Personality disorder programme No longer a diagnosis of exclusion

An innovative arts project ‘for service users delivered by service users’ is delighted to have been chosen as one of two runners up in the Customer Service category at the 2010 Guardian Public Society Awards ceremony in London (23.11.10) http://www.guardian.co.uk/publicservicesawards/winners-2010

‘Creative Personalities’, a joint project between Leeds-based mental health charity Community Links and personality disorder (PD) service-user group Emergence, brings together people affected by PD in Yorkshire and Humber and enables anyone with little or no access to services to develop supportive networks and in the process improve their sense of wellbeing.
This project, as well as actively promoting the unique and heightened capacity for creative expression, also celebrates the extraordinary achievements of people who identify with a diagnosis of personality disorder.

Speaking at the awards ceremony held at the Old Billingsgate in London, Kath Lovell, Emergence managing director, said: “We are absolutely thrilled this joint project has received such a prestigious award. The Yorkshire and Humber ‘Creative Personalities’ project is at the forefront of innovative service provision because it is based on the premise that people who have received services are also best placed to subsequently deliver them.”

This innovative and collaborative project between service users, Community Links and Emergence, has a steering committee entirely made up of service users.

Ray Middleton (‘Creative Personalities’ co-ordinator) added: “We are particularly pleased to be in a runner up in the Customer Service category as our service users are at the heart of everything we do. Working together, Community Links and Emergence are delighted the programme has been recognised for the vital service it is delivering.”

‘Creative Personalities’ in Yorkshire and Humber also acts as an important platform to raise awareness of PD as a mental health issue.

Personality disorder services still tend to be marginalised within mental health services. Because of this, any project which makes it possible for a person with personality disorder to feel meaningfully connected to other people is a huge achievement. That is exactly what Creative Personalities in Yorkshire and Humber has accomplished.

‘Creative Personalities’ Yorkshire and Humber is currently running three projects: an arts workshop, a cinema club and an online magazine. These ventures not only help people find a way of getting to grips with difficult feelings but also help break down the stigma people diagnosed with PD often face.

A person with a diagnosis of personality disorder will by definition be struggling to get the best out of PD services whilst at the same time they will also struggle with managing their emotions, relating with others and maintaining a stable sense of self. Common issues include self-harming, exclusion from services, poor social functioning, leading to high rates of unemployment, low income and lack of social networks.

Background to the winning project

In 2008 Community Links and Emergence jointly started working on an arts festival celebrating creative personalities and featuring works by people with, or who identify with, personality disorder. Many service users in the region had shown a strong interest in creative work and the arts festival, held on 30.1.2009, created an opportunity for them to come together and celebrate their work. Organisers hoped the festival would be a springboard for a possible network.

The festival was a great success with over 150 people attending. This led to eight service users forming a steering committee to explore how to meet the needs of this group of people across the region. A co-ordinator was taken on to work two days a week to support the committee and work in close collaboration with an Emergence project manager, both of whom are ex-service users. Having service users and ex- service users to deliver the project is at the heart of ‘Creative Personalities’ – Yorkshire and Humber’s success.