Happiness is Athas
New Creative Arts Therapies Project
People in the midlands with a sensory, physical, intellectual, emotional or mental health disability will benefit from the Áthas project which delivers art, music, drama and dance-movement therapies on an outreach basis.
Services Programme until April 2009 by the Department of Justice, Equality & Law Reform, Áthas is a pilot recently established by the Mountmellick Development Association in collaboration with a wide range of partners, including NCBI.
The Áthas project delivers art, music, drama and dance-movement therapies on an outreach basis to people in the midlands with a sensory, physical, intellectual, emotional or mental health disability.
Social inclusion for people with disabilities
The project was originally inspired by the work of the Mountmellick Development Association’s disability awareness group which was set up in 2003 to look at issues such as access and exchange of information. Through this forum the need to source funding for a project that would promote social inclusion for people with disabilities was identified.
Describing the pilot, Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Áthas Manager, said: “Creative arts therapies are the intentional use of the arts to engage ones self-expression. This is not art learning, this is self-learning. The goals are therapeutic and not artistic. By increasing well-being for people with disabilities, we hope to improve the person’s quality of life and afford them better opportunities to participate fully in the community”.
Tailored programmes for each client or group
All Áthas therapists are accredited professionals with clinician experience who deliver tailored programmes for each client or group. Sessions do not take the form of art–teaching exercises but instead focus on the process of creation and the triangular relationship between therapist, client and invoked image rather than the end result or the acquirement of skills.
Dramatherapist Olive Whelan describes her programmes as ‘a form of counselling that involves all forms of the creative arts including movement, voice work, body language and speech. It is the systematic use of drama and theatre to achieve psychological growth and change’.
Services are free to clients
Currently, services are available to both groups and individuals and the project facilitates enquiries from both self-referring individuals and healthcare organisations. Áthas works with a team of 10 therapists to deliver services to over 60 clients in 12 different locations throughout the midlands. At present, services are free to clients.
Benefits to the client vary widely depending on the initial reason for referral but typically would include raised self-confidence, feelings of empowerment and better freedom of self-expression.
For further information, please contact Mary Cawley in NCBI’s Laois office on Tel: 057 8660191
Áthas is a partnership project between The Mountmellick Development Association and MDA Social Inclusion, NCBI, Disability Federation of Ireland, Irish Wheelchair Association, Health Service Executive, Midland Employment Support Agency, Midland Arts (Westmeath VEC), Laois County Council, Laois Sports Partnership, Sisters of Charity of Jesus & Mary, Laois VEC and Gandon Logistics.