What did you do to create inclusive practice and how did you do it?
Converge offers educational opportunities to local adults who experience mental ill health. Commissioned artists, university staff and university students teach our courses and support those who participate. Converge now runs over forty courses, including art, music, dance and creative writing, as well as a theatre company (Out of Character) and a choir (Communitas). Within its first 14 years, more than 1,200 adults with mental health problems have completed its courses. We have achieved a 81.33% retention rate and 74.83% attendance. Over 20 people have progressed from Converge to the university’s undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Our work is evaluated up by a Research and Evaluation team comprising over 80% people with personal experience of mental ill health, and by an external group of evaluators funded by Research England.
Why did you implement your example of inclusive practice?
A mental health diagnosis and its stigma can overshadow and over-define an adult’s identity, and with opportunities being limited to ‘getting better’, an individual can become limited in terms of what they think of their potential, risking forever remaining a ‘patient’ or ‘sufferer’, contained to medical environments. However, Converge presents the opposite of this, inviting adults into the socially valued community of a university as a ‘student’ or ‘artist’, in correctly resourced teaching environments, where the focus is on the learning of a discipline rather than the mental health problem. Through this approach, participants make connections with others, learn new skills, redefine their identity and overall grow in confidence and self-esteem. These are all contributing factors to the recovery process of mental ill health. We have a track record of supporting our participants to progress onto college courses and university programmes, as well as securing both paid and voluntary work.
For the past three years, we have been expanding our reach and impact beyond the university campus and into the wider community of York, carving pathways for adults who access mental health services to realise their full potential through education. We currently work in partnership with the local mental health hospital, offering a pathway for people upon discharge and holding regular exhibitions. We also offer taster courses at the local mental health crisis centre. We work closely with social prescribers to connect adults with mental health problems to learning opportunities at the campus and in mainstream establishments in the city (such as theatre, galleries and museums). Our participants are supported to participate and progress by ‘The Discovery Hub’, a team of mental health professionals and peer-support workers, seconded from the NHS and based at the university
What has been the impact of your case study?
Findings from the participant strand of our current, Research England-funded evaluation of Converge (running 2020-22) point to the following recurrent themes: • Sense of community – Converge participants talk about going from being isolated and feeling alone to being part of a colourful and creative community that accepts them for who they are, at whatever stage of their journey.
• Feelings of belonging – linked to experiences of community, Converge participants talk about finding a sense of belonging within Converge; for many, this is the first time they have felt that they really belong to a place, as people struggling with their mental health can often feel on the margins and uncomfortable being a part of something.
• Letting go of stigma and prejudice – the identity of being a Converge participant, as opposed to a ‘mental health service user’ (often the identity that people feel they have before coming to Converge), can allow people to let go of internalised stigma they have been holding about themselves; their work on their courses and getting to know a wide range of people, including university students, allows them to move away from stigma, even when it is projected onto them by others (participants discuss not being as ‘bothered’ by what others think of them).
• Sense of being of value and part of the university – being a Converge participant at York St John University gives participants a sense of importance and significance; they feel at home at the university, and enjoy being able to spend time in beautiful surroundings on campus, as well as using university facilities like the library, study spaces and cafes. Indeed, lots of participants discuss the differences between the university campus and mental health services’ buildings and atmospheres.
• Confidence, self-worth and self-esteem – Converge participants talk about realising that they can be that creative person that they imagine, and even go so far as saying that they find they are able to do, and excel at, the things that scare them. Many Converge participants look back on how they felt before beginning their courses and talk about how much more they believe in and value themselves now, and how much more confident they feel in themselves and about their abilities and relationships.
• Opportunities to be creative and develop skills – in interviews, many Converge participants talk about creativity having been something that was lacking from their life, despite many of them feeling like naturally creative people; they also share memories of creativity earlier on in their lives, before they became unwell. Converge allows people to nurture and develop the creative sides of themselves, and everyone interviewed has shared how much joy they feel from these opportunities.
What were the lessons learned?
Universities are places of hope and aspiration and our aim, over nearly 15 years, has been to open that up to those whose prospects have been damaged by severe mental ill health. Converge is based on a convergence of interests of a university and mental health service providers/users, in which both benefit from learning together. This programme has been extended to Northumbria university, and offers an approach that could be rolled out to other universities.