Supporting the health and well-being of local residents is core to Platt Hall's future identity. Throughout this exploratory phase, we are testing how both the building and its collections can be a resource for social prescribing programmes in the surrounding wards of Rusholme, Moss Side and Fallowfield.
Social prescribing connects people with a wide range of community-based activities and support. It helps people to improve their health and wellbeing, based on “what matters to me” conversations and a personalised care plan. This could include creative activities such as art, dance, and singing. It could be walking, gardening, knitting groups. Or it might be services such as debt counselling and other practical support agencies. It depends on what each person’s own priorities are." |
We're working with a range of partners including charities and the Robert Darbishire GP Practice to trial a range of activities, from talking and making events to volunteering and making better use of the park, in order to impact positively on local residents' health and well-being.
Throughout the Covid pandemic, we've been running a series of online Collection Chats with patients and clients from Robert Darbishire, Women’s Voice and Manchester Rape Crisis. We're now expanding this programme, trialling walk-and-talks in the park with participants from the Ethnic Health Forum and Talk English, using the Platt Hall in the Park trail. Other ideas in development, that have emerged from partnership work to date, include creative making activities and a gardening project in the grounds of the Hall. We'll post more information about these here as they develop. |
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It was time to stop and engage with people in a different way. Looking at the objects brought up some powerful feelings and conversations. I felt a renewed passion for the power of art to make us think and see the world through someone else's eyes." It was a really refreshing experience in this stressful pandemic situation. Through this zoom meeting I had a chance to know something unique and interesting which I never thought I could learn in our normal life routine. I really enjoyed it." We were really buzzing when we left the session, and want to go to the park again. Simple vocabulary worked really well, looking at colours, everyday objects and adjectives." |
Things we have learnt so far:
Platt Hall is just one organisation within a wider network supporting local residents' health and well-being. Health providers, charities, community enterprises and grassroots collectives are all very active in this area. So it's as much about joining up the dots, working out how we work together and where Platt Hall fits within this jigsaw, both now and in the future.
The collections, and the Hall itself, have a unique role to play within social prescribing. Objects have an extraordinary capacity to shape the conversation, to provide a safe space for connection and togetherness. They provide a powerful mediator which has allowed people to talk openly and joyfully, noticing, making connections, and learning together.
The pandemic has been a challenging time for people’s mental health and we hope these short interventions help people to feel supported and connected with others. We're working with partners to develop an understanding of the impact of this programme, which will feed into future developments. And, as well as being a useful resource for people during the pandemic, we're also encouraging participants to feed into the future plans for the Hall. This is all part of making Platt Hall a welcoming and inclusive space which enhances well-being, both now and in the future.
Platt Hall is just one organisation within a wider network supporting local residents' health and well-being. Health providers, charities, community enterprises and grassroots collectives are all very active in this area. So it's as much about joining up the dots, working out how we work together and where Platt Hall fits within this jigsaw, both now and in the future.
The collections, and the Hall itself, have a unique role to play within social prescribing. Objects have an extraordinary capacity to shape the conversation, to provide a safe space for connection and togetherness. They provide a powerful mediator which has allowed people to talk openly and joyfully, noticing, making connections, and learning together.
The pandemic has been a challenging time for people’s mental health and we hope these short interventions help people to feel supported and connected with others. We're working with partners to develop an understanding of the impact of this programme, which will feed into future developments. And, as well as being a useful resource for people during the pandemic, we're also encouraging participants to feed into the future plans for the Hall. This is all part of making Platt Hall a welcoming and inclusive space which enhances well-being, both now and in the future.
I am hugely excited about working in partnership with the team at Platt Hall for the benefit of our patients and our communities. We recognise that we need to support our patients in different ways. We recognise the powerful impact that art can have on well-being and our hope is that through joint working we will help people to stay well, recover faster, manage long-term conditions and experience a better quality of life.
We have already been privileged to hear moving personal accounts from local residents who have experienced improvements in their own health and well-being from engagement with the Hall. Public spaces like this one play a vital role in the life of our patients and we want play a part in re-connecting Platt Hall with its local vibrant communities, creating a space both inside and out that makes everyone feel welcome.
Platt Hall will provide opportunities for engagement, for reflection, for connection, to learn about each other, opportunities to meet and to create much needed local attachments. We hope that our partnership work will add to the evolving evidence on arts, health well-being and that it will help to develop the case that is already being made, that we should support people to create their own health.”
Victoria Tolliday, Clinical Director RDP Clinical Network, Robert Darbishire Practice Limited, Rusholme Health Centre
