Inside Out Sessions

Art – Gemma Berridge/ Joel Wilde
(Monday a.m.)

This is an energetic session that has now been split into two simultaneous groups due to its popularity. The staff are skilled in art techniques and the ideas used are varied. There is an emphasis on allowing users to create their own work with a minimal level of assistance in a social and fun environment. Being the first session after the weekend, spirits are often high and we listen to music and chat amongst the group while producing some work people can be really proud of. 

Food Skills - Steve Day
(Monday p.m.)

With this session we try to stay away from the usual cookery format of making fairy buns and rice crispy cakes.
Instead we try and introduce cookery skills and ideas on healthy eating that the session users can take away with them and use at home.
There is a focus also on getting people to try things they have never tasted before as there is a notable trend for the people we work with, especially those who live in group homes, to have repetitive and unadventurous diets.
We can only decide on what we like and the things we can choose based on the range of things we have experience of and we feel it is of great importance to increase this scope with the people we work with.
This is a session that people really look forward to and has quickly grown. The session users are encouraged to take ownership of the content and we always end with a discussion on what will be the next things we make.

Music - Barrie Haigh
(Tuesday a.m.)

Primarily the ethos behind the music session is to encourage people out of their shells to a point of self expression through the use of musical instrument based games. By utilising the space and privacy we have we are able to create a safe and sometimes intimate environment where people can bang a drum as loud as they want to a point of ear bursting disruption or tilt a rain stick to mimic a single drop of rain on a cow’s nose in a Norwegian Fjord. Certain activities in our music session are designed to encourage and empower our clients where they feel a strong sense of control and self awareness. On the other hand some activities are designed to encourage and illustrate the importance of listening, listening to listening as a means of analysing recorded music i.e. songs, song styles, feel, emotional response, country of origin etc.

Hear My Song – Justin Sheppy
(Tuesday a.m.)

This session is designed to take a smaller group of service users and expose them to different sounds, ideas and musical processes that they have not encountered before personally and that we do not really explore in the larger music group. We are using the recording studio that we have on site to facilitate this. At the moment we are playing musical instruments that you would find in a typical rock band, ie the electric guitar, the bass guitar, keyboard, drum kit and vocals through a microphone.
The ultimate aim of this project is to write and record some songs written by the group and give them a CD so that they can take away something tangible from the group as well as enjoying the process of making music. As we are writing our own music we are also looking at rhythm, rhyme and song writing to try and develop these skills. 

Drama - Barrie Haigh
(Tuesday p.m.)

Our drama session is geared towards building peoples confidence and breaking down their inhibitions to a point of almost forgetting their disability, social status or even personal worries. I have seen a wheelchair user fly around the room pretending to be an eagle with such conviction and self belief that it was difficult to move onto the next activity.
This is a very physical session where sweat is a requirement from both service users and even more so from staff. The 1:1 carers that bring clients to the session from outside Burton Street enjoy the session so much that they have now become a dynamic of the session in their own right.
Having illustrated the physicality of the drama session there is some respite towards the end where concentration and listening skills are the key objectives. This is achieved through circle based group games.

Basic Skills - Steve Day
(Wednesday a.m.)

The title basic skills is a little misleading in some ways as this is not an academic based or accredited session.
The focus is to inform and challenge in a way some people are rarely faced with and the focus is on what the session users want and need to know about rather than a pre-determined set of supposedly essential skills. We look at knowledge that is intended to be useful or enriching in the lives our users actually live rather than going over the contents of old and tedious school textbooks.
This doesn’t mean we refuse to engage in dealing with literacy and numeracy but it will be embedded into topics that make it more relevant and entertaining for everyone involved.
There is a deliberately high staff ratio employed for this session to ensure the extremely varied levels of comprehension people have for different topics are all catered for adequately, and everyone can benefit from the chosen task even if it is in very different ways.
This session is also use to teach and practice Makaton signing to reinforce Burton Street as a Makaton friendly site.

Writing Group - Alison Howard
(Wednesday a.m.)

This is a small group which is a sub-group of the larger basic skills session. It supports a selected group of clients in focussing specifically on some aspects of writing. This is mainly to do with practicing forming letters, recognising letters, increasing vocabulary and generally gaining confidence in everyday literacy.
The group works on these aspects with the help of fun worksheets, practising in handwriting books and alphabet flashcards. Makaton is used to reinforce letter recognition.
We also write poems on a chosen theme with all the group members contributing relevant words. We also talk about words in given categories beginning with the letter we are focussing on. We also look at rhyming words.
As the group develops, we hope to play more games such as alphabet snap or word dominoes and to do more word searches and word games.

Dance Your Socks Off- Zoe Jenkinson

(Wednesday p.m.)

This is a fun energetic session. The focus of the session is to encourage clients to express themselves through dance and movement. We hope the benefits of this are to get everyone moving and exercising in a non judgemental environment.
We begin the session with a warm up to get everyone moving around and after a while we start to introduce games. These games we play all have a focus on dancing and were chosen to ensure that everyone can get involved no matter what their ability level is. We use games such as musical statues, makaton dancing, mirror dancing and also use props such as dressing up clothes to add a different element to the session. The session is very social and helps to build confidence. The activities are varied to hold the interest of clients and keep the level of energy up. Above all it is a fun session, especially for clients who love to dance but are unable to access social events or have difficulty expressing themselves freely in public.

Discussion Group – Dannielle Creamer
(Thursday p.m.)

Discussion group was developed from the idea of an advocacy group. The main function of the group is that discussions will come from the group members and topics are strictly confidential between them. This is so that self confidence and self esteem can be developed in a safe and protective environment.
Topics can range from Eastenders, snogging and farting to politics.

The group members enjoy the session because they feel open to discuss their feelings and emotions freely and it all becomes a barrel of laughs!

Out and About group. - Steve Day
(Friday a.m.)

The name of this session was changed from just ‘walking group’ so as to include excursions to places of interest a little further afield, using various modes of transport as well as leg power!
The focus of the session is social, as well as the fitness element of going for a good walk. The staff’s main role in this session is to engage the session users in conversation on their terms, find out about them and just generally interact with them in an open manner. It is often surprising how much we learn about some of our users in a single morning and it is tangible how some of them look forward to this opportunity to get something off their chest or just laugh and joke with the staff members.
The group walk straight from Burton Street, take public transport and now have the use of Community Transport mini busses to access parks and attractions around the city.

Relaxation Art- Alison Howard
(Friday p.m.)

This is a small quiet group, the perfect end to a busy week. However, we do listen to the radio or CDs and have been known to get quite jolly and dance around! It all depends on the group members moods.
The activities are kept as relaxed as possible and adapted to individual member’s abilities and interests in order to engage and challenge them without causing them any stress.
Drawing and painting have proved to be the most relaxing activities, possibly because it allows complete freedom of expression.
The group have experimented with making pictures with different textures and ways of painting such as thickened paints, wax and watercolour pictures and printing.
Recently the group have been making pictures by rubbing foil over layers of cardboard and faces that stand out of the paper using papier mache techniques.
The group is well established and bonded but is also friendly and very welcoming to new members.

Sport - Steve Day
(Friday p.m.)

The Friday afternoon sport session is the perfect wind down for the week. The staff love it as much as those taking part.
It remains light hearted at all times but that doesn’t mean we have any interest in preventing peoples competitive nature from flourishing. It is actually valued and nurtured responsibly as a rare opportunity for people to really let go.
The time comprises of some gym time lead by the gym manager, some practise time with ball skills etc finished with a competitive game in sports such as basketball, football, cricket, and volleyball.
Everyone ends up laughing and sweaty in equal measure not realising that they have learned ball skills, improved their fitness, confidence and their team working skills.
Has to be seen to be believed!