How I Got Involved With Radiate Arts

Me During True Colours sewing workshop modelling a shirt by Alex

My name is Tim; I first became aware of Radiate Arts when I was participating in a creative recovery program at The Spider Project in Chester- a community-based space for people experiencing psychological distress.

One of the activities I enjoyed at The Spider Project was Mindful Art. This was a weekly activity where we worked on an art project. I quickly discovered that carrying out a creative task freed up my brain from over-thinking and put me in a relaxed and contented state of mind.

The program lasted for 3 months, during which I realised that creating art in a group with an art therapist was giving me huge benefits. I wanted to continue the activity once my time on the creative recovery program had finished. Luckily, the staff at The Spider Project found Radiate Arts as an alternative organisation in Chester offering art therapy.

I was really happy to have an outlet for my creativity and joined Radiate Art’s art therapy sessions on a Wednesday morning. This was led by a trainee art therapist with a group of other people and each week we had a different art project to experience.

A big part of the benefit of an art group is socialising with others. For me, this is as important as creating the art. Having had a mental health crisis and it turning my life upside down, left me feeling isolated and mixing with other, like-minded people has definitely helped with this.

I have attended other workshops at Radiate Arts, including True Colours Friday sewing and art journalling. These have all been meaningful for me and given me an insight into Radiate Arts, so much so that I decided to volunteer.

I help with admin and social media in an office environment. This is giving me the opportunity to get back into a working environment after having to leave a career due to ill health. I have learnt new skills in social media posting and used new platforms which I previously had no experience of.

I also volunteer at Radiate Arts on a Thursday afternoon helping with a workshop for Live! Cheshire; a group for disabled adults. This is super rewarding as I help people to make art, an activity I know first hand is very beneficial to wellbeing.

For me personally, getting involved with Radiate Arts has been a very valuable and satisfying experience. Initially it got me out of the house and reduced the isolation I was experiencing, it gave me focus through the art therapy workshops and an outlet to focus my mind on a wellbeing activity.

Later in my journey of recovery I wanted to have purpose in my life that focused on helping others and which was not revolved around finding a paid job, so I looked for a volunteering job on Cheshire West Voluntary Action https://cwva.org.uk/ and found Radiate Arts was looking for someone to help with some admin work.

So that’s my story with how I got involved with Radiate Arts, I hope it inspires you to take part in a workshop or activity and get more involved through volunteering. Remember getting involved helps Radiate Arts, but it also helps you.