Needlework gives hope to prisoners

Listening to BBC Radio 4's Midweek programme on the way into work this morning I heard a fascinating interview with Katy Emck, the executive director of Fine Cell Work, a charity which teaches embroidery to prisoners and sells their work. The inmates are all taught by volunteers from the Embroiderers Guild, the Royal School of Needlework and the world of professional design. The prisoners do the work when they are locked in their cells, and the earnings can be saved or sent to their children and families, used to pay debts or for accommodation upon release. Taking a tour round their website reveals plenty of evidence for the power of occupation to create meaning and purpose, restore hope and optimism for the future and to provide skills for life both as a hobby and as a way of earning money on release. Take the story of William Trotter, for example. He started doing Fine Cell Work and earning money and then was moved to another prison where there wasn't a FCW instructor. He had taken along a half completed piece of work and his new companions quickly got over their initial suspicions about doing such an apparently female activity when they heard how much money could be earned. William contacted FCW and asked for an instructor but there wasn't one available to go to the new prison so William became the instructor himself and apparently kept up the incredibly high standards demanded by the work. An anonymous prisoner from HMP Maidstone writes in detail about his experiences: I'm a life-serving prisoner and for years I have been trying to escape. I have tried numerous cell hobbies which promptly ended up discarded in the corner of the cell as so much rubbish. Due to depression, most of the time I've been unwashed, unshaven, teeth not cleaned, hair not combed, as often as not my cell has been dirty and stinking. I've had no possessions, nobody to love me, just hanging onto a futile, empty and miserable existence. Every night I've asked God to have mercy on me and not to make me endure another day. I've wept and I asked why I was in this world, I am good for nothing, no money, no family and with no-one I could go to for help. I just couldn't understand why I should go on living. Then something happened to me. I was lying in my cell one evening when a bloke came in and asked if I can help him. I didn't know the fella, but he had helped me with cigarettes and cigarette papers and teabags. He explained how he'd broken his glasses and needed to finish a pattern he was sewing for the in-cell charity course. Although I class myself as being very butch and sewing so very feminine, I figured I owed him, so I agreed to help him finish his work. He showed me what it was I had to do, I made him promise not to tell anybody and I hid I in a cupboard in my cell. About nine o'clock I got it out and started sewing. Before I knew where I was they started unlocking us for breakfast, a whole night had come and gone with no thoughts of suicide, and no tears of melancholy. I promptly joined the class as it offered me the escape I'd been looking for. Talk about surprise when I found out they were wanting to pay me for the finished article. I've bought a weight-lifting belt, a radio, and I'm currently saving to buy a tracksuit set and trainers. I am at present sewing a mat 6 feet long and 3 feet wide and they are going to give me £120 on completion. The hope, the self-respect and pride. I am no longer dirty and smelly, I'm quite respectable, my self-worth has been restored and I feel extremely good at the thought that I am helping someone else as well as myself. How good it is to be alive, to feel that I am accomplishing something and my life has real meaning. Nobody really enjoys an aimless life, a life without purpose, do they? Around the world millions of people are working hard and trying to find happiness in living. Do take a look at the website and look at the beautiful work the inmates produce. One of the interesting services they offer is the Tapestry Finishing Service for those of us with good intentions but poor completion! If you want to buy a special present for someone, keep them in mind - the prices are extraordinarily reasonable considering the work that goes into the pieces. I found the whole project fascinating from an occupational perspective - as another inmate says: It opens up another world, one that in many ways is long-forgotten. It is reinventing the craftsmanship of yesteryear. Then there is the pride and usefulness in seeing something of beauty come together, and the thought that my and my friends' cell work will bring pleasure, now and hopefully long into the future, to the recipient. It allows us to once again do and start something new and be useful. Inmate, HMP Wandsworth

Doing chores is good for you!

A recent study on 302 older adults published in the Journal of American Medical Association has shown that carrying out activities of daily living on a regular basis will extend a person's life chances. Apparently the amount of energy required and expended is enough to provide health benefits in older people in a similar way that younger and middle-aged adults benefit from regular exercise. Do you think this might have anything at all do with women living longer than men? :-) Thanks to Michael Deen of the University of Queensland for the link via the Occsci mailing list.

Blog against Disablism

Here is a link to the full list of participants in the Blog Against Disablism Day set up and organised by disabled blogger The Goldfish.

Football

Football plays a huge part of many people's lives in the UK either as participant or observer and often both. I have to confess that for many years I couldn't see the attraction of the game and as none of my friends seemed interested in it I had no opportunity to develop understanding or interest. However, I have recently been forced to reconsider this sport as my daughter is now training in an under-12s team and I have also been going to Conference South matches to see my friend's son playing. Surprise, surprise I really enjoy myself! Better late than never is all I can say in my defence. I will leave it up to others to draw out the benefits of involvement in football as a player or supporter but I did find some interesting links to stories that show that many people are aware of the power of this occupation so please read and comment (while I slink away in shame at my ignorance ;-) First is a story about football being used to improve health, self-esteem and social skills in young boys Second an article about the blind football league And last an article about young people learning about football and health at Aston Villa So why do you think football promotes health and wellbeing?

Knitters of the world, unite!

There has been a knitting revival in the affluent West. If you doubt this just type 'knitting' into Google and see how many entries are found (23,500,000 the last time I did it). Recently I came across this site organising the 2006 Knitting Olympics (linked to the Winter Olympics). Yes, that really is nearly 4000 people (knitting 'athletes') from around the world entering. What is awesome is that it isn't an official event, it's just something organised by some knitting bloggers who thought it might be fun. What has given rise to this craze? Well apparently some Hollywood film star was spotted knitting and everyone wanted to join in. Frankly I don't believe this - I suspect they were the one jumping on the bandwagon, not wanting to look old fashioned and out of touch. A more interesting question perhaps is why so many people (of both sexes) are spending time on this traditional pastime when most of us could pop down to a shop and find a jumper or scarf in virtually any pattern, colour, style and price we could want? The inevitable answer seems to be that people want to do it and want to continue doing it. But why? To those of us interested in occupation, the reasons are because there are possibilities inherent in the occupation of knitting which engage people. Talking about the therapeutic benefits of craftwork have become unfashionable in some occupational therapy circles but movements like this knitting revival remind us the danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. So what are the possibilities in knitting? It provides a combination of process (doing the knitting) and end product. The process involves different levels of complexity. So you can start with an easy item, easy stitches, one colour, a comfortable size needle and type of yarn and gradually work your way up to making Torino, the ultimate Knitting Olympics challenge . The end product can be practical, beautiful, worn, admired, given away, treasured... It requires both physical and cognitive skills, but because the process can be simple or complex, it is accessible to a wide range of people. It involves choice (and we humans do like to be able to choose for ourselves). There is an almost endless choice of yarn types, colours, patterns and types of finished product. It involves creativity. Apart from the choices mentioned above, one can alter a pattern or create a new one. It can be a social activity; witness the rise of knitting groups around the UK What else do you think makes knitting so popular?

Finnish playground therapy

On the BBC Today Programme this morning there was a report about the use of playground activities to improve health and well-being in older adults. Apparently a study has shown great improvements in the participants' health and mobility through regular use of playground equipment. The great thing is that the participants used normal playgrounds alongside children. Finland boasts that it is family-friendly and this initiative certainly seems to bear that out. All ages are encouraged to use a playground together as a family activity and Finnish playground equipment manufacturers are providing extra-strong ("for use by all ages") equipment. There was a great visual image created in my mind by the newscaster's description of two old ladies being bounced high in the air on a seesaw - I could hear them giggling in the background. In terms of occupation, this is much more natural than isolated exercise and movement. It draws on previous experiences, engages the whole body and takes place in a normal environment. It promotes social inclusion by strengthening family and community participation. Thanks to Julie b. for the links to the story and research.