#behindthemask in Blackburn

Posted by on Jan 23, 2018 in Uncategorized | No Comments

A quick update on the exciting developments on this special project we are delivering in Blackburn with Darwen.

The project is being supported by Wajid Bashir and his Community Restart Team at BwD Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Over the past 6 months we have met and worked with 15 local women through partnership work with two local agencies:

One group is supported by Shahaida Zulfiqar – this group is made up of women in their mid 40s to 70s. It is an emotional well being / mental health group. The women are all Muslim but have different ‘cultural’ backgrounds .. coming to the UK as young women from e.g. Pakistan, South India and parts of Africa.

The other group runs at the Wish Centre – this group has been recruited with support from Wish Centre staff and Wajid’s team. It is a wonderfully diverse group representing a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, age groups and life-experiences.

Over the next few months we will be bringing all of these women together – for joint / shared sessional work, a creative exhibition of their work, and to present their experiences of the project at a Psychology Conference, supported by the School of Health, Science and Technology at University Centre, Blackburn College. All very exciting!

The Exhibition
This is a great opportunity for our groups and all our partners to showcase the amazing work we have done together over the course of the project. The women will speak at the launch event, and sing and read some of the creative writing they have produced. From past experience, we believe the women will find great satisfaction and pride at how far they have come in a relatively short space of time and at what they have been able to achieve.

Exhibition starts on Friday 9th March 2018 (time TBC) the venue will be BBC Radio Lancashire.

BBC Radio Lancashire will be on air to celebrate the launch with us!

On Friday 23rd March our groups will take part in a ‘live’ workshop session at the studios, with BBC Radio Lancashire presenters joining in with the women on a range of activities. This session will be pre-advertised by the station and women from across BwD will be invited to come and join us to celebrate the positive #behindthemask message of cooperation and togetherness.

#behindthemask is supported with funding from Big Lottery through Awards for All!