Posted on: 24 October 2024
Over the last year, Harrow Mental Health Services has been working in collaboration with Finding Rhythms, a music creation charity, to re-write the way we engage with young Black men in our services. Led by Dr Shona Herron, Clinical Psychologist, three 12-weeks projects have now been completed with a total of 27 men taking part to create albums of original music.
Finding Rhythms are a music-making charity who provide professional musicians and record producers to deliver projects alongside NHS staff. Each project allows participants to experience the transformative power of music, through working together to create their own album of professionally mixed and mastered music, from scratch. All aspects of music creation are done by the participants including; choosing genres, producing beats, writing and developing lyrics, creating album concepts and deciding on album artwork.
This process has been clinically underpinned by ideas from Narrative Therapy, where the stories or narratives that exist about us are seen as deeply important to our sense of identity and agency. Young Black men in society face a multitude of racist and limiting narratives about them – and this project aimed to allow young men to come together to write their own stories. Creating a safe space, with music as a means of expression, allowed these men to talk about harmful narratives about themselves, and to forge new identities, expressing how they would like to see themselves and their futures.
Over the last year, three projects have now taken place, resulting in three complete albums which are now live on Band Camp and Spotify. Each album was launched at a Celebration Event where the men were joined by family, friends and members of their care team to recognise their hard work and achievements.
These projects specifically aimed to work with young Black men in Harrow who have had repeated inpatient admissions or contact with crisis and secondary mental health services, and who may have encountered restrictive or harmful practices as a result of systemic imbalances in our services. Feedback from these men has been outstanding, with 58% reporting improvements in wellbeing, 75% reporting improved feelings about themselves, and 92% reporting improved feelings of belonging and safety over the course of the group.
Data is also starting to show the impact on mental health admission rates for these participants, with rates of admissions dropping from 15 the year before the project began, to only 6 admissions for these men since the projects started in September 2023. Instead, many of the men who took part in the project are now engaged in employment and training, having used the Finding Rhythms project as a spring-board into other opportunities having gained confidence and skills.
One participant said,
“If I am being real, I was able to express my emotions. No matter what I had going on, I could come into the group every week and express myself. And it felt okay. It felt safe to do that.”
Another project member said, “I have gained confidence, and increased my creative ability. Since the group I have had the confidence to start applying for part-time work. Since the group, I go out more. I have been paying more attention to my appearance”.
While these three projects are now complete, the hope is that with such incredible feedback, funding can now be secured to continue delivering collaborative therapeutic projects in this way. By delivering these projects, Harrow teams are learning how to work creatively and flexibly to meet the needs of our communities who we may typically have struggled to engage. And also learning that when we pass the mic – our young men have a lot they want to say!
Check out the three albums, Hotter Than Water, Every Effort Counts and Creative Energy on Bandcamp and Spotify now!