#32: The Final Intervention: ‘Meaning Making’ Print Workshop

On 24th October 2022 I travelled to Hastings once again to run a workshop for the charity Care For The Carers. This was arranged with James Baker who runs the mental health team, he was a stakeholder that I met on my first intervention at Hastings Library back in November last year.

Care For The Carers is an independent charity in East Sussex that supports people who care for someone. They provide advice and help and they also arrange events that are designed to foster social support groups among carers in the community. James was really impressed with my project when he saw last year it and he asked if I would come and run a workshop with one of his groups. It was a great opportunity to test the project with people who might have more reason than most for a means to manage their mental wellbeing

Intervention Aims:
I wanted to do some practical work with people using the archetypes and symbols, I wanted to observe close up how people use them and see if they are able to identify any meaningful symbols that bring them comfort or guidance. I wanted to explore this through the means of a practical craft workshop, I remembered that my first interventions, the paper flower making workshops in summer 2021, revealed that when people are using their hands they find it easier to reflect. I would like to incorporate a craft workshop into the project in the future so this was a chance to test it out.

Stakeholders:
There were a total of 6 participants in the workshop, four of them were the carers, women aged between 60-80, there was one little girl aged 7 who was James’ daughter Phoebe, James assisted her and partook in the workshop himself.

Process:
I started by introducing the ideas behind the project and explained that each person was going to create a Lino print of a symbol that is particularly meaningful for them. I then introduced the participants to my collection of archetype books and invited them to browse and get some ideas for what symbol they might choose.
Once everyone had an idea I then took them through the stages of designing their Lino print. They drew it onto paper, transferred the image onto Lino which they then carved out using a cutting tool.
Finally each person then used ink to print an image of their symbol which they left to dry before taking them away with them.
At the end of the workshop we reflected as a group and I also asked the participants to fill out evaluation questionnaires.

Research Methods:
I realise that nearly all of my data so far has been qualitative in the form of stakeholder feedback. So I also wanted to use this intervention to explore other methods of research in case it is showing something I might be missing. I also wanted to try and empirically measure the effect the workshop has on wellbeing.

So I did some research on how to measure wellbeing and I also contacted Jennifer Walmsley, a stakeholder from another previous intervention, who measures wellbeing for her Community Interest Company. From this I produced a Theory of Change for the intervention, which is a guide that helps me to achieve a positive shift in the wellbeing of my participants.

I used the guidance that was given to me by Jenny to devise an evaluation questionnaire to measure how my participants think about the meaning they find in their lives.

I included an opportunity to gather qualitative data by getting my participants to write down their thoughts after the workshop and I also used some audio recording.

Key questions to guide data collection:
1: Does the process aid self reflection?
2: Are people able to find a symbol that brings them meaning?
3: Does the process precipitate any change in perspective within the participants? Particularly regarding the utility of symbols?

Feedback:
The participants reported that they enjoyed the workshop and thought it was better than they were expecting it to be. In a post workshop discussion one person said that the exercise deepened their appreciation of the depth that can be found in symbols.

“I enjoyed the workshop today, it was a lot more than it thought it would be and it was very organised and helpful with making the choice and why I chose what I did.”

“Relaxing and focused! Interesting to consider the value of symbols – something to think about more maybe.”

“I enjoyed the workshop, [I found it] much more enjoyable, interesting and useful than I thought I would. It was very well organised and presented.”

[I liked] the thought and preparation put into the workshop. Looking through the books and reading the cards was thought provoking. I enjoyed the social aspect.”

Reflections:

• The participants were particularly interested in the archetype books, they were excited to take some of the cards away with them.

• They seemed to enjoy the craft activity, I think some people were impressed with what they had done, a couple of them mentioned that it had been years since they had drawn anything.

• The group were not what I would describe as my ‘key users’. The age range was incredibly vast and I don’t think anyone was quite used to this kind of direct self reflection. However despite this, there was some signs that they took to the reflection exercise well.

• Without the setting of a sacred space I felt a bit like the project had gone back a step, the workshop overall was successful but it seemed to me that without that context the interaction became quite cerebral and not the kind of fully immersive sacred experience that I have found can really move people.

• However it was a good first attempt at how a workshop might go and I was glad to see that it can still resonate with people outside of a sacred setting.

• The empirical data in my evaluation questionnaire showed that in contrast to my original assumptions the carers do actually have plenty of meaning in their lives, none of them describe their mental health as generally poor and none of them expressed a strong desire to find more meaning in their lives.

My Learning:

• This process could certainly be a key part of the project, but it needs some kind of context in order to really resonate with people and provoke meaningful change. In the future I would bring along more of an environment for people to be in, a set and setting that would help them feel they have crossed a threshold into a scared space.

• The process might be more evocative with a storytelling element that would create an atmosphere and set a tone for reflection.

• In the future I would include a craft option that is more friendly for young people to do on their own. Phoebe needed a lot of supervision which meant that James was not able to create a Lino print for himself.

• My use of empirical data was not of much use, in the future I would give people a questionnaire to complete both before and after the workshop, that way I can measure any change in their responses that might have occurred as a result of the process.

Next Steps…

Now the time for interventions has ended. The past few weeks I have been diving back into research as I am now finding lots of interconnected avenues of enquiry that are really helping me to gain a deeper understanding of my project and why I am doing it. I am particularly excited about some connecting ideas across the areas of psychology, the philosophy and neuroscience of consciousness, the science of storytelling and the study of belief. In light of this research, looking back at the steps I have taken I can start to see a cohesive thread that ties them together.

But now the time for reflection and evaluation has come, I am preparing my first draft of my evaluative report and gathering my findings in a cohesive story to present my research project as the MA comes to a close.