Following their selection as a finalist in the most recent national Health Service Excellence Awards, the HSE has marked the achievement of the Co. Wexford based recovery and mental health awareness programme.
Supported by the Wexford Mental Health Association, the HSE and Waterford Wexford Education and Training Board, the “Discover/Recover Theatre Project” is a co-produced, evidence based, cross-sector arts, health and education programme, working to promote recovery, mental health literacy, early recognition and intervention.
A consequent live drama piece was co-created, enabling the sharing of the learnings from the project participants’ experiences. An accompanying workshop was co-produced to amplify the projects educational potential- informed by best practice in recovery education and suicide prevention.
The Health Service Excellence Awards aim to encourage and inspire people to develop better health services. The awards also promote shared learning for other teams through the award winner’s success stories. Developed as a health promotion and improvement initiative, the “Discover/Recover Theatre Project” was a finalist in the Awards’ “Right Care, Right Time, Right Place” category.
On Tuesday 24th September in the Wexford Arts Centre, two performances of “A Face in the Crowd” (produced and directed by Jim Roche) were presented to audiences by the Discover Recover Theatre Project.
The opportunity to engage with both the performance and the follow-up mental health-focused workshops was made possible with the support of the Adult Literacy for Life (ALL) Collaboration and Innovation Fund, which supports a more inclusive and equal society.
Following the second performance in the Wexford Arts Centre, the group were presented with a certificate to acknowledge their citation in the Health Service Excellence Awards by Derval Howley (Head of Service/Health and Wellbeing, HSE/South East Community Healthcare) and Anne Donaghey (Head of Service/Mental Health, HSE/South East Community Healthcare).
The Discover Recover Theatre Project was made possible by the generosity of a group of individuals, all from Co. Wexford, who came together back in 2015. Working in co-production with Occupational Therapists Paula Lowney and Mairead Connaughton, this courageous group of individuals shared the stories of their individual experiences, with encompassing themes of mental health challenges, life, suicide and recovery. The threads of these stories were then woven into the live drama piece by playwright Niall O’Muiri experienced in the Wexford Arts Centre.
Up to 200 individuals of all ages and from a wide variety of community organisations, from all over Co. Wexford had the opportunity to engage with the project as a result of the ALL Collaboration and Innovation Funding and support from those including the Rosslare Women’s Group, Kiltealy Men’s Shed, Youthreach New Ross, National Learning Network – Swan Training Centre, Windmill Therapeutic Centre, Wexford Working Men’s Group, Southend Family Resource Centre, Youthreach Wexford, Youth Train Wexford, Sanctuary Café at Red Books, Ballymore/Mayglass Men’s Shed and Ramsgrange Men’s Shed.
Speaking after the performances of “A Face in the Crowd” in the Wexford Arts Centre, Imelda Dempsey (Operations Manager, Wexford Mental Health Association) said:
“It is wonderful that this amazing project is being acknowledged for figuring in the 2023 HSE Excellence Awards, having been picked out for citation by a selection panel. We feel that the project is a very worthy recipient, as we believe that the project is exceptional. On behalf of the Wexford Mental Health Association, we would like to acknowledge the project steering group including Jim Roche, Paula Lowney (HSE), Mairead Connaughton (HSE), Niall O’ Muiri, Tracy Nugent (Regional Office for Suicide Prevention, HSE) and Gina Delaney (Mental Health Ireland) and to all at the HSE for their continued support of this project. A special thanks is also due to our wonderful actors and our sponsors over the years, who have made all our performances possible. We hope that this collaboration can continued over the next number of years and we look forward to supporting this project in the future.”
