Stage of Mind

HAIL are delighted to take be the mental health partners in Stage of Mind, a two-year project funded by EU Erasmus+ to counter the stigma and social exclusion experienced by adults experiencing enduring mental health difficulties.

In Stage of Mind we do this through active participation in a series of workshops culminating in the production of a piece of musical theatre. The overall aim of the workshops is to support mental health recovery. Through the workshops we aim to improve the participants’ motor skills and physical fitness, memory, problem solving and create a community with a sense of belonging.

The project is taking place across three countries, Spain, Greece and Ireland and is based on a partnership between a mental health service provider and an arts organisation in each country.  Smashing Times are HAILs arts partner in Ireland. Smashing Times bring with them a long track record of producing rights based and socially inclusive theatre as well as a longstanding involvement in similar trans-European projects. Together we will deliver a programme of workshops and performances for and with people with long term mental health difficulties.

In HAIL, the Stage of Mind project is led by our Peer Support Volunteers and our Mental Health Recovery Coordinator. Within the Stage of Mind project, HAIL Peer Support Volunteers use their lived experience of mental health difficulties and recovery to codesign, coproduce and codeliver workshops and performances. Through this process our PSVs support others along their recovery journey. By becoming part of this project, we hope that participants have the chance to expand their comfort zone in a supportive environment, meet new people, see things in a new way and create something new and exciting together.

If you are interested in learning more or getting involved in the workshops, please contact HAILs Mental Health Recovery Coordinator, Naoise Cunningham at naoise@hail.ie