A group of 15 of us – past Good Vibrations participants from various different projects in prisons, probation and with NEET young people, plus some Good Vibrations team members and a couple of willing volunters who’d NEVER played gamelan before – spent 1.5 hours working together, using the Good Vibrations approach, to create a short set of 3 pieces from scratch, which we then performed in front of a large and appreciative audience at the Koestler Exhibition Opening Day at the Southbank! (picture Brian Benson/Koestler Trust)
We’ve just seen the feedback from guys at Whatton Prison 2 weeks ago (and also learnt that all but two of them have done the work necessary to attain an OCN Teamworking Skills Level 1 qualification!):
“There’s nothing to look forward to in prison – apart from your release date. If you have one. This has been something to look forward to.”
“A real mix of ages – it’s great that older guys have gelled with much younger ones. This prison is divided pretty much into age groups. This is a rare opportunity to mix.”
“It’s confidence building. I did it last year, and after that I did IT and a first tier certificate in that. That was definitely because of this [GV]”
“Listening skills – when others are playing you have to really listen to them.”
“We’ve worked as a team. For example, when choosing song names, we have to do this diplomatically and showing respect for others’ ideas.”
“A sense of achievement”
“My teamworking with Prison Officers is not good – now I’ve done this I’m going to see if I can apply it. I think I can see them now as human beings, as just people that I can get on with.”
“Outside this room, stress levels are high. Inside here, less.
[will having done GV help with stress levels on the wings?]
Yes, definitely. I can stick on the CD, think about the music, it calms me down… “[general agreement]
“It’s a chance to exercise skills we’ve learnt on Offending Behaviour Courses – there’s not much chance otherwise.
[what kind of skills have you had the chance to practice?]
working as a team, dealing with other people, keeping calm and listening.” [general agreement]
“We didn’t know each other before, on the whole. The bonds we have formed with each other will continue on the wings.”
“Yes, in March [when I did GV last time] I made some friends and afterwards we would say hello when we saw each other. It gives you common grounds to talk about, a shared experience.”
“Prison damages self-esteem. To be able to accomplish something is very positive. The positive appreciation and feedback [we have experienced] is important.”
“It’s nice for the governors to see me doing something positive. I feel I’ve been seen in a positive light for a change.”
“For all prisoners, the experience in prison is one of negativity. We lose our identity, our self-esteem. There are elements of humiliation and degradation in prison. All aspects of GV – communication, mutual support – are usually trampled on in prison. Here [in the project] they are enthusiastically encouraged. This really lifts you as a person, as a human being. I’ve been inside for 4 years and this is missing from prison. If communication and teamworking are encouraged more, if people feel like human beings, this creates more positive environment for people to learn. “
“This week has reminded me of how I was before: listening, working alongside other people, being part of something. Like real life. Like I used to be in society. It reminded me of that. It brought back ways of being that Id forgotten about.”
“I’ve felt like a human being. Here you’re seen as an individual not as “an offender”. Here we are “musicians”!”
“There’s a sense of normality here.”
“When I get out, I’m definitely going to carry on with gamelan.”
“Maslow’s hierarchy of needs says that everyone needs to feel like they belong to something. This is what GV and you guys do.”
The Koestler Trust annual exhibition of art by prisoners etc, curated this year by Mercury Award winning rap artist Speech Debelle, opens next week at the Southbank. Public opening day on Tuesday 24 September from 10am. A Good Vibrations group will perform on the Ballroom Floor of the Royal Festival Hall at 130pm – come and say hello!
A fantastic four days full to the brim with fascinating speakers and inspiring practical workshops! The Sharing Good Vibrations event, being hosted by Southbank Centre from 17-20 October to mark 10 years of Good Vibrations, is shaping up to be an unmissable event for anyone interested in arts/prisons/human potential (and of course we’re interested in all 3!). View the programme online here. Book tickets on the Southbank website here. Don’t forget, join the Friends of Good Vibrations scheme now and get 50% off your ticket to Sharing Good Vibrations!
We’ve set up a new scheme, the Friends of Good Vibrations, to enable individual supporters of our work to give a modest donation every month, either through a Stading Order or BT MyDonate.
It’s easy to join and set up monthly donations, and in return for this support we will email Friends occasional updates about our work and invitations to our projects and special events.
As a special Introductory Offer, anyone joining the Friends scheme before 15th September 2013 will get the chance to attend our 10th Anniversary Sharing Good Vibrations conference at the Southbank Centre (from 17 to 20 October) for half price! (day tickets from £75).
Excellent first course at HMP Pentonville last week, working with VPs (Vulnerable Prisoners). VPs are kept separately from other prisoners, for their own safety, and therefore have far fewer opportunities to engage in positive group activities. Sample feedback from guys completing the course:
– This has got us out of our cell for 4 hours a day and it’s given us something to learn
– There are people here on this course that I have never spoken with before [even though they are on the same landing]
– There were people here who were really locked away in themselves who you can see this has really brought them out of themselves
– Because of the wing we are on we are not allowed to take part in the vast majority of education. This past week’s course was an opportunity to get out of the cell. I would do anything to keep occupied, once I was here I genuinely forgot where I was at varying moments, this has given me the strength to get through the rest of my sentence.
– There is a general feeling of injustice because we are treated differently and at a lower level to the other prisoners.
– transformative, [liked the] cultural aspect
– Opened us up to each other
– I suffer from depression and self-harm, since I started this course I haven’t self harmed once. It’s been really therapeutic. I’ve also had the opportunity to build relationships with other people on my wing now, which will help me to feel less alone.
– Some of the things we talked about this week, we don’t get the chance to discuss on the wing
– This has got us out of our cell for 4 hours a day and it’s given us something to learn
– There are people here on this course that I have never spoken with before [even though they are on the same landing]
– There were people here who were really locked away in themselves who you can see this has really brought them out of themselves
– Because of the wing we are on we are not allowed to take part in the vast majority of education. This past week’s course was an opportunity to get out of the cell. I would do anything to keep occupied, once I was here I genuinely forgot where I was at varying moments, this has given me the strength to get through the rest of my sentence.
– There is a general feeling of injustice because we are treated differently and at a lower level to the other prisoners.
– transformative, [liked the] cultural aspect
– Opened us up to each other
– I suffer from depression and self-harm, since I started this course I haven’t self harmed once. It’s been really therapeutic. I’ve also had the opportunity to build relationships with other people on my wing now, which will help me to feel less alone.
– Some of the things we talked about this week, we don’t get the chance to discuss on the wing
Prison staff involved were also very positive, and they provided consistently positive, thoughtful and well-organised support for our course, which we are always grateful for!
Join us for four days of workshops, presentations, debates and performances as we highlight the creative, important and inspiring work done with gamelan (and other artforms) in criminal justice and the community.
Over the four days of events we will be exploring three main themes:
• The psychological and social benefits of gamelan and other artforms.
• The realities and challenges of running arts projects in criminal-justice settings.
• The practicalities of facilitating gamelan workshops and other arts with challenging client groups, and celebrating the art created.
The event is of benefit to anybody interested in the role of arts in reducing reoffending and in generating wider social benefits, for example:
• prison governors
• prison staff responsible for organising arts activities
• prison education providers
• those working in secure hospitals and other secure settings
• probation and YOI services
Confirmed speakers include:
• Nick Hardwick (Chief Inspector of Prisons)
• Michael Spurr (Chief Executive of the Prison Service)
• Professor Alison Liebling (Cambridge University’s Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice)
• Alan Davey (Chief Executive of Arts Council England)
• plus prison governors, officers and leading arts-in-criminal-justice organisations
To book tickets and for more information about the content of the days go to the Southbank website. Download an e-flyer here.
Tickets:
One Day Pass (for 17, 18, 19 or 20 October): £150 (£75 concessions)
Joint Pass for Thursday 17 & Friday 18 October: £280
Joint Pass for Saturday 19 & Sunday 20 October: £280
Four-Day Pass (17 – 20 October): £390
Bursaries covering up to 100% of ticket costs are available from Good Vibrations to enable people to attend who cannot otherwise afford it. Prison staff with very limited training budgets are particularly encouraged to apply for these. For more info email: info@good-vibrations.org.uk with ‘Sharing Good Vibrations Bursaries’ in the subject header and giving your name, job title, prison name/organisation and which day or days you would like to attend.
Lots of exciting news on the fundraising front! Recently we have received notification of the following grants and donations: a two year grant from Arts Council England of £39,000 each year; a grant from Youth Music of £50,000 towards our work with young offenders; £10,000 from the Network for Social Change towards our work in prisons and similar settings, £10,000 from the Northmoor Trust towards our frontline costs; and £1000 from Bill Bailey/Duet from March Mahler College at Wellington College. Enormous thanks to all of them, and to everyone that supports our work financially. We couldn’t do this without you!
Very positive feedback last week from men and staff at Lincoln Prison. Recently the subject of an unfavourable report by the inspectorate, the prison is putting in place many new measures to ensure a decent and rehabilitative regime, including booking Good Vibrations for the first time!
“I’m usually a solitary person. And in here it’s usually dog eat dog. With this, there’s been lads off different wings, we’ve been mixing. That doesn’t usually happen in here.”
“I’ve got a bond with people that I don’t normally talk to. On the wing we just walk past people every single day. But now I’ve got into conversations about gamelan: “what are you doing in the chapel every day?” and I’ve been telling people. And some are interested, and some aren’t. But it’s got me talking to people I’ve never talked to before.”
“I’ve learnt about being patient with others, listening to what others have got to say and finding common ground.”
“It’s an addition to my meds [methadone]. No, it’s better than that. I float back onto the wing – it feels like I’ve been meditating. After the sessions I feel calm and chilled on the wing.”
“I feel like I’ve achieved something good”
“I’ve felt happier on the wing, relaxed. I’ve been playing the tunes in my head. I’ve felt like I’m not in jail, that I’m just getting on with my day.”
“It’s not the sort of music I would ever think of listening to. When I get out of here, I will google it and listen to it. And maybe join in, in the future.”
“When we all came together in the music, it sounded surreal, not like in a jail, like we’re somewhere else completely.”
A new book, “Interventions in Criminal Justice”, out shortly, has a chapter by Laura Caufield and Professor David Wilson on the role of arts in prisons. Good Vibrations is used as a case study. The rest of the book looks really interesting too…
“This exciting new book brings together the experiences and expertise of a range of practitioners who work within criminal justice and provides a broad and informative account of a variety of intervention techniques. From pharmacological approaches, through the treatment of various specific conditions and on to the use of poetry and art by prisoners, the book offers a series of thought-provoking chapters that will help inform the practice of anyone who works with this vulnerable population.
The book is edited by Peter Jones, a leading figure in the field of working therapeutically with offenders.
Chapter 1: Working with offenders with personality disorders
Michael Brookes
Chapter 2: One body, many voices: the complexity of working with a patient with
dissociative identity disorder
Lynn Greenwood
Chapter 3: The role of the arts as an intervention with offenders in prison
Laura Caulfield and David Wilson
Chapter 4: Beautiful sentence: poetry as a therapeutic intervention
Leah Thorn
Chapter 5: The potential of prison health
Lars Møller and Alex Gatherer
Chapter 6: A gender responsive approach to female sex offenders
Sherry Ashfield, Sheila Brotherston and Hilary Eldridge
Chapter 7: Drug treatment and harm reduction in prisons
Heino Stöver
Chapter 8: Suicide, attempted suicide and self-injury in prisons
David Crighton
Chapter 9: The perils and promise of multidisciplinary working
Richard Shuker
Chapter 10: Cognitive behavioural therapy
Euan Hails
Chapter 11: Working with women who self-harm in prison settings
Julia MS Rose
Vital information for: Probation officers, social workers, counsellors, psychologists who work within the criminal justice system.”