy of praxis emphasizing that knowledge is not created unless acquired through a method of mediated social discourse. In other words, we develop knowledge about the world and simultaneously work to bring about change. Dialogue needs to occur between power holders and the oppressed to raise the consciousness of all to understand the meaning of oppressive actions (see Chapter 17; Olson et al., 2019). This raised awareness of conditions challenges the status quo and may create a desire for those in power to be more humane. Ultimately, the hope is for the encouragement of a rethinking of problems “with and from, the oppressed; with a commitment to unveil and characterize conditions of oppression and exploitation suffered by large sectors of the population” (Montero & Sonn, 2009; p. 31).

The theory of liberation is far more broad but still very true and very relevant, we must understand that in our society even in the UK funding and recourses are NOT allocated evenly across the population. Cuts in youth services, intervention programmes, schooling and even just in the general area are known issues that have helped create the knife crime pandemic - We must address it and come up with a strong, fast action solution to at least help slow it down and cut it out of our society.

https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/theories/

https://www.nhsggc.org.uk/media/226240/Evaluation%20of%20creative%20interventions_Final%20Report.pdf